Maryland’s highest court recently denied a petition to dismiss the case against Tyler Mailloux, a Berlin man charged in the hit-and-run death of 14-year-old Gavin Knupp.
Protestors are pictured holding signs demanding “Justice for Gavin.”
File photo
By Bethany Hooper, Associate Editor
Maryland’s highest court last week denied a petition in the case against Tyler Mailloux, a Berlin man charged in the hit-and-run death of 14-year-old Gavin Knupp.
On June 18, the Supreme Court of Maryland denied Mailloux’s petition to review an appellate court ruling in his case. As he did not have the right to an automatic appeal, Mailloux in April filed a petition to have the state’s highest court review the decision.
“Upon consideration of the petition for a writ of certiorari to the Appellate Court of
Maryland, petitioner’s errata to the petition, and respondent’s answer to the petition, it is this 18th day of June 2024, Ordered, by the Supreme Court of Maryland, that the petition for writ of certiorari is denied as there has been no showing that review by certiorari is desirable and
in the public interest,” the order issued this week reads.
In April 2023, 17 traffic charges – including failure to immediately stop at the scene of an accident involving bodily injury and failure to immediately stop a vehicle at the scene of an accident involving death – were filed against Mailloux, 23, in the death of Knupp, who was struck and killed by a motorist in a black Mercedes while crossing Grays Corner Road on July 11, 2022. Knupp was reportedly returning to a vehicle driven by his older sister and died from injuries sustained in the collision. Mailloux is accused of fleeing the scene and not returning, according to charges filed.
During a motions hearing in Worcester County Circuit Court last August, Judge Brett Wilson granted a motion from Mailloux’s attorney to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. He opined the district court had “exclusive and original jurisdiction.”
Immediately following that ruling, the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office appealed to the Appellate Court of Maryland, which heard oral arguments earlier this year. In an opinion issued March 27, the appellate court reversed the circuit court ruling to dismiss. From there, Mailloux filed a petition in April to have the Supreme Court of Maryland review the decision.
This recent order from the Supreme Court of Maryland means the decision handed down by the Appellate Court of Maryland will be upheld and that all charges against Mailloux will be tried in Worcester County Circuit Court.
“I expect the clerk’s office will set the matter for trial sometime in the fall, given the number of days required for trial and the court’s current caseload,” Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser said Tuesday. “We remain prepared and look forward to prosecuting the case in the Circuit Court as we had originally intended when we filed the charges.”