Johnson v. State

NYGHEE NICHOLAS JOHNSON v. STATE OF MARYLAND

NORWOOD THOMAS JOHNSON, JR. v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 89

No. 124

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2020

July 13, 2021

Circuit Court for Baltimore County

Case Nos. 03-K-18-001959 & 03-K-18-001960

UNREPORTED

CONSOLIDATED

Nazarian, Arthur, Leahy, JJ.

Opinion by Arthur, 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.

Norwood Johnson and Nyghee Johnson were tried jointly in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County for causing the deaths of Stanley Brunson and Shameek Joyner. The State alleged that the defendants arranged through a middleman, Jeane Juste, to sell 21 pounds of marijuana to Brunson and Joyner, for $25,000. When the parties met at Juste's apartment for the planned sale, Brunson and Joyner were shot several times. Afterwards, Juste stabbed Brunson repeatedly. Brunson and Joyner died from their injuries.

A jury convicted Norwood Johnson and Nyghee Johnson of four counts each: conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, second-degree felony murder of Brunson, and second-degree felony murder of Joyner. The court sentenced both defendants to two, consecutive 20-year prison terms.

In this appeal, Norwood and Nyghee Johnson contend that the trial court erred by: failing to instruct the jury on the issues of self-defense and defense of others, denying their motions for judgment of acquittal on the felony murder charges, limiting cross-examination of one of the State's witnesses, admitting evidence that the police recovered a box containing 21 pounds of marijuana, and refusing to order separate trials.

For the reasons explained in this opinion, we reject their contentions. The judgments will be affirmed.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Because this appeal includes challenges to the sufficiency of evidence, we recount the facts established at trial in the light most favorable to the State. See, e.g., Davis v. State, 207 Md. App. 298, 303 (2012) (citing Moye v. State, 369 Md. 2, 12 (2002)).

A. Arrangements for the Sale of Marijuana

As of early 2018, Jeane Juste was staying at an apartment in Towson, Maryland. Juste had been paying monthly rent to the leaseholder, Jeremy Johnson,¹ so that he could sleep on a couch in the living room. Juste made money by selling marijuana.

In April 2018, Juste communicated with Stanley Brunson, an acquaintance he had known for several years. Brunson wanted to purchase 21 pounds of marijuana from Juste.

To obtain the marijuana, Juste reached out to a man he knew by the nickname "Baltimore Yo." Juste had previously met Baltimore Yo and his "friend," "Lil' Bro Yo," at a bar in Fells Point. Juste had saved their phone numbers as contacts in his phone under the names "Knuckles....LA" and "Lil Bro....LA."

The State alleges that these two sellers were Norwood Johnson and Nyghee Johnson. At trial, all parties stipulated that Norwood Johnson's nickname is Knuckles. Nyghee Johnson is Norwood Johnson's younger brother.

On April 6, 7, and 8, 2018, Juste exchanged phone calls and text messages with the two sellers, as well as with Brunson. According to Juste, they agreed on a price of $25,000 for the 21 pounds of marijuana. They arranged to meet at the apartment where Juste was staying on the morning of April 8, 2018.

Brunson arrived at the apartment building at around 11:00 a.m., along with his friend, Shameek Joyner. Juste went down to the lobby and brought them up to theapartment. Shortly after they arrived, Juste's landlord, Jeremy Johnson, left the apartment with his girlfriend. Juste's friend, Tracey Carrington, remained inside a separate room of the apartment.

Cell tower location analysis indicates that, on the morning of April 8, 2018, phones belonging to the two sellers travelled together in the direction of Juste's apartment. At 11:05 a.m., "Knuckles" sent Juste a text message with the word "Traffic." The message included a picture taken from a car interior, showing slow-moving traffic on Interstate 695.

Surveillance video shows that a black BMW with two men (a driver and passenger) entered the parking garage of the apartment building at approximately 11:21 a.m. The license plate for the BMW is registered to Norwood Johnson.

When the sellers arrived at the apartment building, Juste went to the ground floor to open the door to the parking garage. Juste joined them in the car and guided them to a parking spot on the fifth floor near his apartment. The sellers removed a duffle bag from the trunk. Inside the bag, Juste could see "plastic" and a green substance that he recognized as marijuana.

