McLendon v. State

1

QUADARI ISAIAH MCLENDON v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 712-2022

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

December 22, 2023

UNREPORTED IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF MARYLAND ^[*]

Circuit Court for Howard County Case No. C-13-CR-20-000229

Nazarian, Shaw, Kenney, James A., III (Senior Judge Specially Assigned), JJ.

OPINION

Nazarian, J.

In December 2019, while taking a break from baking Christmas cookies, Kimberlee Turner saw a masked intruder attempting to invade her Howard County home though the sliding glass door. The following month, Quadari Isaiah McLendon was charged with the attempted home invasion. Not until March 2022-after a series of pandemic-induced delays, the resolution of a simultaneous but unrelated proceeding in Prince George's County, and service of a sealed, superseding indictment-was Mr. McLendon ultimately convicted of attempted home invasion, conspiracy to commit home invasion, second-degree assault, and conspiracy to commit second-degree assault.

On appeal, Mr. McLendon challenges the circuit court's denial of his motion to dismiss the State's indictment on speedy trial grounds. He also contends that the circuit court abused its discretion by refusing to admit statements he made during an unrecorded police interview, that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions and, finally, that his conviction for conspiracy to commit second-degree assault must be vacated because it merges into the conviction for conspiracy to commit home invasion. With one exception, we hold that the circuit court did not err in its decisions and find sufficient evidence to support Mr. McLendon's convictions and sentence. The exception: we vacate his conviction for conspiracy to commit second-degree assault on unit-of-prosecution grounds, but otherwise affirm the judgments of the Circuit Court for Howard County.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History.

The State filed two separate indictments in the Circuit Court for Howard County against Mr. McLendon for the underlying home invasion: case C-13-CR-20-000045 and case C-13-CR-20-000229. We'll refer to the first case as the "-045" case and the second as the "-229" case.

The -045 indictment was filed on January 22, 2020, when a grand jury charged Mr. McLendon with seven counts including attempted home invasion, conspiracy to commit home invasion, first-degree assault of Ms. Turner, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault of Ms. Turner, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, second-degree assault of Ms. Turner's son (who was also home at the time), and conspiracy to commit second-degree assault of Ms. Turner's son. The same day, the Howard County Sheriff's Office issued a warrant and lodged a detainer with the Prince George's County Detention Center, where Mr. McLendon was held for armed carjacking and other charges stemming from an unrelated incident.

On February 14, 2020, Mr. McLendon appeared pro se in the Circuit Court for Howard County for an arraignment hearing at which a motions hearing and a trial date were scheduled for March 20, 2020, and April 14, 2020, respectively. The Howard County detainer remained outstanding, which meant that if Mr. McLendon were released on his Prince George's County case, he would be released to Howard County authorities. On March 1, 2020, counsel for Mr. McLendon filed a motion for bond review in Howard County, arguing that but for the Howard County detainer, the Circuit Court for Prince George's County would have released Mr. McLendon on pretrial home detention. A Zoom hearing was held on March 24, 2020, but the court denied the motion.

Due to court closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. McLendon's -045 trial date was rescheduled four times between April 14, 2020 and January 11, 2021. In the meantime, on July 15, 2020, the State filed the -229 superseding indictment, which added the names of alleged conspirators and eliminated counts from the original -045 indictment.^[1] The -229 indictment remained sealed and unserved while the -045 case remained pending and the Prince George's County case progressed. Ultimately, the -045 trial was re-scheduled for June 23, 2021. All parties appeared at trial, where the State nol prossed the -045 indictment and Mr. McLendon made a speedy trial demand on the record.

On September 21, 2021, the Howard County Sheriff's Office lodged another detainer for the -229 case with the Prince George's County Detention Center so that Mr. McLendon would continue to be held until his Prince George's County matter was resolved. The Prince George's County criminal case was resolved finally on September 24, 2021, and the next day, the -229 indictment was unsealed and Mr. McLendon was served with it. Mr. McLendon requested bond review for the -229 case and the Circuit Court for Howard County again denied bond.

