State v. Stokes, 2017-251-C.A.

200 A.3d 144

STATE

v.Michael STOKES.

No. 2017-251-C.A.

(P2/15-3731AG)

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

January 29, 2019

For State: Owen Murphy, Department of the Attorney General.

For Defendant: Jodi M. Gladstone, Esq.

Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and Indeglia, JJ.

Chief Justice Suttell, for the Court.

The defendant, Michael Stokes, appeals from a Superior Court judgment of conviction on three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-5-2, for which he was sentenced to three concurrent fifteen-year sentences; three counts of discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence, in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-47-3.2(b)(2), for which he was sentenced to three concurrent twenty-year sentences, which are to run consecutive to the sentences for the assault with a dangerous weapon convictions; and one count of carrying a pistol without a license, in violation of § 11-47-8(a), for which he was sentenced to a term of five years' imprisonment, to run concurrently with the sentences for the discharging-a-firearm convictions. The defendant was also sentenced as a habitual offender to twenty-five years, with fifteen years to serve and the remainder suspended, with probation, to run consecutive to the sentences for the discharging-a-firearm convictions. The defendant seeks to have his convictions vacated, and asks this Court to grant him a new trial on the following grounds: (1) the state untimely disclosed the identity of two witnesses who were placed in witness protection; (2) the trial justice erred in admitting into evidence prior inconsistent statements made to the police by one witness; and (3) the trial justice erred in denying the defendant's motion for a new trial. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

IFacts

In the early hours of October 17, 2015, three people were shot inside El Tiburon, a small Providence sports bar with a few pool tables and a jukebox, located at the intersection of Harold and Valley Streets.

Renee Tager was one of the three victims. She testified at trial that she and a friend had arrived sometime between midnight and 12:30 a.m. She was standing by the pool tables near the back door when, "out of nowhere [she] heard a gunshot[,]" then she "heard a series of gunshots." Tager ran outside and, moments later, realized she had been shot in the leg.

The second victim, Dwayne "Fat Cat" Monteiro, testified that he arrived with a friend at El Tiburon around 1:30 a.m. for a nightcap after having had a few drinks at a friend's house and smoking marijuana. Monteiro testified that, as he was "enjoying [his] drink, some dude walked by [him] and nudged [him] with his shoulder." Monteiro, who is about six feet tall, testified that the person who bumped into him was a black male about as tall as Monteiro's shoulders. Shortly thereafter, Monteiro was shot five times. His next memories were of hearing people running and screaming, the presence of an ambulance, and being tended to by a lady.

Alize Huntley was the third person shot that night. When she was shot, she was standing by the bar waiting for her friend. In a statement Huntley gave to the police while at the hospital, she said that she felt a burning sensation in her leg, and retreated to the men's bathroom during the chaos caused by the shooting. At that point, she saw that she was bleeding and spotted a bullet on the bathroom floor.

Tameisha Haynes was also at El Tiburon that night. At the time of trial, she was thirty-two years old. Haynes, a nursing student, was meeting two friends at El Tiburon to talk through a disagreement her friends were having. When she arrived at around 12:30 a.m., Haynes and her friends first spoke outside El Tiburon, then entered the bar. Inside, people were drinking and chatting—Haynes described it as "a regular bar situation." Because people were playing loud music at the jukebox, Haynes, her friends, and her ex-boyfriend who was also present, had difficulty hearing each other. Haynes bought a drink from the bar and sat near one of the pool tables with her friends and ex-boyfriend.

Haynes first noticed defendant, whom she later identified in court, when defendant bumped into Haynes's friend, spilling her friend's drink. Haynes testified that the person was a black male, about her height or a little taller, wearing black Levi jeans and a black top.¹

Haynes noticed that defendant and another man were having "an exchange of words[.]" She slid down the pool table to avoid any chance of confrontation between the two individuals. Haynes heard defendant say, "Yeah, okay, motherfucker[,]" and saw him walk towards the exit.

