Ennis v. State

LARRY ENNIS v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 00796

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2016

August 8, 2017

UNREPORTED

Meredith, Beachley, Zarnoch, Robert A. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Meredith, 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.

On April 1, 2015, Larry Ennis, appellant, was attending a party in Salisbury, Maryland, with several friends when a verbal altercation between Ennis's group and another group occurred. Ennis's group eventually left the party and later met an acquaintance of theirs, Jarrett Stokes, in the parking lot of an IHOP. After meeting with Stokes, the group drove back to the party, at which point Stokes fired a handgun into a large group of people that had gathered outside of the party, killing Rakim Russell.

Ennis, Stokes, and other members of the group were arrested in the months following the shooting. Ennis was charged with fourteen counts stemming from his involvement in the shooting. Following a jury trial in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, Ennis was convicted of first-degree murder and various related offenses. This appeal followed.

QUESTIONS PRESENTED

Ennis presents five questions for our review:

1. Did the trial court err in admitting hearsay evidence?

2. Did the trial court err in restricting defense counsel's cross-examination of Marquel Pinder?

3. Did the trial court err in imposing four separate sentences for conspiracy?

4. Did the trial court err in failing to merge firearm and handgun counts?

5. Did the trial court err in sentencing Appellant for carrying a concealed handgun?

We answer "Yes" to Question 5, and we vacate the judgment of conviction for carrying a concealed weapon. We answer "Yes" to Question 1, and will reverse all other judgments of the Circuit Court for Wicomico County and remand the case for further proceedings. We need not answer Questions 2-4.¹

FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On April 1, 2015, Ennis and several friends attended a party at the America's Best Value Inn in Salisbury, Maryland. Once at the party, a member of the group Ennis had arrived with --- namely, Ky'Shir Connally --- got into an argument with another group at the party which included Rakim Russell. Ennis's group left the party after being told to do so by security. But Ennis and three associates later returned to the parking lot of the inn, and Jarrett Stokes fired a gun into a crowd, fatally wounding Rakim Russell.

At trial, there were conflicting versions of the events that led to the shooting incident. But, as Ennis candidly acknowledges in his brief, "the shooting resulted in the death of Rakim Russell. It was undisputed that the shooter was Jarrett Stokes, and that [Ennis] was a passenger in the car that Stokes was sitting in when he fired." Ennis asserts: "The question for the jury was whether [Ennis] aided and abetted the shooting."

After being ordered to leave the party, Ennis, Connally, Marquel Pinder, and another friend --- Terrell Ervin --- drove away in Pinder's Chevrolet Impala. Ervin testified that, as the group was traveling, they discussed the altercation that had occurred at the inn, and that Connally and Ennis appeared to be "mad." But Ervin testified that Ennis was silent throughout the car ride. Ervin did not accompany the others on the return to the inn.

Ervin's account of the car ride differed from that of Marquel Pinder, who was the driver of the car from which Stokes fired the gun. Pinder testified after having entered into a plea agreement with the State. Pinder testified that, after the group left the party, Connally called his friend Jarrett Stokes. According to Pinder, Ennis had suggested calling Stokes, although Ennis himself did not make the call to Stokes. Pinder further testified that Connally had called Stokes "to get more people . . . [t]o come for a fight."

Pinder testified that Ennis looked "pissed off" following the argument at the inn. Pinder additionally told police following the shooting that, during the car ride, Ennis and Connally discussed feeling "bitched out" by the group they had argued with at the party, which Pinder explained as meaning "they were forced out, like they felt like they were forced out, like, against, isn't what they wanted to do, doing something they didn't want to do, basically." Pinder testified that Ennis and Connally were "agitated" and "annoyed" about what had occurred at the party.

The group eventually arrived at Connally's house. Pinder testified that, once they were at Connally's house, Connally made another phone call, and, after the call, Ennissuggested the group go to an IHOP nearby. Pinder further testified that Ennis and Connally eventually informed him that they were going to go to IHOP to meet Stokes, although they did not say why they were going to meet him. Pinder initially testified that he believed they were going back to the party for a "fistfight," but Pinder also testified that he had told police following the shooting that he knew they would be bringing a gun with them to the party to get "revenge."