On October 18, 2021, Mr. McLendon filed a written motion to dismiss the -229 superseding indictment on speedy trial grounds. He asserted that the "two indictments effectively held him in Prince George[']s County . . . because they made him ineligible for home detention," that the delay was "presumptively prejudicial," and that "a dismissal of the charging document [wa]s the only remedy for this violation ...."

The State filed an opposition conceding "that if the Court determines . . . January 24, 2020 is the triggering date, there is a presumptively prejudicial delay," but argued that under Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972), there was no constitutional violation. Primarily, the State disputed Mr. McLendon's characterization that the "two indictments . . . made him ineligible for home detention":

While the Defendant ultimately plead guilty to motor vehicle theft in the Prince George's County case, he was originally charged with armed carjacking and held without bond as of February 3, 2020. The . . . Prince George's County Circuit Court denied a motion to reduce bond on August 16, 2021. The State finds it difficult to believe that a Defendant, with a first degree assault conviction from 2009 and a possess/receive contraband while incarcerated [conviction] from 2015, would be granted home detention. The Defendant was held in Prince George's County, not Howard County, from January 3, 2022 until he was transferred to the Howard County Detention Center on September 25, 2021. Oppressive pretrial incarceration includes the qualifier "oppressive." The Defendant requested multiple bail reviews, both by counsel and Pro Se. Multiple judges of this Court believed that a no bond bail was appropriate, considering the facts of the case and the Defendant's criminal record. His pretrial incarceration was not and is not oppressive.

The State also argued that Mr. McLendon hadn't presented any evidence that he "suffered any anxiety and concern beyond that which is expected," nor had the delay caused "any impairment to the defense."

Mr. McLendon's motion was heard and denied on February 4, 2022. The court walked through its analysis, applying Singh v. State, 247 Md.App. 322, 338 (2020), and found that it would consider the filing of the -045 indictment the triggering date for measuring the length of the delay. The court found that the delay of 560 days was of a constitutional dimension, but tolled 435 days for pandemic delays, leaving 125 days. The court then applied the Barker v. Wingo factors and found no bad faith on the part of the State, noting the pandemic and the fact that "the State was trying to work with the Defendant in reaching a global plea" involving the Prince George's County matter. Finally, the court found no prejudice to Mr. McLendon in terms of his ability to gather evidence:

I have nothing to show that there is a prejudice in terms of any evidentiary issues due to that delay. What has been discussed here is certainly him being held but he was held in Prince George's County on other charges although still home detention as you've pointed out . . ., it was no bond, but he could have served it on home detention because of those security issues ....

Balancing the factors, the court concluded that "given the reasons for the delay of the pandemic, and the delay in the jury trials from that piece of things, and in light of Mr. McLendon being in Prince George's County on other issues, I do not find that in balance . . . that the factors weigh in the Defendant's favor," and denied the motion.

B. -229 Case Trial.

During Mr. McLendon's two-day trial on March 15 and 16, 2022, Ms. Turner testified that on December 17, 2019, she was baking Christmas cookies in her kitchen before taking a seat on her couch in the family room. Ms. Turner heard a noise and saw someone on her back deck through her rear sliding glass door. She recounted that the person, masked and dressed in dark clothing, was "trying to pull the handle, and they had a gun." Ms. Turner also testified that based on his "framework" and what she could make of his face, she thought the person was a black male.

Video surveillance of the incident showed that the person touched near the door handle and that a second male stood hidden behind the curtains and out of her view. When the intruder pointed a black handgun at her face, Ms. Turner ran to her hallway and activated an audible security alarm that alerted the police. She activated the alarm at approximately 4:55 p.m.

At 5:21 p.m., crime scene technician John Holt arrived at the scene and viewed the footage to determine what surfaces to process for fingerprints. Mr. Holt testified that based on the video the intruder was not wearing gloves. Mr. Holt then found fingerprints on the glass door using black carbon powder and scotch tape. Mr. Holt lifted and taped latent prints to three white cards. The two prints on the first card were recovered from the exterior of the...