Alexis v. State, 45

• Decision Date: 24 March 2014
• Docket Number: No. 45,45
• Parties: JAMAAL GARVIN ALEXIS v. STATE OF MARYLAND
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

JAMAAL GARVIN ALEXIS v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 45

COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND

Argued: January 10, 2014

September Term, 2013

Filed: March 24, 2014

Jamaal Garvin Alexis v. State of Maryland, No. 45

CRIMINAL LAW — SIXTH AMENDMENT — RIGHT TO COUNSEL OF CHOICE — DISQUALIFICATION OF COUNSEL: Although a criminal defendant is afforded a presumption in favor of his or her counsel of choice under the Sixth Amendment, this right is qualified in many important respects. In deciding whether to disqualify a criminal defendant's selection of counsel due to a conflict of interest, a trial court is afforded wide discretion. In this case, the trial court conducted a hearing on the matter and made evidentiary-based findings that the interests of fairness and maintenance of ethical standards outweighed the defendant's right to counsel of choice due to a conflict of interest arising from the chosen counsel's prior representation of one of the State's material witnesses. Such an exercise of discretion was not so far beyond the fringe of the court's discretionary range as to require reversal.

CRIMINAL LAW — RULE OF LENITY — SENTENCING MERGER — SOLICITATIONS: Petitioner was convicted of violating Criminal Law Article § 9-302 (solicitation for the purpose of preventing future testimony) and § 9-303 (solicitation for the purpose of retaliating for prior testimony). Both statutes have a subsection that precludes merging the sentence for that offense with a contemporary other sentence for conviction of "any crime." Thus, because the plain language of the statutes indicates explicitly that the General Assembly did not intend the sentences to merge, the rule of lenity was inapplicable.

CRIMINAL LAW — "FUNDAMENTAL FAIRNESS" — SENTENCING MERGER — SOLICITATIONS: Because the plain language of Criminal Law Article §§ 9-302(d) and 9-303(d) indicated that the General Assembly did not intend the sentences to merge with a contemporaneous conviction for any other crime, the principle of "fundamental fairness" that, at times, require merger of sentences in cases where the rule of lenity and the doctrine of merger are inapplicable, does not apply.

Circuit Court for Prince George's County

Case Nos. CT08-0504X; CT09-1040B

Barbera, C.J.,

Harrell,

Battaglia,

Greene,

Adkins,

McDonald,

Cathell, Dale R. (Retired,

Specially Assigned),

JJ.

Opinion by Harrell, J.

Following a sixteen-day trial (4 - 29 October 2010) of consolidated cases, a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County convicted Petitioner, Jamaal Garvin Alexis ("Alexis"), in the first case (CT08-0504X), of second-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon of Raymond Brown, use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, common law conspiracy to commit theft over $500, and two counts of theft over $500. In the second case (CT09-1040B), the jury convicted Alexis of solicitation to obstruct justice by preventing Bobby Ennels, a purported witness to the murder of Brown in the first case, from testifying at trial in that case, and solicitation to obstruct justice by retaliating against Ennels for his prior testimony before the grand jury in the first case. On 14 December 2010, Alexis was sentenced to a total of one hundred and forty years of incarceration, twenty of which was for the first solicitation conviction and another twenty of which was for the second solicitation conviction.

The cases were consolidated for appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, which affirmed the Circuit Court's judgment. Alexis v. State, 209 Md. App. 630, 61 A.3d 104 (2013). We shall affirm as well, holding first that the trial court exercised its discretion properly in disqualifying one of Alexis's defense counsel, who had represented previously a key State's witness in an unrelated and earlier criminal matter (which conflict of interest the witness refused to waive) and, second, that merger is precluded for convictions of the two counts of solicitation where the relevant statutes contained parallel anti-merger provisions.

I. PERTINENT FACTS

A. The Background¹

1. The murder of Raymond Brown and related crimes.

On the morning of 13 October 2006, Danielle Steele Brown and her husband, Raymond Brown, were awakened by the raucous sound of Mr. Brown's car alarm. From a window of their dwelling in the Largo area of Prince George's County, Ms. Brown observed a tow truck towing away Mr. Brown's car, a black Chrysler 300. The Browns, in an attempt to locate a sign in the community with the name of the company that occasionally towed cars parked illegally in the area, drove in Ms. Brown's car to the entrance of their community, where they saw the tow truck with the Chrysler attached. According to Ms. Brown's testimony at trial, Mr. Brown got out of the car and, as Mr. Brown approached the tow truck, a man standing next to the truck ran away. Gunfire came from the driver's side of the tow truck. Mr. Brown fell to the ground, injured. The tow truck drove away with the Chrysler. Mr. Brown was taken to a local hospital where he died as a result of a gunshot wound to his chest.

