In re Ryan S.

774 A.2d 1193

139 Md. App. 94

In re RYAN S.

Nos. 6881, Sept. Term, , Sept. Term, 1999.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

June 29, 2001.

Bradford C. Peabody, Assistant Public Defender (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellants, in No. 6881, Sept. Term, 1998.

Thomas G. Witkop, Rockville, for co-appellant, Linda S., in No. 427, Sept. Term, 1999.

Celia Anderson Davis, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General, Baltimore, and Robert Dean, State's Attorney for Montgomery County, Rockville, on the brief), for appellee.

Argued before WENNER,¹ KRAUSER and ROBERT F. FISCHER (Retired, specially assigned), JJ. KRAUSER, Judge.

Following a six-day adjudicatory hearing conducted intermittently over a fourmonth period, Ryan S. was found to be a delinquent child by the District Court of Maryland for Montgomery County, sitting as a juvenile court, for stabbing Ronnie Wayne Dent. Ryan was placed on probation, and he and his mother, Linda S., were ordered by the court to pay $10,000.00 in restitution to Kaiser Permanente for medical expenses it had paid on Dent's behalf.

From that adjudication of delinquency, Ryan noted an appeal. He also noted an appeal from the order of restitution, as did Linda S. All appeals were subsequently consolidated for consideration by this Court.

Ryan presents three issues for our review; Linda S. only one (Issue III). As rephrased by this Court, they are:

I. Did the juvenile court err in denying Ryan's motion to dismiss, and his motion, in the alternative, for a mistrial?

II. Did the juvenile court err in preventing Ryan from cross-examining the complainant regarding acts of violence more than twenty years old?

III. Did the juvenile court err in ordering Ryan and Linda S. to pay restitution in the amount of $10,000.00?

Finding no error, we shall affirm.

Background

On August 20, 1998, the State's Attorney for Montgomery County filed a juvenile petition charging Ryan with first degree assault, reckless endangerment, and carrying a weapon openly with intent to injure, for stabbing Ronnie Wayne Dent on February 4, 1998. An adjudicatory hearing was held over a four-month period on the following dates: September 10 and 11, 1998, December 14 and 15, 1998, and January 13 and 21, 1999. When that hearing ended, appellant was found "not involved on first degree assault," but found involved on the following charges: second degree assault, reckless endangerment, and carrying a weapon openly with intent to injure.

Ryan was seventeen years old when the adjudicatory hearing began. He was born on November 14, 1980, to Linda S., with whom he currently resides, and Elmer Baker, who died on September 15, 1995. Ryan attended Richard Montgomery High School until he dropped out during his second year in the ninth grade.

Dent, who was forty-nine years old at the time of the adjudicatory hearing, was a first cousin and a friend of Ryan's father. While his father was alive, Ryan got along well with Dent and went fishing and hunting with him and his father.

After the death of Ryan's father, Dent regularly visited Linda S. to "help out around the house" and "do yard work." Eventually, the two became sexually involved. At that point, Ryan objected to their relationship as Dent was a family member and had a wife and children of his own. Ryan repeatedly expressed his displeasure to his mother and Dent. According to Dent, Ryan threatened on several occasions that "he was going to kill [him.]" Despite Ryan's protests, the relationship continued.

Hearing Testimony

At the adjudicatory hearing, Dent testified that, on the evening of February 4, 1998, he was outside his aunt's house when Ryan approached him and asked if he could speak with him. Dent replied that he would stop by Ryan's house later. When he later arrived at Ryan's house, he was confronted by Ryan who stated that he was "tired of [Dent] coming around here, seeing [his] Mom." When Ryan began to yell at Dent, Dent walked into the house and told Linda S., "your son acting crazy again."

Dent further testified that while he was sitting at the kitchen table, Ryan entered the room, opened a kitchen drawer, and pulled out a butcher knife. As Ryan turned toward him, Dent grabbed a vacuum cleaner, raising it to his shoulder in self-defense; at that point, Linda S. jumped between the two men. As Dent put down the vacuum cleaner, Ryan came up behind him and stabbed him in the "back, on the side."

In contrast to Dent's testimony, Linda S. and Ryan testified that Dent picked up the vacuum cleaner first, and that Ryan picked up the knife to protect himself from Dent. They both claimed that Dent, after putting the vacuum cleaner down, charged at Ryan, picking him up and throwing him to the ground. A scuffle ensued, and Dent was stabbed. As a result of the injuries he sustained, Dent was hospitalized for approximately three months. During part of that time, he was comatose and was later fitted with a colostomy bag.