B. Shootings of Joyner and Brunson and Stabbing of Brunson

Juste testified that the sellers brought the duffle bag into the apartment where the buyers, Brunson and Joyner, were waiting. They placed the duffle bag on an ottoman in the living room and allowed Brunson to examine the contents. Juste heard Brunson say, "[S]o it is good."

According to Juste, at that point, Joyner came from behind Juste and put a gun toJuste's head. Juste reacted by pushing Joyner back against a wall and pressing his forearm against Joyner's neck. Juste called out to Brunson, "[W]hat is your boy doing?"

Then, Juste heard gunshots. Juste felt Joyner's body go limp and let the body hit the floor. Juste looked over to the living room and saw Brunson's body make a jerking motion as a result of being shot. Juste closed his eyes until he heard the apartment door shut. When he opened his eyes, the two sellers and the duffle bag were no longer in the apartment.

A resident of a lower floor of the apartment building testified that she heard three bursts of gunshots on the morning of April 8, 2018. When she heard the shots, she looked at her clock, which showed a time of 11:23 a.m.

Surveillance video shows that Norwood Johnson's BMW left the parking garage of the apartment building at approximately 11:30 a.m.

After the sellers left, Juste ran to get his friend Carrington from a bedroom. They left the building using the emergency stairs. Juste saw someone he knew driving on the street and got into the person's car. Juste soon realized that he had left his wallet inside the apartment. Surveillance video shows that Juste reentered the apartment building at 11:43 a.m.

When Juste returned to the apartment, Brunson was still alive despite having been shot several times. Juste walked past Brunson to retrieve his wallet. Juste testified that, at that point, Brunson "start[ed] threatening [him], saying I'm coming for you, coming for your name." Juste picked up a knife from the kitchen and walked back towards Brunson. According to Juste, Brunson "lunge[d] toward" him and they "start[ed]tussling." Juste stabbed Brunson repeatedly until Brunson had been subdued.

On the following day, maintenance workers found Brunson and Joyner dead inside the apartment. Ballistics analysis later revealed that the two men had been shot with two firearms, one using .40 caliber ammunition and the other using .45 caliber ammunition. The police also found live rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition in the foyer of the apartment. The police did not find handguns in the apartment, nor did they find the knife that Juste had used to stab Brunson.

Joyner's autopsy showed that he died from three gunshot wounds to his back and side. Brunson's autopsy showed that he suffered seven gunshot wounds and 36 "sharp force injuries," i.e., wounds from being stabbed or cut with a sharp implement. The medical examiner concluded that one of Brunson's gunshot wounds and one of his stab wounds, both of which passed through his chest, were "rapidly fatal," meaning an injury that would cause the person to die within five to 30 minutes. The medical examiner determined that those two wounds caused Brunson's death.²

C. Recovery of 21 Pounds of Marijuana

On April 12, 2018, four days after the killings, a detective located the black BMW registered to Norwood Johnson, parked on Elton Avenue in eastern Baltimore County. The detective saw Norwood Johnson enter the car, look around inside it, and then walk into a house on the other side of the street. Moments later, the detective saw NorwoodJohnson driving away in a different vehicle, with Nyghee Johnson in the passenger seat.

On the same day, the police obtained a warrant to search the Elton Avenue house. In the basement, the police found a cardboard box that contained a large plastic bag. The bag, in turn, contained 21 vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana weighing approximately one pound each. Fingerprints on the large plastic bag and on five of the one-pound packages matched those of Nyghee Johnson. None of the fingerprints found on the bag or packages matched those of Norwood Johnson.

At the time of the search, Brooke Sanders lived at the Elton Avenue house with her boyfriend, Dwight Jones. According to Sanders, Norwood Johnson, whom she knew as "Knuckles," had been Jones's best friend for many years. Sanders recalled that Norwood Johnson and his brother Nyghee visited the Elton Avenue house frequently in the days before the search. On the night before the search, Sanders saw Norwood and Nyghee Johnson speaking with Jones in the basement. At one point, Sanders went to the basement to do laundry, and the three men stopped talking. Sanders testified that she first noticed the large box in the basement "a few days" before the search on April 12, 2018, but she could not remember exactly how many days.

D. Convictions and Sentences

During the trial, the State withdrew counts for: attempt to distribute marijuana; use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence; possession of a regulated firearm after a disqualifying conviction; wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun on or about the person; and wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun in...