Later that day, law enforcement officers recovered the Chrysler, which had been abandoned (sans tires and with a broken door window on the driver's side), as well as an abandoned, stolen Snatchman tow truck with a broken door window on the driver's side as well. Inside the cabin of the tow truck, the officers found a cartridge casing. Whenthe officers "dusted" the vehicles for fingerprints, they were able to "lift" a latent fingerprint belonging to Neiman Marcus Edmonds from the hood of the Chrysler. Corroborating Edmonds's involvement in the events of October 13, approximately six months after the shooting, Ms. Brown identified Edmonds from a photographic array as the man who had been standing next to the tow truck on the night of her deceased husband's shooting and ran.

According to the testimonies of Edmonds and the other State's witnesses at Alexis's trial, Alexis had a history of stealing cars using a Snatchman tow truck² for the purpose of stripping the tires off the cars to sell the rims, and then abandoning the car. Some of these witnesses claimed that Alexis admitted to shooting and killing Brown. Edmonds testified that Alexis, Ennels, and he drove to Largo to steal a car in the late evening of 12 October 2006. Alexis drove a stolen Snatchman tow truck. Bobby Ennels drove his car, with Edmonds asleep in the back seat. Alexis backed the tow truck into the Browns' driveway, put the forks under the Chrysler 300 (which had 22-inch rims), and picked it up. When Alexis picked up the Chrysler, the car's alarm sounded. Alexis drove the truck (with the car attached) to the front of the community, where Ennels broke the Chrysler's door window on the driver side and popped the hood so that Edmonds could disable the alarm.

As Edmonds disabled the alarm, another car approached. When a man stepped out of the second car, Edmonds ran to Ennels's car. Edmonds testified that, as he ran to the car, he heard a "slight pow" and glass breaking. Ennels and Edmonds drove to a previously agreed upon meet-up location, where they found Alexis with the tow truck (with a newly broken window) and the Chrysler attached. Edmonds asked Alexis if the man in the second car shot at them; Alexis did not reply. The trio stripped the Chrysler of its tires, "wiped down" the car and the tow truck, and abandoned both vehicles. The next day, according to Edmonds's testimony, Alexis, Edmonds, and Ennels were at the house of Brian Barnes (a mutual acquaintance) when Alexis told Edmonds that he shot Brown (the man in the second car) because he saw Brown get out of the car with something in his hand.

On 27 March 2008, the State charged Petitioner, Jamaal Garvin Alexis, with murder, carjacking, and related crimes with respect to Brown.

2. The murder of Bobby Ennels.

Also, according to Edmonds's testimony, Ennels was present at Barnes's house on 14 October 2006 during the conversation in which Alexis admitted to shooting Brown the previous day. According to Edmonds, this conversation led Ennels to "freak[] out," which, in turn, caused Alexis to worry that Ennels might "snitch." Edmonds asserted to Alexis that Ennels would not do that. Approximately one month later, Alexis asked Edmonds if he thought Alexis should kill Ennels if Ennels tried to snitch. Edmonds re-affirmed his confidence in Ennels. Nevertheless, Alexis suggested that Edmonds getEnnels drunk one night and in a car, pull up to a stop light, and let Alexis "do the rest." Edmonds refused.

On 3 October 2008, Alexis, while detained at the Prince George's County Detention Center, called Deaundrey Shropshire, who was raised with the Alexis family and was the current roommate of Alexis's brother, Rashadd. Alexis asked him, "What's going on with my M?" Shropshire responded, "You still haven't told me what you want me to do with that [guy]."³

Three days later, on 6 October 2008, according to the State's witness, Ms. Frances Lammons, Ennels, Anthony Cash, III, and Lammons drove to a location on Nalley Road in the County. Upon arrival, Ennels called someone and stated, "You all can come on down . . . ." Approximately two minutes later, two men approached the car. Lammons testified that one man was "brown skin[ned with a] short haircut," and the second man was "brown skin[ned] with dreads." According to Lammons, Ennels told the men, "You all don't have to worry about nothing[;] It's okay. It's cool." Whereupon, the man with the short haircut shot Ennels. Upon being shot, Ennels put the car into reverse and crashed into a tree. Lammons and Cash got out of the car and ran. Lammons was shot in the elbow while fleeing.

Ennels was found dead in the driver's seat of the car. Cash was found dead, as a result of gunshot wounds to the back, forearm, and knee, in the driveway of a nearby home at 406 Nalley Road. In a neighboring house at 404 Nalley Road, law enforcementofficers found a black skull cap, which contained a mixed DNA profile. Analysts...