Ervin also testified that the group had discussed going to IHOP while they were in Pinder's car. But, once they arrived at Connally's house, Ervin left the group to attend another party. In Ervin's statement to police following the shooting, Ervin stated that he overheard Ennis and Connally say "we're probably going to head back," although Ervin claimed that they were not referencing the party at the inn. Detective Jason Caputo, who interviewed Ervin following the shooting, testified that Ervin had told him that the group had discussed getting a "Baby 9" in order to "go back to the party and confront the subjects that they had gotten into a previous altercation with." But Ervin testified at Ennis's trial that he did not remember saying that when he gave a statement to police.

Pinder testified that, once the group arrived at IHOP, Ennis and Connally exited Pinder's vehicle to talk to Stokes in the parking lot while Pinder stayed in his vehicle to smoke marijuana. Despite remaining in his car, Pinder recalled leaving his windows open while he smoked, and he overheard Ennis, Connally, and Stokes discuss removing the license plates from Pinder's car. Pinder testified that the trio eventually returned to his vehicle, and Stokes asked Pinder if he was "good to drive," to which Pindereventually responded yes. Stokes, Ennis, and Connally then got into Pinder's car, with Stokes in the front passenger seat, and Ennis and Connally seated in the back seat. Ennis was seated behind Stokes, and Connally was seated behind Pinder. Pinder was driving. The group then drove back to the inn. Pinder testified that, during the drive back to the inn, Stokes had an object wrapped in cloth on his lap, although Pinder claimed he did not know what the object was at that point.

Pinder testified that, as they drove to the inn, Stokes asked Ennis if the weapon was "ready to go," to which Ennis responded "it should be." But, in Pinder's prior statement to police, Pinder had stated that Ennis responded "I don't know" when asked by Stokes if the gun was ready. Detective Jeff Miller, who interviewed Ennis following the shooting, testified that Ennis had told him that when Stokes asked "is it ready," Ennis "said I don't know."

Between the time that Ennis's group left the party and the time they returned, everyone attending the party had been ejected by security after multiple fights broke out. As a result, hundreds of people were milling about the parking lot of the inn, and additional fights broke out.

Pinder testified that, when they approached the inn, he could not drive up to the inn because of the large crowd outside, and, as a result, he parked at a nearby mattress store. According to Pinder, Ennis and the group remained in Pinder's car once the car was parked, and Ennis and Connally both began looking for a specific individual in a red shirt in the crowd outside the inn. But, after Connally was arrested, he told police thatEnnis and Stokes had been the ones looking for the individual in the red shirt. Ennis did not say anything in his statement to police about looking for the person in the red shirt.

Pinder testified that Ennis eventually spotted the man in the red shirt and attempted to point him out to Stokes. Pinder additionally testified that there were ten to twenty people standing near the man in the red shirt, and that he did not believe Rakim Russell was the individual wearing the red shirt. According to Pinder's testimony, once Ennis pointed out the man in the red shirt to Stokes, Stokes pointed the gun out the car window, and fired four shots into the crowd. But, in Pinder's statement to police following the shooting, Pinder initially claimed that the group was unable to locate the man in the red shirt, which prompted Stokes to exclaim "fuck it," and fire "indiscriminately" into the crowd of people. Both Pinder and Ennis stated, either at trial or to police, that Stokes fired exactly four shots into the crowd. Pinder testified that he began driving away almost immediately after Stokes fired the gunshots because he wanted to get "the hell out of there."

Dominique Barnes, who was working security at the party the night of the shooting, testified that she was in the process of breaking up the crowd in the parking lot when she heard gunshots nearby. Barnes testified that roughly five seconds after hearing the gunshots she heard squealing tires and observed a white Chevrolet Impala driving away. Barnes testified that she then looked over and observed Russell on the ground with a gunshot wound to his head. Russell was later pronounced dead as a result of the gunshot wound to his head.

On August 4, 2015, Ennis was arrested after giving a statement to the Salisbury Police Department. Ennis was...