Hanse v. State

TRACE HANSE v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 2549

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2016

February 25, 2019

Circuit Court for Baltimore City

Case No. 116042017-19

UNREPORTED

Meredith, Leahy, Sharer. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Leahy, 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.

Trace Hanse ("Appellant") was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City of six charges, including first-degree felony murder and first-degree burglary, stemming from a home invasion during which Sierra Burley and her roommate, Marvin Jeffers, were shot in the head and body. Sierra Burley passed away within minutes of being shot. Marvin Jeffers managed to drive himself to the hospital where he received lifesaving treatment. He testified at Hanse's trial as the only surviving eyewitness to the robbery and murder that occurred in his home that evening.

Hanse timely appealed his convictions to this Court on January 13, 2017, and presents two questions for our review:

(1) "Did the trial court err in denying Appellant's motion for a new trial?"

(2) "Did the trial court err in failing to merge Appellant's convictions for burglary and felony murder?"

The first issue concerns Hanse's "Amended Motion for a New Trial," filed on November 22, 2016 (following his conviction on September 22, 2016), in which he asserted that certain medical records introduced at trial by the State from Sinai hospital ("Sinai Records") were newly discovered evidence because the State failed to produce the records during discovery. The circuit court heard arguments and denied the motion at Hanse's January 9, 2017 sentencing hearing. For the reasons stated in the discussion below, we find no error in the court's denial of Hanse's motion. Regarding Hanse's second issue on appeal, however, we hold that the court's failure to merge Hanse's convictions for felony murder and the underlying felony of first degree burglary resulted in multiplepunishments for the same offense and was, therefore, in error. We remand to the circuit court to adjust Hanse's sentence accordingly.

BACKGROUND¹

On January 12, 2016, three armed men stormed an apartment located at 5610 Haddon Avenue. One man held Burley and Jeffers at bay while the other two ransacked the apartment. The man ultimately opened fire, causing Burley to suffer six bullet wounds to her head, neck, and chest. The mortal wound was caused by a bullet severing her carotid artery, resulting in rapid blood loss. The man also shot Jeffers in the head (twice) and hand, but Jeffers survived. He implicated his friend, Hanse, as the shooter.

Home Invasion and Indictment

At the time of her murder, Burley shared an apartment with Jeffers, Cokey Borne, and her boyfriend, Kaemarr Cox. Borne and Cox sold marijuana out of the apartment. They stored some of the marijuana in a large Footlocker bag in the back of a bedroom closet, and the rest in a box.

At about 9:00 p.m. on January 12, Burley and Jeffers, the only roommates at home, heard a knock at the door. Jeffers went do the door and looked through the peephole. He saw a familiar face, opened the door slightly, and recognized Hanse. Then, Hanse and two other men forced their way into the apartment. All three carried guns and wore gloves. Hanse repeatedly asked "[w]here['s] the stuff [] at" and "[w]here is it at or we're gonnakill ya'll." Burley and Jeffers were instructed to get down on the ground, face-down. The three men started kicking and stomping on Burley and Jeffers. Jeffers fought back, to no avail. Then, two men ransacked the house while Hanse stood on Jeffers's head, holding both Jeffers and Burley at bay.

After some time, one of the three men said "[i]t took too long and it's time to leave." Jeffers testified at trial that at that point he was shot in the arm and the head. His hands were behind his head, so the bullet struck his hand, as well. He blacked out for what he believed to be a few minutes and, when he regained consciousness, he observed Burley next to him, "bleeding out." He stumbled around until he reached the phone in the kitchen to dial 9-1-1. Jeffers decided to drive himself to Northwest Hospital instead of waiting for the ambulance to arrive. He was transferred to Sinai Hospital the next day.

Jeffers did not recall calling Cox after calling the police, but Cox testified that he received a call from Jeffers who told him that their apartment was invaded by "Parre," a nickname for Hanse, and that "[y]ou can't trust people." The responding officers first encountered Cox outside the apartment, screaming and "crying hysterically." The police eventually seized the five pounds of marijuana in the Footlocker bag in the closet of the apartment; the box was never recovered.

After his release from Sinai, Jeffers went to the homicide division of the Baltimore City Police Department, where he learned that Burley had passed. Not wanting to "snitch," which he believed caused "people [to] threaten you and stuff like that," Jeffers told the police that all three men wore masks, that he couldn't identify any of them, and that they all had American accents.

