Isaac v. State

MICHAEL KYRI ISAAC, JR. v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 1303

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2017

September 21, 2018

Circuit Court for Baltimore County

Case No. 03-K-16-003419

UNREPORTED

Meredith, Graeff, Beachley, JJ.

Opinion by Graeff, 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 19, 2017, Michael Kyri Isaac, Jr., appellant, was convicted by a jury, in the Circuit Court of Baltimore County, of attempted second degree murder, home invasion, robbery with a dangerous weapon, first degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, theft of a motor vehicle, theft of property having value between $1,000 and $10,000, wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun on his person, and wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun in a motor vehicle.¹ The court sentenced appellant to a total of 55 years' imprisonment, all but 30 years suspended.²

On appeal, appellant presents the following questions for this Court's review, which we have rephrased slightly, as follows:

1. Did the circuit court err in denying appellant's motion to sever?

2. Did the circuit court err in precluding relevant admissible evidence material to appellant's defense?

3. Did the circuit court err in permitting inadmissible lay opinion testimony?

4. Did the court err in precluding relevant and admissible testimony and restricting cross-examination related to latent prints of another individual?

For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm the judgments of the circuit court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On the evening of May 29, 2016, Ryan Johns and two friends, Antwarn and Daron Jones, went to Baltimore City in Mr. Johns' 2003 black Mercedes Benz. After having drinks, they went to the Horseshoe Casino.

When Mr. Johns and Antwarn left the casino, the sun was rising. Mr. Johns drove Antwarn, who was seated in the rear passenger area, back to Mr. Johns' home in Woodlawn, where he lived with his mother and her friend. He parked the car in the driveway and proceeded into the house, while Antwarn remained asleep in the car. When Antwarn woke up at approximately eight or nine in the morning, he discovered that his shoes, watch, and cellphone were missing. Assuming he was the victim of a prank, Antwarn headed into Mr. Johns' house to collect those items.

Antwarn woke Mr. Johns and asked if he had seen his missing items, but Mr. Johns had not seen them. They then tried to "piece together the night." Antwarn remained at Mr. Johns' residence until approximately 2:00 p.m., when he left with his fiancé.

At approximately 5:00-5:30 p.m., while Mr. Johns was alone in the house on the second floor, he heard a "big boom." He saw an older gentleman, whom he later identified as Jacques Jones, entering the house. When Mr. Johns asked Jones "what's up," Jones retrieved a handgun, told Mr. Johns to "shut the fuck up," and walked up the steps toward him. Jones asked Mr. Johns "where the money at," stating that he "knew [Mr. Johns] had money" because he could smell it. A younger guy, who Mr. Johns identified as appellant,also came up the stairs telling Mr. Johns to "stop fucking playing" and demanding to know "[w]here the money [was] at?" Neither man had a mask, but they both wore medical gloves.

The men went room to room, going through Mr. Johns' closets and drawers, and then going to Mr. Johns' mother's room. They were asking about money, and Mr. Johns advised that he did not have any money on him, but he had a bank card in his wallet, which was downstairs in his jeans. When Mr. Johns lifted his jeans to get his wallet, his car keys fell out, and appellant stated: "Oh, you got a Benz. Oh, we taking that," and he then took the keys.

Appellant and Jones then took televisions from the house out to the Mercedes. Appellant noticed that Mr. Johns' neighbors were outside taking pictures of him and Jones. He came upstairs, put a revolver to Mr. Johns' face, and told him that his "neighbors are about to get your head blown off."

Appellant asked about Mr. Johns' cellphone, and Mr. Johns responded that it was in his bedroom. Appellant made Mr. Johns go into the upstairs bathroom while he looked for the phone, and Mr. Johns, noticing an opportunity to flee, ran down the steps. Mr. Johns tripped and fell, however, and appellant shot Mr. Johns in the arm. Mr. Johns ran outside to one of his neighbors' homes.

Another neighbor, Sabra Spears, called 911. She testified that, shortly before Mr. Johns ran out of the house, at approximately 5:45 p.m., she observed a blue Hyundai Sonata, with three men inside, parked outside of her house and another vehicle pull upbehind the Sonata. One of the men from the Sonata entered the passenger side of the second vehicle, and that vehicle proceeded to leave. The other two men, who were wearing blue medical gloves, exited the Sonata and walked into Mr. Johns' residence.

