Costley v. State

926 A.2d 769

175 Md. App. 90

Leon Augustus COSTLEY, Jr. v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 1013 Sept. Term, 2004.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

June 28, 2007.

Amy E. Brennan (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on brief), Baltimore, MD, for Appellant.

Brian S. Kleinbord (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on the brief), Baltimore, MD, for Appellee.

Panel: DEBORAH S. EYLER, BARBERA, PAUL E. ALPERT, (Ret., specially assigned), JJ.

PAUL E. ALPERT, Judge (ret., specially assigned).

A jury in the Circuit Court for Carroll County (Michael M. Galloway, J.) convicted Leon Costley, Jr., appellant, of the first degree murder of Helga Nicholls, his former mother-in-law, and of wearing and carrying a weapon openly with intent to injure. Judge Galloway sentenced appellant to a life term of incarceration without the possibility of parole for the murder conviction and to a concurrent term of three years incarceration for the weapon offense. Appellant presents four questions on appeal:

I. Did the suppression court err in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to the police?

II. Did the trial court abuse discretion in refusing to ask the jury questions requested on voir dire?

III. Did the trial court err in admitting the autopsy report and Dr. Fowler's testimony about the contents of the report in violation of the holding of Crawford v. Washington?

IV. Did the trial court err in refusing to instruct the jury on second degree depraved heart murder and involuntary manslaughter?

We shall affirm.

FACTS

Motion To Suppress

Prior to trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress statements he made to State Police Corporals Bryan Pearre and Christina Becker. The motion was heard and denied by the Honorable Luke K. Burns, Jr.

State Police Corporal Bryan Pearre testified that at approximately 11:55 a.m. on August 14, 2002, he transported appellant from 1647 Old Manchester Road to the State Police Barracks in Westminster. Appellant was under arrest at the time. Cpl. Pearre secured appellant in the front seat of the police car, but did not advise appellant of his Miranda rights because he did not intend to question him about the crime.

While stopped at a traffic light, Cpl. Pearre retrieved a Maryland State Police Detention Log, on which personal information, such as name, case number, address, social security number, was to be recorded. Cpl. Pearce recounted:

I asked Mr. Costley what his social security number was and he was—he was sitting in the passenger seat slumped over basically lookin' out the window over to the right-hand side. He didn't acknowledge anything, so at that point, I nudged him on the shoulder a little bit and asked him what his social security number was and his comment was, "You have my wallet, don't you?" And my— my exact words back to him was, "Yes, but why don't you make this easier on both of us and just give me the information I need?" Mr. Costley responded by, "I'm not telling you shit." I then responded with, "That's good, I wouldn't cooperate either if I was—bein' that you have the upper hand here." Mr. Costly then said, "You have the upper hand here, not me." And I made the comment, "You're right about that."

At that point the suspect stated, "Why don't you hit me?" My—my response was, "What?" as in asking him a question, what. At that point he said, "You heard me, why don't you hit me. That's all you people want to do anyway, hit the poor little black man." He took a short pause and then stated, "I'm glad that bitch is dead."

Cpl. Pearre did not make any more comments and ceased efforts to fill out the form at that time. He denied that he sought any information other than that needed for the form. He also denied that appellant had asked for an attorney.

Corporal Christina Becker testified that at around 1:55 p.m., she went to the holding cell area where appellant was incarcerated, introduced herself, and told appellant she was going to take him to an interview room "where we could talk." Appellant did not object. Cpl. Becker advised appellant of his Miranda rights by reading each right to him and asking if he understood them and whether he had any questions. Appellant said that he understood them and did not ask any questions. Cpl. Becker asked if he agreed to speak with her, and appellant said he did. Becker then asked him to sign the form, which he did.

According to Cpl. Becker, appellant was initially "somewhat agitated." He did not ask for medical treatment or make any other requests during the interview. She did not make any promises to appellant, nor did she threaten him or offer him inducements to talk to her. At approximately 4:00 p.m., appellant asked to speak with an attorney. Cpl. Becker did not ask him any more questions and returned him to his holding cell.

On cross-examination, Cpl. Becker agreed that it was possible that appellant "could have told not only Corporal Pearre, but some other troopers who had detained him," that "he wanted to speak to an attorney."

