Arrington v. State

• Decision Date: 17 November 2009
• Docket Number: No. 60, September Term, 2008.,60, September Term, 2008.
• Citation: 983 A.2d 1071,411 Md. 524
• Parties: Jermaine Deeric ARRINGTON v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

983 A.2d 1071

411 Md. 524

Jermaine Deeric ARRINGTON v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 60, September Term, 2008.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

November 17, 2009.

George E. Burns, Jr., Asst. Public Defender (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, and Suzanne K. Drouet, Asst. Public Defender, of Baltimore), on brief, for appellant.

Robert Taylor, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen. (Douglas F. Gansler, Atty. Gen., of Maryland, of Baltimore), on brief, for appellee.

Argued before: BELL, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, MURPHY, ADKINS and BARBERA, JJ.

ADKINS, J.

After his conviction for second degree murder, Appellant Jermaine D. Arrington filed a motion for a new trial based on exculpatory DNA evidence pursuant to Maryland Code (2001, 2006 Supp.), Section 8-201 of the Criminal Procedure Article (CP), which the postconviction court denied. We vacate the postconviction court's order because the DNA evidence obtained after his conviction provides a substantial possibility that the jury would have reached a different outcome had this evidence been presented at trial.

FACTS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

After a jury trial in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County on August 7-10, 1995, Appellant Arrington was convicted of second degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of Paul Simmons. The events giving rise to this appeal began at a birthday party held in the honor of Erica Smith, age 14, at her house in Montgomery County on August 13, 1994. Arrington, Ray Canty, and two other friends arrived at the party around 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. At trial, Lyle Peterson testified that between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m., he, Simmons and a group of his friends came to Erica's house to watch a professional fight on television. At approximately 10:45 to 11:00 p.m., the party began to break up, and Arrington and his friends left the home heading in the direction of their cars.

Erica testified that as the group was departing, someone in Arrington's group bumped into Peterson. Words were exchanged between the two groups and a fistfight broke out involving Arrington, one or two of his friends, and several of Simmons's friends. Ray Davis, a member of Simmons's group, testified that he saw Arrington approach Simmons and stab him in the chest. Erica's younger sister, Tiffani Smith, testified that she saw Arrington pull a knife from underneath his pants leg and that Arrington then "came up from ... behind [Simmons] and ... reached out and stabbed him." Peterson testified that he saw Arrington holding a knife before the fight. Simmons later died.

Erica testified that immediately after the stabbing, Arrington made hand motions and said "`Yeah, nigger, that's right. I shanked you with my butterfly. You don't know who you fucking with. We the Hobart Stars." Erica's mother, Michelle Smith, testified that she tried to break up the fight and heard Arrington state: "`we're the Hobart Stars and you don't `F' with us'" and "`I shanked you.'" Arrington's group fled the scene, but Arrington and other members of his group were eventually identified through photographs that had been taken by a guest at the party. Arrington was arrested and charged with first degree murder. Montgomery County Police Department Detective Edward Tarney testified that he arrested Arrington on August 15, 1994 in Washington, D.C. Tarney testified that at the time of Arrington's arrest, Arrington's hair was in corn rows, that he had some facial hair, and that he was wearing a dark-colored tank top and gray sweat pants. Erica Smith testified that, at the time of the fight, Arrington "had a bush-type, little Afro type of a hairstyle." Michelle Smith also testified that Arrington had a "bush" hairstyle at the time of the fight.

In addition to hearing from the individuals who witnessed the knife fight, the jury heard testimony from Charles Heurich, a forensic chemist with the Montgomery County Police Department Crime Laboratory. Heurich testified that he examined several blood stains on Arrington's gray sweat pants. According to Heurich, the stains were "consistent with the blood type of the victim in this particular case, or any other individual with the same blood type" because the blood sample contained the enzyme "PGM 1." Various witnesses testified that Arrington had been wearing gray sweat pants at the party, and Officer Tarney testified that gray sweat pants were seized from Arrington at the time of his arrest.

