The conviction of a Harford County woman who was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for a deadly arson has been overturned by the Maryland Appellate Court.
Bobbie Sue Hodge was convicted of first-degree felony murder, second-degree assault and first-degree arson in a jury trial in October 2022.
In May 2019, four people died following a town house fire in Edgewood, and Hodge was arrested after an investigation by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, the state fire marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosions. Hodge was one of nine people who lived in the three-story town house, and intentionally ignited the fire in the second-floor living room, according to charging documents. In the days before the fire, Hodge allegedly made multiple threats to burn the home, according to charging documents.
In an unreported opinion filed Sept. 9 by Judge Terrence M. R. Zic, the court argues that the Harford County Circuit Court failed follow state rules about granting defendants a hearing after they express dissatisfaction with their public defender. The unreported opinion says it may not be cited as precedent.
The ruling centers on a letter to the court dated Oct. 13, 2019.
“I am writing you for myself because I have asked my public defender’s to say my word’s and help me make bail and they have been dragging there feet. I have been in this jail for four month’s.I am not satisfied with my public defender’s,” Hodge wrote according to the opinion. “They have not truly said anything in my defense. So please once again I ask for your help. Thank you for your time I also hope my public defenders dont get upset at me for standing up for myself.”
The appellate court ruled that the letter should have triggered a hearing under Maryland Rule 4-215 about her desire to discharge counsel. Over 18 pretrial hearings, the court never mentioned the letter. The state argued that the letter is about Hodge’s desire to make bail and therefore should not be understood as a request for a new attorney, according to the opinion.
However citing multiple precedents, Zic wrote that the letter is sufficient to trigger a hearing.
“As noted above, Ms. Hodge did not need to state her request to discharge her attorney in any specific way; Rule 4-215 is triggered even if the ‘statement constitutes more a declaration of dissatisfaction with counsel than an explicit request to discharge,’” Zic wrote in the opinion.
The conviction is reversed, and the case is remanded for a new trial, according to the opinion.
