Terms Used In Maryland Code > PUBLIC SAFETY > Title 13A > Subtitle 1 - General Provisions

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Commander: means commanding officer. See
• Commanding officer: includes :
  
  (1) commissioned officers of the state military forces; and
  
  (2) officers in charge only when administering non-judicial punishment under § 13A-301 of this code. See
• Convening authority: includes :
  
  (1) the person who convened the court; and
  
  (2) (i) a commissioned officer commanding for the time being; or
  
  (ii) a successor in command to the convening authority. See
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Day: means :
  
  (1) calendar day and is not synonymous with the term "unit training assembly. See
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• including: means includes or including by way of illustration and not by way of limitation. See
• Judge advocate: means a commissioned officer of the organized state military forces who is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a state:
  
  (1) (i) certified or designated as a judge advocate in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the Army, Air Force, Navy, or the Marine Corps or designated as a law specialist as an officer of the Coast Guard, or a reserve component of one of these; or
  
  (ii) certified as a non-federally recognized judge advocate, under regulations adopted pursuant to this provision, by the senior judge advocate of the commander of the force in the state military forces of which the accused is a member, as competent to perform such military justice duties required by this code; or
  
  (2) if no judge advocate certified under item (1) of this subsection is available, certified by a senior judge advocate of the commander of another force in the state military forces, as the convening authority directs. See
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Military judge: means an official of a general or special court-martial detailed in accordance with § 13A-505 of this title. See
• Military offenses: means the offenses prescribed under the punitive provisions of the code. See
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Officer: means a commissioned or warrant officer. See
• Person: includes an individual, receiver, trustee, guardian, personal representative, fiduciary, representative of any kind, corporation, partnership, business trust, statutory trust, limited liability company, firm, association, or other nongovernmental entity. See
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• state: means :
  
  (1) a state, possession, territory, or commonwealth of the United States; or
  
  (2) the District of Columbia. See
• State military forces: means the National Guard of the State, as defined in title 32 of the United States Code, when not in a status subjecting them to exclusive jurisdiction under 10 U. See
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• this Code: means a code of the public general laws of the State that has been adopted and made evidence of the public general laws of the State under § 10-201 of the Courts Article. See
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Victim advocate: work with prosecutors and assist the victims of a crime.