Manchame-Guerra v. State

457 Md. 300

178 A.3d 1

Rudy Ismael MANCHAME–GUERRA

v.STATE of Maryland

No. 14, Sept. Term, 2017

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

January 23, 2018

Argued by: Michael T. Torres, Asst. Public Defender (Paul B. DeWolfe, Public Defender of Maryland, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Petitioner.

Argued by: Daniel J. Jawor, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Brian E. Frosh, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Respondent.

Argued before: Barbera, C.J., Greene, Adkins, McDonald, Watts, Hotten, Getty, JJ.

Barbera, C.J.

On the night of July 14, 2012, Saul Felipe–Augustine was fatally shot outside an apartment in Langley Park in Prince George's County, Maryland. Rudy Ismael Manchame–Guerra, Petitioner, was later arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr. Felipe–Augustine. Petitioner was charged with first-degree murder and related offenses and in April 2015 was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County. The jury acquitted Petitioner of first-degree murder and found him guilty of second-degree murder and related charges.

During Petitioner's April 2015 trial, the State called as a witness Edi Felipe, who testified that he had seen Petitioner shoot Mr. Felipe–Augustine. At the time he offered that testimony, Edi Felipe was facing charges of first- and fourth-degree burglary, misdemeanor theft, and carrying a concealed dangerous weapon. Those charges arose out of a 2013 crime—unrelated to the case before us—that occurred in Prince George's County and remained pending. Petitioner sought to cross-examine Edi Felipe as to whether, in return for his testimony, he expected or hoped for a benefit from the State in connection with those pending criminal charges. The trial court refused to permit Petitioner to pursue that line of questioning. Petitioner contends that, by so ruling, the court committed reversible error. For the reasons that follow, we agree.

I.Facts and Procedural History

A. The Evidence Offered at Trial

On the evening of the fatal shooting in July 2012, Mr. Felipe–Augustine (hereinafter "the victim") went to an apartment in Langley Park where food and drinks were sold. The victim was accompanied by his friend, Edi Felipe. Mr. Felipe testified as a witness for the State that, while at the apartment, the victim got into an argument with a man unknown to Mr. Felipe (and later identified as Petitioner by another witness). Mr. Felipe and the victim soon decided to leave. Mr. Felipe left the apartment first, walked partway down the staircase directly outside the apartment, then paused and looked back in the direction of the apartment. He saw the victim walk through the apartment doorway into the hall and Petitioner follow. According to Mr. Felipe, the victim turned around to face Petitioner, who then shot the victim once in the head at close range.

Petitioner was developed as a suspect and ultimately arrested in Nassau County, New York on September 5, 2013, in connection with the July 2012 killing. When interviewed by the police, Petitioner did not deny that he was present when the victim was shot; he denied, however, firing the fatal shot. According to Petitioner, the victim had pushed him, tried to hit him with a fire extinguisher, and drew a weapon, which discharged when Petitioner tried to wrest the gun from the victim's hand.

In December 2013, the police contacted Mr. Felipe. When interviewed by Detective Marcos Rodriguez, Mr. Felipe described the shooter as dark-haired and not very tall. Mr. Felipe testified at trial that he had twice viewed a photo array presented to him—once at the December 2013 interview with the police and again within two months of the start of Petitioner's trial. Mr. Felipe further testified that he did not identify anyone as the shooter.¹

B. Defense Counsel's Attempted Impeachment of Mr. Felipe

The State's theory of the case, based in large part on the testimony of Mr. Felipe, was that Petitioner mortally wounded the victim in an "execution style" shooting following their argument inside the apartment. The defense's theory was that the shooting was an accident. Crucial to the success of the defense's theory, therefore, was casting doubt upon the credibility of Mr. Felipe's testimony. Defense counsel sought to do that by questioning Mr. Felipe about criminal charges in an unrelated case that were pending at the time of his testimony at Petitioner's trial. In particular, defense counsel wanted to ask Mr. Felipe if he expected or hoped to obtain a benefit from the State in connection with those charges, in return for testimony favorable to the prosecution.

