Anderson v. State

PERETZ DAROND ANDERSON v. STATE OF MARYLAND

MARK EUGENE GARLAND v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 0682

No. 0862

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2016

February 6, 2018

Circuit Court for Baltimore County

Case No. 03-K-15-000215

UNREPORTED

CONSOLIDATED CASES

Wright, Graeff, Krauser, Peter B. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Wright, J.

This is an unreported opinion, and it may not be cited in any paper, brief, motion or Other document filed in this Court or any other Maryland Court as either precedent within the rule of stare decisis or as persuasive authority. Md Rule 1-104.

Appellants, Peretz Darond Anderson and Mark Eugene Garland, were indicted in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Maryland, and charged, inter alia, with first-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. The case was tried by jury on March 15-18, 2016. On March 18, 2016, Anderson and Garland were convicted of first-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. On May 27, 2016, Anderson and Garland were sentenced to a total term of life with all but fifty years suspended with two years' probation. Anderson¹ and Garland² timely noted this appeal,and present the following questions for our review, which we have reworded and consolidated:

1. Did the circuit court properly deny Appellants' motion to suppress?

2. Did the circuit court properly exercise its discretion in denying Appellant's motion for a mistrial and new trial?

3. Did the circuit court properly exercise its discretion in admitting lay testimony regarding the meaning on the word "shoes?"

4. Did the circuit court properly exercise its discretion in granting the State's motion to jointly try Appellants?

5. Did the circuit court properly exercise its discretion in permitting testimony from a witness explaining why he was in handcuffs?

6. Was the evidence sufficient to convict Garland?

For the following reasons, we answer all the questions above in the affirmative and affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County.

BACKGROUND

The Suppression Hearing

Officer Eric Brennan, Baltimore County Police Department, Canine Unit, was on patrol on December 26, 2014. Around 11:00 p.m., Officer Brennan responded to a call of a shooting in room 123 at The Welcome Inn, located at 8729 Loch Bend Drive. Officer Brennan was given a description that the suspects were "two Black males in their 20's and further advised that that the two suspects fled on foot, one "up Raven Drive," the other "up Loch Bend." The suspect who ran up Raven Drive was last seen runningthrough an alley in the direction of 1720 East Joppa Road. Officer Brennan and Officer Kelly³ searched the area, with canine support; the canine did not establish a track for either suspect "because of the high volume foot traffic in the area."

At one point, the Baltimore County Police Department Aviation Division responded to the scene, and Officer Brennan relayed information about the suspects' description and their direction of travel. The Aviation Division informed Officer Brennan that they "witnessed a suspicious vehicle at Conrad Crabs," located at 1720 East Joppa Road. Conrad's Crabs is approximately 300-400 yards from The Welcome Inn.

Officer Conrad Butler, Baltimore County Police Department, was heading to The Welcome Inn around 11:13 p.m. when he heard the call from the Aviation Division that "said there was a car on the lot of Conrad's Crabs." The Aviation Division "lit up the vehicle" as Officer Butler "was coming right down the road." As the Aviation Division was relaying to officers below that there was a vehicle in the Conrad's Crabs parking lot, Officer Butler observed someone looking around, getting out of the vehicle, and then pulling out of the parking lot.

Once the vehicle pulled out of Conrad's Crabs' parking lot, Officer Butler got behind the vehicle and "pulled them over" to make a "traffic stop." Officer Butler testified that the vehicle had done nothing to violate traffic laws, was proceeding orderly and lawfully, and the individual in the car did not make any motions that concerned Officer Butler for his safety. Rather, Officer Butler stopped the vehicle because he wasconducting an "investigative stop." Officer Butler walked up to the driver's window and smelled marijuana. Officer Butler also observed that "[e]veryone was like, real animated talking, which is a little unusual."

Sergeant Anthony Dicara, Baltimore County Police Department, also responded to The Welcome Inn and was directed to assist in the search for "two, Black male subjects, wearing dark clothing last seen on foot toward Joppa Road." Sergeant Dicara set up a perimeter at "Easter's Lock and Key, Joppa Road." Sergeant Dicara also received the information about the vehicle from the Aviation Division and supervised Officer Butler as he conducted the investigative traffic stop. The driver of the vehicle was a female. Sergeant Dicara approached the passenger side of the vehicle and "noticed that there's someone driving, and two people in the back seat, but not a front passenger." Sergeant Dicara observed, "[d]arker colored clothing and black clothing in the middle of the rear seat." Sergeant Dicara smelled burnt and raw marijuana and observed a "plastic container of what would be Oreos" on its side with baggies of what he "recognized to be marijuana coming out of it."

