Maryland Criminal & Immigration Lawyer Blog
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals recently ruled in Tubaya v. State of Maryland, an appeal based on the prohibition against double jeopardy in our Constitution. The case arose on June 27, 2011, when Valencia Tubaya pushed into the home of her older parents. She held a “sharp metal object” against her mother’s neck and threatened that she would cut the woman’s dialysis tubes out. When the father demanded that his daughter stop, she pushed him back into the chair where he’d been seated. She spoke to her parents for a few minutes then left.
Later that day, the mother and her other daughter spoke to police officers. They also filed an application for a statement of charges and a petition for a protective order against Valencia. The State of Maryland was not a party to the protective order proceedings. In July 2011, the District Court issued a number of temporary protective orders. Later in August, however, they denied a final protective order on the grounds that there was a lack of clear and convincing evidence that the assault happened.
Meanwhile, the state moved forward with prosecuting Valencia’s criminal case. Valencia moved to dismiss the criminal charges against her, arguing that the District Court’s August 2011 denial of a final protective order created collateral estoppel such that the state could no longer prosecute the question of whether the assault had actually occurred.