An Anne Arundel County judge blew up the double murder trial of Anthony Reyes on Friday morning, ruling that prosecutors made errors so serious during closing arguments that the case could no longer proceed fairly. Reyes, who is representing himself, is accused of murdering William “Charlie” Hayes and Jeanna Hayes, a married Pasadena couple shot to death inside their Twickenham Road home last November. The mistrial halts a trial that had already been complicated by Reyes acting as his own attorney, and it now raises the question of whether the state will get a second chance to prosecute him.
According to WMAR-2 News, Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Mark Crooks declared the mistrial Friday morning in Annapolis, telling attorneys the state had committed an error that was not harmless. Crooks said he was “gobsmacked” by the missteps and called the situation “beyond regrettable,” adding that prosecutors had made “sophomoric mistakes” that called into question both the fairness of the trial and Reyes’ Sixth Amendment rights.
The trouble began during closing arguments, when prosecutors showed the jury a photo that had never been submitted into evidence, according to the same report. That came after Crooks had denied Reyes the right to show a similar type of photo just moments earlier, creating what the judge viewed as an unfair imbalance. Prosecutors also included slide information inconsistent with what had been discussed at the charging conference, and told the jury that Reyes “chose” to represent himself — a comment the judge found improper given Reyes’ pro se status. A jury note had already suggested jurors were growing frustrated by delays linked to Reyes’ lack of procedural knowledge, according to WMAR-2 News.
Prosecutors Fought to Keep the Trial Alive
Prosecutors argued that declaring a mistrial would be “extreme” and “draconian,” per WMAR-2 News, but Crooks was not persuaded. The judge expressed frustration and anger with the state’s handling of the case before ultimately siding with the defense and halting proceedings. The court has scheduled a status conference for later this month to determine how the case moves forward.
Reyes fired his public defender in May and told the court he could not afford another attorney, requesting legal representation up until the beginning of trial, the station reported. He has been held in jail without bond and faces charges of first-degree murder and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of the Hayeses. Under Maryland common law and federal constitutional standards, a defendant can generally be retried following a defense-requested mistrial unless prosecutors committed deliberate, bad-faith misconduct specifically intended to derail the trial or provoke a mistrial, according to The Daily Record. That high legal bar means a retrial remains the likely path forward absent a finding of intentional misconduct.
A Birthday Marked by Violence
William “Charlie” Hayes, 56, and Jeanna Hayes, 54, ran a home improvement construction business out of their Pasadena home, and investigators have said Reyes maintained both a personal and professional connection with the couple, according to WJZ-TV. Police have said Reyes shot the Hayeses inside their Twickenham Road home last November, and an adult granddaughter who lived at the residence was not home at the time of the killings. Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad publicly described the killings as a targeted attack that devastated a close-knit Pasadena neighborhood during the week leading into the holiday season, the station reported.
Court records reported by Fox Baltimore showed that Jeanna Hayes called 911 at 1:55 p.m. that day, pleading with “Tony” not to shoot. Dispatch recorded an argument over money between the gunman and Charlie Hayes before two distinct bursts of gunfire, and the call captured several gunshots before going silent. Charging documents allege the verbal dispute over money was heard on that 911 call from inside the house. The documents obtained by Fox Baltimore also revealed that the shooting occurred on Reyes’ 61st birthday.
Tracked Down at the Casino
An unnamed witness told police that Reyes had called them, confessed to shooting the couple, and said he was heading to Maryland Live! casino in Hanover, according to the same charging documents. Anne Arundel County Police used automated license plate readers and the department’s Real Time Information Center to locate Reyes’ vehicle in Hanover at 6:27 p.m. that day, according to the Anne Arundel County Government. The tracking triggered a pursuit that ended with Reyes’ arrest after a struggle near Quarterfield Road in Severn, following what police described as a brief car chase on the day of the murders.
A Judge With a Pattern of Holding Prosecutors Accountable
Friday’s ruling is not the first time Judge Crooks, who was appointed to the bench by Governor Larry Hogan in November 2016 after a career as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, and deputy legal counsel to the governor, has scrutinized the conduct of Anne Arundel prosecutors, according to Ballotpedia. In March, the Maryland Supreme Court upheld a separate ruling by Crooks that disqualified Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess from personally prosecuting a different murder case after his court found her office failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, The Daily Record reported. Taken together, the two rulings point to a judge willing to take a hard line against procedural violations by the county’s prosecutors.
Reyes’ decision to represent himself also carries its own legal risk for whichever side ends up appealing the case down the road. Maryland Rule 4-215 mandates strict judicial colloquy requirements whenever a criminal defendant elects to discharge counsel to proceed pro se, and state appellate courts routinely reverse convictions if trial judges fail to strictly follow every statutory inquiry, according to research published through DigitalCommons at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. Whether that rule was properly followed throughout Reyes’ trial could become its own point of contention if the case is retried.
For now, the immediate question is what happens at the status conference scheduled for later this month, where the court is expected to address whether prosecutors will pursue a new trial against Reyes. No new trial date has been set, and it remains unresolved whether defense filings will attempt to invoke double jeopardy protections given the circumstances of the mistrial.