Around 11:13 p.m., Officer Chrystal,⁴ Baltimore County Police Department, was assisting "for a gunshot wound at The Welcome Inn." While there, Officer Chrystal testified that he learned that Ashley Sutton, who was with her boyfriend at The Welcome Inn on December 26, 2014, described seeing "[t]wo Black males approximately 20 to 25 years old, around 5 foot 5, wearing black jeans running out of the vestibule area of thehotel. Sutton and her boyfriend heard "roughhousing" and a gunshot. Seconds after, they observed the two men running out within seconds of the gunshot. At trial, Sutton testified that she "didn't notice the race, but . . . noticed their facial hair," a "chinstrap on one and then, like, a long beard, on the other." She also testified that she told police the two males were wearing dark clothing, one of the men "went left in the alley," and the "other one might have went up Raven Drive."

Officer Chrystal also spoke to Malcolm White, who was sitting in the passenger seat of a car parked in front of the vestibule area in the parking lot. White told Officer Chrystal:

[H]e observed two black males walk out of the exit area of the vestibule that leads to that room. One of them said, walk. One of them said, run. And then, he observed one of them run behind the southeast, basically, alleyway along another row of apartments. And one of them run - I'm sorry -- walk on the eastbound sidewalk of Loch Bend Drive.

Officer Chrystal learned that Officer Butler had detained potential suspects, so Officer Chrystal transported Sutton to the scene of the stop for a one-on-one identification. The first subject shown to Sutton was Garland. Sutton stated, "That's him. I think he came out second." The second subject shown to Sutton was Anderson. Sutton stated, "I think that's him too," she paused for approximately 3 to 5 seconds, and then continued to state, "But I am not sure. I know they both had beards."

After Sutton's identification of Garland, Officer Butler arrested him and transported him "to Headquarters." Officer Butler searched Garland and seized what he recognized to be a "gun part." Officers searched the vehicle and recovered additional evidence.

Video footage from Conrad's Crabs' parking lot, showing the vehicle in question turning around in the parking lot, was admitted at the suppression hearing.

Trial

At the start of the trial, Anderson asked the circuit court to "make sure the record reflects the Court's ruling" and basis for denying his Motion to Separate Trials, and Garland joined in the request. In response to the request, the court stated:

[T]he argument that there's simply some prejudice or carryover from trying them jointly based upon what's been proffered in Pre-trial and, and the evidence that was disclosed at the Pre-Trial ruling. I do believe the matters should be heard together and had denied the Request for Severance on both grounds that were alleged in your Motions.⁵

Evidence obtained after the stop of the vehicle was introduced at trial including testimony about the "gun part" seized from Garland's pocket, testimony about gunshot residue found on Anderson's and Garland's hands, two dark jackets, a hat, possible marijuana, a dark sweatshirt seized from the car, and pictures taken of Anderson and Garland upon their arrest.⁶

The victim in the case was Aaron Phillip Nedd also known as "Turtle." Nedd was married to Brenda Nedd-Lyles. Due to financial problems, Nedd, Nedd-Lyles, and their daughters were living at The Welcome Inn on December 26, 2014. Nedd was selling "weed on the side." On December 26, 2014, Nedd left the room, leaving behind Nedd-Lyles, their daughters, and a man known as Marquis Martin, whose real name is Jerome Carroll, and who goes by the nickname of "Big Baby."

Around 9:30 p.m., while Nedd was out, someone called for him. This phone call was eventually attributed to a phone used by Anderson, corroborated by phone records introduced at trial. Five minutes after the call, Nedd came back to The Welcome Inn. Two minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Two African American men came in the room and discussed buying weed. One of the two men, the one with "hair," suggested that he and Nedd go into the bathroom to discuss the transaction. The other man stayed in the room with Martin. Nedd-Lyles then heard Nedd ask Martin for help. Martin stood up. The suspect outside the bathroom pulled out a gun and pointed it at Martin. Nedd-Lyles put her kids under a cover and then heard shots. Nedd-Lyles said, "it looked like . . . it was...