“Your Lyrics?”

The Maryland Court of Appeals has held that a trial court does not have the discretion to permit a state’s attorney to ask repetitive, prejudicial and harassing questions of a criminal defendant.

The defendant was charged with attempted murder. He was asked on cross-examination a series of ten questions about the lyrics of a rap song he had penned. Each question repeated a line from the song and then “Your lyrics?”

The court concluded that the questions served no purpose other than to suggest a propensity for violence on the part of the defendant.  (Mike Frisch)