Bashawn Montgomery Ray v. State of Maryland

Summary

The Maryland Court of Appeals held that a plea agreement providing for a "cap of four years on any executed incarceration" clearly and unambiguously limited only the executed portion of the sentence. The court concluded that the circuit court could impose a ten-year sentence with six years suspended and four years of probation without violating the agreement. It affirmed the denial of the petitioner's motion to correct an illegal sentence.

Holdings

1. The phrase "cap of four years on any executed incarceration" is clear and unambiguous and limits only the executed portion of incarceration, not the total sentence including suspended incarceration.
2. Even assuming the phrase "executed incarceration" was ambiguous, a reasonable person in Ray's position would have understood that the court could impose an additional unexecuted period of incarceration as a suspended sentence.
3. Ray's sentence was not illegal because it complied with the binding sentencing agreement's four-year cap on executed incarceration.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the phrase "cap of four years on any executed incarceration" in the binding sentencing agreement was clear and unambiguous.
2. If the sentencing-cap provision was ambiguous, whether a reasonable lay person in Ray's position would have understood that the court could impose suspended incarceration in addition to four years of executed incarceration.
3. Whether Ray's sentence was illegal and correctable under Maryland Rule 4-345(a).

Disposition

affirmed