## Facts

- On July 8, 1982, Larry Edmund Minster shot Cheryl Dodgson in the neck, leaving her quadriplegic.
- Minster was charged in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County with attempted first-degree murder, assault-related offenses, and use of a handgun in a crime of violence.
- After an April 1983 trial, Minster was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and the handgun offense, receiving a 20-year sentence and a concurrent 10-year sentence, respectively; the convictions were affirmed on appeal.
- On October 3, 1983—more than one year and one day after the shooting—Dodgson died, allegedly from injuries caused by the shooting.
- The State then obtained a first-degree murder indictment based on Dodgson’s death.

## Issues

1. Whether Maryland’s appellate court should abrogate the common-law “year-and-a-day” rule that bars a murder prosecution when the victim dies more than one year and one day after the defendant’s act.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the first-degree murder indictment.
- The court declined to abrogate the year-and-a-day rule, concluding that any change should be made by the legislature rather than by judicial decision.
- Because Dodgson died more than one year and one day after the shooting, the rule barred a homicide prosecution on those facts.

## Legal Principles

- Under Maryland common law at the time, the “year-and-a-day” rule precluded a murder prosecution if the victim’s death occurred more than one year and one day after the injury.
- When a long-established common-law rule materially affects the scope of criminal liability, the court may defer to the legislature for revision rather than alter the rule judicially.
- Concerns about fair warning and the stability of criminal liability rules support judicial restraint in expanding homicide exposure through common-law change.

## Conclusion

Maryland’s high court held that the year-and-a-day rule remained part of Maryland common law and barred a murder indictment where the victim died more than one year and one day after the defendant’s act, leaving any abolition of the rule to the legislature.


State v. Minster, 302 Md. 240, 486 A.2d 1197 (Md. 1985)