After stabbing Dent, Ryan fled with the knife, and eluded the police for three months. He finally turned himself in on May 11, 1998. In addition to Ryan, Dent, and Linda S., eight other witnesses testified at the adjudicatory hearing; none of whom actually witnessed the stabbing. Among them were two former girlfriends of Dent, Onerlin Bledsoe and Betty Johnson. Both Bledsoe and Johnson testified as to Dent's violent character and as to specific instances when Dent hit them and their children.

A ninth witness, George Long, died before testifying at trial. The parties, however, stipulated to his testimony. That stipulation stated that Long, a neighbor of Ryan's, told police that he arrived home around 7:45 on the evening of February 4th. Seeing Dent sitting in his truck in Linda S.'s driveway, Long approached him and spoke with him briefly. Dent told Long that Ryan was inside with his mother.

A little later, Ryan emerged from the house, walked past Long, and said "hi." According to Long, "Ryan appeared normal." Long then went into his house. He did not see or hear anything else until "Linda came banging on his door." When he got to the door, Linda S. said, "hurry, hurry, Ronnie's been stabbed by Ryan." He then ran to her house where he saw Dent lying on the floor, bleeding.

Procedural History

On May 14, 1998, three days after turning himself into the police, Ryan appeared before the District Court of Maryland for Montgomery County, sitting as a juvenile court. The court ordered him detained at the Alfred D. Noyes Children's Center pending a "reverse waiver" hearing in "adult court" to determine whether to send his case back to juvenile court. That hearing was held on August 14, 1998, and Ryan's case was referred back to the juvenile court.

On August 20, 1998, the State's Attorney for Montgomery County filed a petition in the juvenile court, charging Ryan with first degree assault, reckless endangerment, and carrying a weapon openly with intent to injure. In that petition, the State sought restitution from appellants for medical expenses in the amount of $10,000.00, the statutory maximum. Ryan remained at the Noyes Children's Center pending an adjudicatory hearing on that petition.

The adjudicatory hearing was scheduled for September 10 and 11, 1998. When the hearing exceeded its allotted time, it was continued for approximately ninety days, to December 14 and 15, 1998, the next available dates. Because of that delay, Ryan requested that he be released and placed on home electronic monitoring pursuant to Maryland Rule 11-114(b)(2). That rule provides that "[i]f an adjudicatory hearing is not held within thirty days [from the date on which the court ordered continued detention], the respondent shall be released on the conditions imposed by the court pending an adjudicatory hearing." Noting the serious nature of Dent's injuries and Ryan's three-month-long flight from the police, the court denied that request.

When Ryan objected to the court's decision to continue his detention, the court advised him to file a motion for an expedited hearing. Instead, Ryan filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. The circuit court thereupon ordered that either a hearing be scheduled within thirty days of September 10, 1998, or Ryan be released on September 17, 1998. In response to that order, the district court held a hearing on September 16, 1998. Following that hearing, it ordered that Ryan be released on home electronic monitoring to the care and custody of his mother. The court, however, did not reschedule the adjudicatory hearing to an earlier date, as no request to do so was ever made.

The adjudicatory hearing resumed on December 14 and 15, 1998. On December 14th, Ryan moved for a mistrial solely on the ground that the tapes of the earlier proceedings were unintelligible and, therefore, he could not adequately prepare for his re-cross-examination of Dent. No objection was made to the three-month delay in resuming the adjudicatory hearing.

After listening to the master tapes and determining that, aside from being "somewhat fuzzy" at times, the tapes were otherwise clear, the court denied that motion with the understanding that Ryan's counsel would be afforded the opportunity to review the master tapes before Dent resumed testifying. The court then recessed to allow counsel to review those tapes.

At the conclusion of that day, the court discussed with counsel the scheduling of the case. After the State indicated that it would probably be able to complete its case by the following morning, the court asked defense counsel how long their case would take. Defense counsel responded, "It's hard to say Judge, I don't know." Then the following exchange between the court and defense counsel occurred:

COURT: Well we're, I'm going to have to get some idea, because if it can't be concluded tomorrow afternoon, then we've got to do something.

[DEFENSE COUNS

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