Appellant testified that when Cpl. Pearre began talking to him, he did not say anything. Appellant confirmed that Cpl. Pearre asked him his social security number, and that he had responded along the lines that Cpl. Pearre had indicated. According to appellant, he told Cpl. Pearre he was not going to talk to him and that he wanted to speak to a lawyer, but Cpl. Pearre continued to ask questions. Appellant also testified that he told the officer who took him to a cell that he wanted an attorney.

Appellant further testified that Cpl. Becker read him his rights, slid the paper across the desk, and told him to sign it. Appellant said that he did not pay attention when she read it, but denied that she read his rights aloud line by line, and asked him to sign or initial each. He said he signed the form because he thought it meant he would get an attorney. He explained that he "thought you needed an attorney before they interviewed you." He denied that he had made the comments Cpl. Pearre ascribed to him.

Defense counsel argued that Cpl. Pearre had "bait[ed] [appellant] into a conversation," and asked that the comments appellant made to him be suppressed. He further asked that the statements be suppressed "from that point forward, when he's already made that initial request for counsel at the station and in the car."

The suppression court denied the motion. After reviewing the evidence, it commented:

There is certainly a question of credibility here which we feel should be resolved in favor of Cpl. Becker. Outside the testimony presented above the only other evidence is the short form 180 which stated: "I have read or have had read to me this explanation of my rights. I fully understand questions without consulting a lawyer or having a lawyer present at this time. My decision to answer questions is entirely free and voluntary and I have not been promised anything nor have I been threatened or intimidated in any manner." This form is then signed at the bottom by the defendant. Defendant then proceeds to answer Cpl. Becker's questions for the next two hours before requesting an attorney. At this time the interview ceased.

The Court can find no error in the procedure followed by Cpl. Becker, and thus finds no merit in Defendant's motion to suppress the statements made to the officer. It should be noted at the hearing that Cpl. Becker never asked Cpl. Pearre or any other officer if Defendant requested an attorney prior to her interaction with him. Given Cpl. Becker's administration of Miranda prior to her questioning, the Court finds little significance in this fact.

Trial

Kristina Costley (Kristy)¹ testified that she was married to appellant in 1995, and that they separated in September of 2000 and divorced in June of 2002. Appellant had adopted Kristy's daughter, Brittany Costley, shortly after the marriage, and Kristy and appellant had a son, Tyler Costley, together. In August 2002, appellant had supervised visitation with the children, and had not had a visit with them since November of 2001.

According to Kristy, appellant resented her mother, Helga Nicholls. She said appellant thought Ms. Nicholls was controlling her, that she was causing the separation between Kristy and him, and that she was keeping the children from him. She said that appellant felt that as a result of the divorce he lost his house, his children, his car, and her.

At around 7:50 on the morning of August 14, 2002, Kristy took her children to the Nicholls home at 1647 Old Manchester Road in Westminster so Ms. Nicholls could watch them while Kristy was at work. Appellant knew that Ms. Nicholls watched the children because she had done so while he and Kristy were married. Although the home was "in normal array," there were tools in the kitchen because Mr. Nicholls was remodeling the bathroom.

On that same morning, appellant went to a Westminster car dealership and took a truck for a test drive. He headed off to a local Target store where, at 10:20 a.m., he bought a chef's knife and a pack of gum. At trial, the sales clerk from Target who had sold the knife identified appellant in photographs made from a store videotape of the transaction. When shown empty packaging the police had found in the truck appellant had taken for a test drive, the clerk agreed it looked like the package appellant had bought. The clerk confirmed that when appellant purchased the knife, the packaging was sealed.

Brittany Costley, who was twelve years old at the time of the incident, testified that at approximately 10:30 a.m. she was in the living room watching television, and "was halfway asleep" in a chair. She heard Ms. Nicholls scream. She saw appellant enter the house through the kitchen door and, without saying anything, approach Ms. Nicholls quickly and choke her. Ms. Nicholls tried to push appellant off but was unable to do so. Ms. Nicholls started to break away, but fell. Brittany went to the telephone and dialed 9-1-1. As Brittany was dialing, appell...