Allgood v. State, 118
| Decision Date | 01 September 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 118,118 |
| Citation | 309 Md. 58,522 A.2d 917 |
| Parties | George ALLGOOD v. STATE of Maryland. , |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Gary S. Offutt, Asst. Public Defender (Alan H. Murrell, Public Defender, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellant.
Norman L. Smith, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on the brief), Baltimore, for appellee.
Argued before ELDRIDGE, COLE, RODOWSKY, COUCH and McAULIFFE, JJ., and MARVIN H. SMITH and CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr., Associate Judges of the Court of Appeals of Maryland (retired), Specially Assigned.
CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr., Judge, Retired, Specially Assigned.
Marion Harris was found dead in his home. He died as a result of blunt trauma to the head. The manner of death was homicide. He had been robbed.
The investigation of the crime by the police led them to George M. Allgood. He was arrested and charged with the first degree murder of Harris, robbery with a deadly weapon, and related offenses.
was known to Juvenile Court. He had a very assaultive history, and those assaults all seemed to be about people's heads. He assaulted his grandmother. He was committed to Sheppard Pratt after assaulting a man with a board, puncturing a man's head, a cab driver. He was committed to Crownsville after assaulting his grandmother about the head. I felt as though this was a prime target.
But Brown was unable to uncover evidence sufficient to establish Walker's participation in the crimes. Brown felt that Walker should be brought before the bar of justice but that Walker was going "to remain on the streets unless we took some draconian action...." The "draconian action" Brown took was to enter into plea agreement negotiations with Allgood and his counsel, David Ellis. A bargain was reached. Its terms are reflected in a document entitled "Plea Agreement" which read as follows:
The Defendant, George Allgood, in case # 18335307-11, agrees to testify truthfully before the Grand Jury and in all criminal proceedings against those suspected and or charged with the murder of Mr. Marion Harris on or The State's Attorney's Office for Baltimore City, as considerations for the above, agrees to proceed against George Allgood only on the charge of manslaughter. This office also agrees to a suspended sentence along with a probationary period in lieu of any sentence involving actual incarceration after he enters a guilty plea to manslaughter in the case involving the death of Mr. Marion Harris. Further, this office will recommend the release of George Allgood from jail to the U.S. Navy on June 11, 1984. Finally, this office will write a letter to the U.S. Navy citing George Allgood's cooperation in pursuing the conviction of those responsible for the murder of Mr. Marion Harris.
about November 16, 1983, in Baltimore City. In addition to testifying truthfully as stated heretofore, George Allgood also agrees to testify to everything he remembers or should reasonably remember regarding the murder of Mr. Marion Harris. George Allgood also agrees to reveal to the State's Attorney Office of Baltimore City, prior to any sworn testimony the truth concerning the murder of Mr. Marion Harris leaving nothing out that he reasonably should remember
The plea agreement called for the signatures of the Assistant State's Attorney, Allgood and defense counsel, but it was undated and unsigned for reasons that will later appear.
Pursuant to the agreement, Allgood gave a statement to Brown and testified before the Grand Jury. It seems that his statement to Brown and his testimony under oath before the Grand Jury were substantially the same. We give a compendium of his testimony before the Grand Jury as revealed by a transcript of the proceedings. Allgood was a seaman, absent without leave from the United States Navy. He had lived briefly with Harris "[i]n my adolescence" upon the death of his mother and referred to Harris as his "godfather." On the night of the murder he went to Harris's home. Harris was alone. While they were talking the doorbell rang, "I asked him did he want me to answer Michael Walker asked my godfather could he use the phone. Michael Walker went over to use the phone. He didn't touch the phone. He picked up a hammer on the table and I heard a motion as I looked up. Next thing, Michael Walker was standing to the right of my godfather, just hitting him in the head with the hammer.
