High Court reversed his conviction.
Frederick, Md (KM). Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith says he’s “ticked off” at a decision from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals regarding the Larnell Lyles case. The Court last week reversed Lyles’ conviction, and ordered a new trial. It noted that Lyles, as he was being questioned by police about the shooting death of Brandon Brown, had requested a lawyer. But he continued talking with detectives, and admitted he shot Brown because he was afraid the victim was going to attack him. The Court said that statement should not have been admitted during the trial.
Smith says he and prosecutor Rebecca Clinton tried Lyles in 2016, and won a conviction for 1st-degree murder. Lyles was sentenced to life without parole. Smith says he thought he’d be done with the case.. “Unfortunately, it’s something we as prosecutors have to deal with from time to time. Just in a murder where this guy was obviously guilty,” he said. “it just ticks me off. That’s all.”
Lyles was arrested in June, 2017, for the fatal shooting of Brandon Brown. The incident occurred in Vermont Court in the Lucas Village community in Frederick. Brown was shot as he was getting out of an ice cream truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Smith says any re-try of Lyles will be an unpleasant experience for Brown’s family. “They’ve got to live through another trial. Here they thought this guy was going to be in jail for the rest of his life for killing their son, and we got to retry him. But we are going to re-try him. When that trial’s going to be I don’t know,” he says.
He says the State’s Attorney’s office will work to obtain a conviction. “We don’t try people for murder because we have a hunch that they committed murder. We try people for murder because we believe they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We’re going to prove that to 12 members of our community,” he says. “We’re going to do it again. And we hope to get the same sentence again.”
By Kevin McManus