During a bench conference conducted prior to that attempted cross-examination, defense counsel informed the court that Mr. Felipe was then facing pending charges of first- and fourth-degree burglary, theft of property valued less than $1000, and unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon. Counsel cited Maryland Rule 5–616(a)(4), which allows impeachment through "questions that are directed at ... [p]roving that the witness is biased, prejudiced, interested in the outcome of the proceeding, or has a motive to testify falsely." The bench conference included the following, beginning with an exchange between the court and defense counsel:

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: I thought it may be best to address with you, before the jury comes in, this witness, Edi Felipe, has an outstanding warrant for a first degree burglary theft case.

I pulled the Statement of Charges. Originally, he was charged with fourth degree burglary, theft over a thousand dollars, [and] making a false statement to police for not providing the correct name upon his arrest.²

A warrant, or an indictment, came down October 31st, 2013. A bench warrant issued November 1st, 2013. That is still outstanding.

I am seeking to ask Mr. Felipe questions about that, ... under [ Rule] 5–616(a)(4), to the—for the jury to make a judgment as to whether Mr. Felipe imagines for himself any positive result or benefit as a result of his testimony here ....

The particular reason, Judge, that I thought this was relevant in this case is because, I think the testimony of Detective Rodriguez will bear out, Detective Rodriguez was the first detective to interview Mr. Felipe, and that occurred December 19th, 2013.

So the bench warrant was already outstanding. The indictment already existed prior to Mr. Felipe ever giving a statement to the police about what he knew of the events of July 14th, 2012.

There is also a note in [the] detective notes from Detective Rodriguez that he was aware as of December 10th, 2013, that Mr. Felipe had this outstanding indictment.

Mr. Felipe, for the Court's knowledge, was arrested, taken to jail. The incident stems from June 2013. He posted a bond and was released at the District Court level, but about five months later, the case was indicted.

Defense counsel also presented an exhibit composed of five documents relating to the then-pending charges against Mr. Felipe: (1) a District Court Statement of Charges dated June 15, 2013; (2) a statement of probable cause accompanying the District Court Statement of Charges; (3) proof of the issuance of a District Court bail bond for $20,000 set on June 20, 2013; (4) an October 31, 2013, circuit court indictment listing charges of first-degree burglary, fourth-degree burglary, theft of property valued less than $1000, and concealing a dangerous weapon; and (5) an arrest warrant issued on November 1, 2013, for Mr. Felipe in connection with the burglary case.³

Defense counsel's proffer aimed to show that Mr. Felipe was biased by a motive to testify falsely due to his own pending charges in the same jurisdiction in which Petitioner was being tried. Counsel emphasized that Detective Rodriguez, who first spoke with Mr. Felipe in December 2013, knew about his pending charges; the first conversation happened roughly a year and a half after the murder; and those charges remained pending at the time of Petitioner's trial in April 2015.

The State responded that Detective Rodriguez had spoken to Mr. Felipe only about Petitioner's case, the State did not make any kind of deal or discuss any benefit to Mr. Felipe, and the pending charges against him were irrelevant:

[PROSECUTOR]: What I can say for certainty is that no deal has ever been made. And actually, [Mr. Felipe] never made conversation about receiving a deal. And all discussions that he's had with Detective Rodriguez and the State's Attorney's Office [have] solely been in relation to what he observed on July 14th of 2012.

Defense counsel replied:

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: [I]t is for the jury to determine based on Mr. Felipe's answers whether or not he perceives that there may be a benefit to him from participating here as a witness for the State.

And I would cite to the Calloway case ... which indicates that the defense should be given wide latitude to cross-examine a witness on their anticipation of benefit in their own pending matters and that that is a matter for the jury to determine.

The court sustained the State's objection to defense counsel's request to question Mr. Felipe pursuant to Rule 5–616(a)(4). The court explained: "The Court is not going to allow any impeachment that doesn't—that hasn't resulted in a conviction. There is no factual basis in the record at this time that the conduct alleged by this witness has actually occurred."

The jury returned a verdict of "not guilty" as to first-degree murder, "guilty" as to second-degree murder, and "guilty" as to use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. The court sentenced Petitioner to twenty-five years of incarceration for second-degree murder and a consecutive ten years of incarceration for use of a handgun.

C. The Appeal

Petitioner noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the circuit court in an unreported opinion. Manchame–Guerra v. State , No. 899, 2017 WL 193159, at *6 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Jan. 18, 2017). One of Petitioner's claims before that court⁴ was that the trial court erroneously prevented defense counsel from...