The defense contended that the witnesses were mistaken in their identification of Arrington as the perpetrator and presented evidence implying that the true perpetrator was Canty. The defense introduced a statement given to the police by Richard Antiguas, a 13-year-old who had attended the party with his father. In the signed statement, Antiguas wrote: "`I was standing out in front of the house when the guy with the braids took out a knife and stabbed the guy.'" During cross-examination, Lyle Peterson acknowledged that he told police the night of the murder that the stabber was "Ray" who he identified further as the individual with "three plaits, braided strands[.]"

During its deliberations, the jury presented the judge with the following question regarding a handwritten note apparently found on the blood report: "`The jury has a question regarding the penciled 59 percent next to stain no. 1 on the waste band of the defendant's sweat pants.... Does 59 percent of the population have matching PGM 1?'"<sup>1</sup> The judge responded, to the satisfaction of the State and defense counsel: "`You must rely on your own collective recollection of the evidence in this case.'" The jury convicted Arrington of second degree murder. During Arrington's November 2, 1995 sentencing, he said the following:

I can't take back what happened that night and I know that I can never bring Paul back. I mean I understand the pain and the sorrow that the Simmons family is going through, especially Mrs. Simmons because me and her had a personal relationship and I always looked to her as somewhat of a guardian to me while I was in school.

When I found out that this was her son that was killed that night, I didn't know how to react. I didn't know how to take it because I knew that I hurt somebody that I cared about and I don't know what I can do or what I can say to let her know how sorry I am for what happened that night, not just to Mrs. Simmons but to her whole family.

* * *

I know I can never bring Paul back. I am sorry for what happened that night, but I beg of you, Your Honor, have mercy on me.

For the family, I am sorry what happened that night. Mrs. Simmons, I beg you please forgive me. I never meant for this to happen. The rest of the family, I am so sorry, but there's nothing I can do. I can't bring him back.

Arrington was sentenced to thirty years of incarceration with five years suspended.²

Petition For Post Conviction Relief For Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel

On July 28, 2000, Arrington filed a Petition for Post Conviction Relief alleging ineffective assistance of counsel because "[c]ounsel failed to have the blood evidence presented in the case tested through a DNA analysis. Petitioner requested that Counsel conduct a DNA test. However, one was never done." Arrington requested a new trial, vacation of the sentencing and/or re-sentencing, a hearing on the Petition for Post Conviction Relief, and such other and further relief as may be required. On September 12, 2001, there was a hearing in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County on Arrington's request. At his hearing, Arrington relayed what he told his trial counsel about the blood on his sweat pants:

Well, I think it was right before we picked—started having jury selection, and he came to me and said, "We have some bad news," and I'm like, "What is it?"

He's like, "Well, they say they have— they've got blood evidence. They say they have the victim's blood on your clothes. Do you know how it got there?" I said, "No, I don't." I said, "I don't have the victim's blood on my clothes." He said, "Well, this is what they say."

I said, "Well, the only blood I had on my pants is the blood from a female friend that I had sex with." And so, he was like, "So, tell me how that got on your clothes." So, I told him how I had sex with a female and the blood got on my pants, and he was like, "I don't think the jury is going to believe that," and he was like, "It's hard for me to believe." I said, "Well, I'm telling you the truth."

I said, "All we have to do is get a DNA test done." He was like, "Well, we've postponed enough, and I think—I don't think we're able to postpone again," or something of that nature.

Arrington also referenced the jury's note regarding blood evidence. The State's Attorney who tried the case testified that he did not think it was necessary to order DNA testing because so many eyewitnesses testified that Arrington was the attacker and witnesses also testified that he gloated about the attack immediately afterward. According to Arrington's trial counsel, Arrington never asked him to conduct DNA testing. Arrington's counsel testified that Arrington related to him— not on the eve of trial, but "some time earlier"—that the blood on his clothing came from a woman he had sex with, but that Arrington would provide him no further details about said woman. Arrington's counsel explained why he did not request further DNA testing on the blood samples:

I weighed—the evidence that we had been provided with by the State showed that he had been identified by a number of eyewitnesses who had ample time to observe him over a long period of time. The evidence also showed that he was at the scene, because there was at least one photograph taken by one of the party participants where he was clearly in the photograph.

A number of the witnesses clearly identified him as being the person who either actually stabbed Mr. Simmons and-or stated that he had stabbed Mr. Simmons with different types of words, either "I cut him" or—I don't recall the various words, but they...