Concerned, Ms. Spears called another neighbor and told him what she observed. Both neighbors decided to go outside to assess the situation and determine if they should call the police. They observed the Sonata parked out front idling, and they saw one of the two men carrying items out of the house and placing them inside a parked Mercedes. Shortly thereafter, they heard a "pop, pop, pop" and observed someone running out of Mr. Johns' home toward them requesting help. Ms. Spears went into her house and locked the door, and Mr. Johns went into the house of their neighbor, who called Ms. Spears and asked her to call 911, which she did.

Detective Hartwig, a member of the Baltimore County Police Department, was the first officer to respond to the scene.³ The detective observed a television in the driveway, and the front door to the residence was open.⁴ Additional police officers arrived, and during a protective sweep of the residence, the officers observed a pair of gloves on the stairs and another pair in front of an upstairs bedroom door. The house appeared to be ransacked, and one of the televisions from the residence appeared to have been struck by a bullet.

An officer with the forensic services unit photographed the Sonata, which was still parked and idling outside the house. In the backseat, a vehicle license plate was visible. After receiving consent to search the home, the police recovered two bullet projectiles, one from the home's entry doorway frame and the second from the dining room.

Emergency medical technicians treated Mr. Johns on the scene for a gunshot wound to his right arm. They then took him to the hospital for further treatment. At the hospital, Detective Ronald Long conducted a brief interview with Mr. Johns.

After appellant was released from the hospital, he was transported to police headquarters and shown a photo array.⁵ Mr. Johns identified appellant as the person who shot him, stating: "He looks, this, this is who I believe shot me. . . . But I could be wrong."

On May 31, 2016, members of the forensic team executed a search and seizure warrant on the Sonata, which had been towed back to police headquarters. They recovered from the rear passenger area of the car a wallet with Jones' Maryland driver's license and social security card, as well as a cellphone and a license plate belonging to a vehicle ownedby appellant and his grandmother, Consundra Bradford.⁶ From the front passenger seat, the police observed folded papers containing an Enterprise Rent-A-Car rental agreement that identified Ms. Bradford as the renter and an earnings statement from appellant.

The police subsequently recovered Mr. Johns' Mercedes in Baltimore City and transported it to the headquarters of the Baltimore County Police to be searched and processed.⁷ Fingerprints were recovered and tested, but they did not match those of either appellant or Jones.

Detective Long testified that, during the course of the investigation, officers investigated the whereabouts of the Sonata utilizing tag readers positioned around the area. It was determined that, on May 30, 2016, at the time the car was being rented by Ms. Bradford and appellant, the car was located at the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore City. Pursuant to a subpoena request, and utilizing the names of the suspects and victim, and each vehicle's license plate numbers, Charles McCreedy, the Director of Surveillance and Risk for the Horseshoe Casino, searched the casino's surveillance system. The evidence showed that the Mercedes and the Sonata were in the casino's parking lot during the early hours of May 30, 2016. The surveillance cameras showed that Mr. Johns' Mercedes exited the casino at the intersection of Russell and Bayard Street at approximately 4:49:14 a.m., and the Sonata exited the parking garage of the casino at 4:49:45 a.m.

Ms. Bradford testified that she had rented the Sonata from Enterprise Rent-A-Car after appellant's vehicle was totaled on May 25, 2016, and the parties needed another vehicle. Although Ms. Bradford and appellant were authorized to operate the Sonata, she was aware that appellant allowed someone else to drive the vehicle. Ms. Bradford stated that she had given the car to the appellant on May 29, 2016.

On May 30, 2016, Ms. Bradford received a call in the "early part of the day" from appellant. At approximately 4:00 p.m., Ms. Bradford received another call from the appellant, and she subsequently met him at Walbrook Junction, where they rode around for approximately 45 minutes looking for the Sonata. Because the time was "getting later and later," and "it was getting dark," Ms. Bradford called 911 to report the car stolen. Two Baltimore City officers responded to her house, but they told her that, because the car was in Baltimore County, she would have to go to the Woodlawn precinct. The officers left at approximately 9:30 p.m. Ms. Bradford testified that, due to the time,...