the door. He gave me permission, so I did." Allgood looked out a window and saw Walker and another person. He told Harris who was at the door and Harris said, "Open up the door, then." Walker and his companion entered the house. They all went into the kitchen. After about five or ten minutes of small talk, the conversation got around to money. Walker asked if Allgood would loan him some money and Allgood said that he did not have any. Walker asked Harris for a [522 A.2d 919] loan and Harris said he did not have any money at all
Harris fell to the floor. Walker was standing over him and Allgood tried to push him away. Walker's companion started to rifle Harris's pockets. Walker was still striking Harris with the hammer. Allgood said to Walker, "Why don't you get [obscenity] out of here." Walker said, "If you know what is best, you shut your mouth up." Allgood said that he was going to call the police. Walker said, "Man, if you know what's best you better just walk." Allgood "went out the door." Allgood said that he did not call the police because he was "like shook up after that." He went to the home of his girlfriend with whom he was staying. He had blood on his clothing which he explained by stating that he had been with someone who was stabbed. He tried to wash the blood stains out of his clothes. When he was arrested he denied having seen Harris for two weeks prior to the murder. He did not tell anyone what happened; he was afraid of Walker but planned to take revenge himself.
Even before Allgood appeared before the Grand Jury, Brown began to have doubts about the truthfulness of Allgood's story. The doubts were triggered by two close got to the point of telling her that George Allgood had said that Mr. Harris instructed him to answer the door, she also said, no, that doesn't make any sense; he doesn't do that.
relatives of Harris. Brown had called Harris's grandson to explain the plea agreement and why the "deal" had been made. He recounted Allgood's story about what had occurred. Within 30 seconds the grandson called back. He told Brown that "there is something that doesn't make sense. He said, my grandfather would never tell anybody to answer the door." Later, Brown called the grandson's mother, and, after ascertaining that she had not talked to her son, started to tell her what Allgood had said. When Brown
She went on to say there were times when the house was full of people and someone had knocked on the door, and he would say, emphatically, no, nobody answers my door.
This raised questions in Brown's mind whether Allgood was telling the truth as agreed, but he had no hard evidence that Allgood was lying. He took Allgood before the Grand Jury to testify under oath, with the warning that if he did not tell the truth he could be charged with perjury. It did not alleviate Brown's doubts that Allgood's version of what happened did not change. In the light of Brown's uncertainty as to whether Allgood was abiding by the agreement, it was proposed that Allgood take a polygraph test. Allgood agreed, but at a price.
Allgood was being detained at the Baltimore City Jail on a "no bail status" awaiting trial. He wanted to be transferred to the custody of the navy (he was AWOL) pending the taking of the test. In the words of Brown:
Otherwise, [Allgood] wanted to go to trial immediately. He was tired of sitting in City Jail. He didn't mind taking the polygraph, but he didn't want to sit in City Jail a month, waiting for it to be taken. So we said that he would go to the Navy, with the understanding, when he was required to take the polygraph, he would [take it] The State filed a "Petition for Transfer of Custody," requesting that custody of Allgood be transferred from the Baltimore City Jail to the U.S. Navy. It set out that Allgood was charged with murder and was detained at the Jail under "No Bail Status." If released to the custody of the U.S. Navy, he would be held pursuant to a detainer filed by the Baltimore City Police Department. He would be brought back at the request of the State's Attorney's Office, Baltimore City, "for the purpose of a polygraph at place and time to be designated by said office." The petition concluded:
but if he failed the polygraph, back to the City Jail he goes.
Should polygraph results reveal that George Allgood is not telling the truth about his lack of criminal involvement in the aforementioned murder that he will be remanded immediately to the appropriate Baltimore City authorities for return to the Baltimore City Jail under the No Bail Status that he is presently under.
The court ordered the transfer subject to the conditions and specifications in the petition.
Subsequently Allgood took the polygraph test. He failed. The results of the test indicated deception in response to questions regarding Allgood's intent to answer truthfully any inquiries about the robbery and murder, his knowledge of the robbery, his complicity in the plan to rob, and his hope that error would be made on the test regarding the victim's death. The results of the polygraph test, considered with "the entire nature of the case" as it had evolved, caused ...
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