According to Haynes, defendant then "unleashed the firearm and started shooting." Haynes saw defendant fire two rounds before she ran to the corner with an ATM and ducked down. After firing about five rounds, defendant exited through the Harold Street exit. As Haynes was leaving, she saw a victim bleeding on the floor. Haynes testified that, as a nursing student, she felt compelled to stop and help him.

All three victims gave statements to the police after the shooting, although, in their statements, only one could identify the shooter. Tager spoke to the police about two months after the shooting. Monteiro refused to discuss the incident with the police until just prior to trial, despite their efforts to quickly obtain a statement. Neither Monteiro nor Tager could identify the shooter. Huntley, however, was able to identify defendant as the shooter because she had known him for a few years. Huntley gave a statement to Detective Brian Dyer on October 21, 2015, while she was still in the hospital for treatment of her gunshot wound. In her statement to police, not only did she identify defendant as the shooter, but she also recounted the night's events. Huntley signed a photograph of defendant at that time and captioned it: "Mike Stokes - saw him let off shots at El Tiburon."

After the shooting, the police could not immediately locate defendant. Eleven days later, defendant was discovered in North Carolina and apprehended.

IITravel

The defendant was charged with a seven-count criminal information on November 18, 2015, and a four-day jury trial began on February 6, 2017. In addition to Haynes, Tager, Monteiro, and Huntley, the jury heard testimony by a member of the Bureau of Criminal Identification Unit of the Attorney General's Office, a forensic scientist at the Rhode Island Department of Health, and three members of the Providence police department. The jury rendered a verdict on February 15, 2017, finding defendant guilty of all seven counts. The trial justice denied defendant's motion for a new trial after a hearing on February 24, 2017. The defendant was sentenced on April 20, 2017, and he timely filed a notice of appeal.

IIIDiscussion

The defendant raises three issues on appeal. He contends that (1) he was prejudiced by a midtrial disclosure of the identity of witnesses who were placed in witness protection, in violation of Rule 16 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure ; (2) the trial justice erred when he allowed Huntley's statements to the police into evidence as prior inconsistent statements; and (3) the trial justice erred in denying defendant's motion for a new trial. We discuss each in turn.

A Rule 16

The defendant contends that the state withheld information related to witnesses Haynes's and Huntley's involvement in the witness protection program, in violation of Rule 16. The defendant had sought information related to the witness protection program several times before filing his January 30, 2017 Motion for Disclosure of Promises, Rewards, and Inducements—to which the state's alleged untimely response is at issue here. Soon after defendant's December 3, 2015 arraignment, defendant's counsel filed three pretrial motions: a motion for impeachment evidence pursuant to Giglio v. United States , 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972)² ; a motion for disclosure of promises, rewards, and inducements; and a motion for disclosure of exculpatory information, which included a specific request for any information related to protective services. On March 15, 2016, the state responded that any exculpatory information had already been disclosed in the state's discovery response, and that no statement of promises, inducements, or rewards had been made to any witness. The state's answer did not address the witness protection program.

At a pretrial motion hearing on April 15, 2016, defendant raised the state's response to his motions with the court. The state told the court there had been no promises, rewards, or inducements; and that, although there were "witness protection issues[,]" the state did not consider witness protection to be a promise, reward, or inducement. Later during the hearing, the trial justice gave the following direction: "If [the state] want[s] to give [defense counsel] * * * some indication * * * that would include whether the witness has been provided with relocation expenses, housing, apartment expenses, per diem * * * [g]ive him sort of a general response. And if [defense counsel] needs more meat on the bones, he will say so." The record is silent as to whether those details were subsequently disclosed by the state.

On October 20, 2016, defendant's counsel withdrew and, the next day, new counsel filed an entry of appearance. The defendant then filed some general discovery motions, to which the state replied with the answers and documents it had previously provided. On January 30, 2017—a week before trial was scheduled to begin—defendant filed a Motion for Disclosure of Promises, Rewards, and Inducements. The defendant's counsel, being relatively new to the case, admitted at a pretrial hearing on February 2, 2017 that, although the same motion had likely been filed by prior counsel, it was easier for her to file a new motion than to sort through prior counsel's files. The state filed its...