About a week later, Jeffers returned to the homicide division to tell the police what really happened, because he wanted to do "the right thing" "for [his] friend." He picked Hanse out of a photo array, and wrote at the bottom "Trace Hanse knocked at the door. I opened it. He pointed a gun at me and that's when he started assaulting me and [Burley]." He also implicated someone named "LeeLee" as the second gunman, whose name he learned on the streets. Jeffers was later shown a second and third photo array, but he was unable to identify LeeLee or the third assailant.

The police arrested and charged Hanse, who was subsequently indicted by a grand jury on February 11, 2016, on a total of nine counts associated with the incident. For crimes against Burley, Hanse was indicted for (1) murder, (2) the use of a firearm in a crime of violence, and (3) carrying a handgun. For crimes against Jeffers, Hanse was indicted for (4) attempted first degree murder, (5) attempted second-degree murder, (6) the use of a firearm in a crime of violence, and (7) carrying a handgun. The final charges associated with the incident were for (8) breaking and entering a dwelling with the intent to commit theft and a crime of violence, and (9) possession of a firearm after a previous conviction of a crime of violence.

The Sinai Records and the Jury Question

During discovery, the State provided defense counsel with 34 CDs of evidence which included Jeffers's medical records. Unbeknownst to the Assistant State's Attorney, the State had accidentally provided duplicate copies of his records from Northwest Hospital and omitted the Sinai Records. At issue is the following passage contained in Jeffers'sSinai Records: "INDICATIONS FOR PROCEDURE: The patient is a male born in 1986 who suffered multiple gunshot wounds and also had fired [] his firearm at someone else."

The topic of the Sinai Records came up during the direct and cross-examination of Jeffers. When eliciting testimony from Jeffers about the extent of his injuries, the Assistant State's Attorney asked, "[a]nd did you stay at Northwest[,]" to which Jeffers responded "[n]o, they transferred me to Sinai." The State then moved into evidence both the Northwest and Sinai Records. Defense counsel stated, "[n]o objection."

During cross-examination, defense counsel referenced Jeffers's stay at Sinai both directly and indirectly. Defense counsel's line of questioning alluded to the stay at Sinai, mentioning "two different hospitals," and the plural "hospital reports:"

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Now after you were shot, you went to two different hospitals, correct?

[ JEFFERS]: Yes ma'am.

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Now in those hospital reports it shows clearly that you had cannabis or marijuana in your system. . . .

Defense counsel also specifically referenced Jeffers's stay at Sinai:

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Now when you—after [] Cox got to the house, you drove yourself to the hospital?

[JEFFERS]: Yes I did.

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: And then you were treated at the hospital, and you drove to Northwest and then you were taken to Sinai, correct?

[JEFFERS]: Yes ma'am.

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Now what time were you released from Sinai?

[JEFFERS]: I don't know. Like the next day.

Eight witnesses testified on behalf of the state: the responding officer, the crime lab technician, the medical examiner, two homicide detectives, the firearms examiner, Jeffers, and Cox. Hanse waived his right to testify and the defense called no witnesses. The defense rested and renewed its motion for acquittal, which was denied. In closing argument, defense counsel argued that Hanse was not the shooter and that Jeffers's motive for driving himself to the hospital was to dispose of a gun.²

During their deliberation, the members of the jury sent a dozen notes with questions for the court, including one with a question about the Sinai Records:

In Marvin Jeffers['s] medical report (Exhibit 7) there is a sentence that raises the issue of [] Jeffers firing "his firearm at someone else." Could you please clarify if this evidence establishes that

a) he fired his own gun?

b) at the same incident? ([the] Jan[uary] 12, 2016 event)

Judge Welch read the note aloud and proposed an answer, to which both counsel for Hanse and the prosecutor promptly signed off on:

THE COURT: . . . My inclination is, ladies and gentlemen, you must rely upon your own review of the evidence. All the evidence is in and then I'm going to send them home. []. So, Counsel, if you'll come up—

[PROSECUTOR]: Sure.

THE COURT: --please? Let me look at the note first.

(Pause)

THE COURT: So my—let me write my response to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I'll put, all the evidence is in.

(Pause)

THE

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