ANNAPOLIS, MD -- On Friday, the Appellate Court of Maryland heard oral arguments regarding a Worcester County Circuit Court judge's decision to dismiss the case against 24-year-old Tyler Mailloux in the deadly hit-and-run of 14-year-old Gavin Knupp on Grays Corner Rd.
Mailloux faced 17 charges for the hit and run that killed Knupp in July of 2022, but a Circuit Court Judge granted a motion to dismiss the case in August, agreeing with the Defense that the case should have began in Maryland's lowest court level.
There was no sight of Mailloux at the Maryland Courts of Appeal Friday.
Appellate court judges Rosalyn Tang, Michael W. Reed and James R. Eyler heard and questioned the arguments from the State and defense for roughly 20 minutes.
Assistant State's Attorney General Zoe White acknowledged the tragedy of the situation, before making an argument that the state had the "discretion to file the case in Circuit Court."
She rested her argument on the belief that some of the charges against Mailloux, like failing to stop at the scene or return to the scene at which the victim died, are serious enough to file the charges in District or Circuit Court.
When asked by Judge Tang where the Worcester County Circuit Court went astray in its decision, White respectfully replied that the court's ruling "didn't make a lot of sense."
A request for the court to affirm the case's dismissal followed from Mailloux's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Celia Anderson Davis. She argued that the charges must "start" in District Court.
Davis supported her argument saying the State has not given any examples of such charges showing up first in a Circuit Court.
Davis did, however, acknowledge that her client, Tyler Mailloux, will have to "face these charges at some point, in some court."
Whether the case proceeds in District or Circuit court remains to be seen, based on the judges' decision.
