Baynor v. State
| Decision Date | 31 August 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 145,145 |
| Citation | 736 A.2d 325,355 Md. 726 |
| Parties | Gary BAYNOR v. STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Julia Doyle Bernhardt, Assistant Public Defender (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender, on brief), Baltimore, for petitioner.
Kathryn Grill Graeff, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, on brief), Baltimore, for respondent.
Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL and ROBERT L. KARWACKI (retired, specially assigned), JJ.
The petitioner, Gary Baynor (Baynor), here seeks reversal of his conviction for murder and other offenses, contending that the State failed to furnish discoverable information concerning Baynor's confession and that the trial court abused its discretion in circumscribing, both at the suppression hearing and at Baynor's jury trial, the defense examination of the detectives who obtained the confession.1 On the evening of February 1, 1996, Dion Williams (Williams) and Marvin Nock (Nock) were shot while standing at the 3300 block of Edgewood Street in Baltimore City. Williams was struck four times and later died from a gunshot wound to his chest. Nock was struck three times, in his chest, hip, and foot, and survived.
After Nock was discharged from the hospital, he assisted homicide detectives from the Baltimore City Police Department in preparing a composite of two shooting suspects. As a result of their investigation the homicide detectives ultimately were able to present Nock with an array of six photographs from which he identified Baynor as one of the shooters.
On September 26, 1996, Baynor, then nineteen years old, was arrested on charges of death-eligible, first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, assault with intent to murder, and the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. He was interviewed about noon that day by Homicide Detectives Michael Glenn and Wayne Jones in a room in the Homicide Unit at the Police Headquarters. Baynor asked why he was brought to the Homicide Unit, and Detective Glenn told him that he was charged with murder. Baynor then asked what penalty could he receive for murder, and Detective Glenn responded that he could receive either life imprisonment or the death penalty.2
At 12:41 p.m. Baynor was taken to be photographed. Between 12:48 and 12:58 p.m. the detectives obtained Baynor's identifying information. Following a brief recess, Detectives Glenn and Jones advised Baynor of his Miranda rights from 1:10 to 1:28 p.m. With the aid of an explanation of rights form, the detectives advised Baynor that: (1) he had the absolute right to remain silent; (2) anything he said or wrote may be used against him in a court of law; (3) he had the right to talk to a lawyer at any time; (4) he had a right to have a lawyer appointed for him if he wanted one and could not afford to hire one; and (5) even if he agreed to answer questions he could stop at any time and request a lawyer and no further questions would be asked. At 1:28 p.m. Baynor completed the form and acknowledged that he fully understood his rights and that he was freely and voluntarily willing to answer questions without having an attorney present. The interview began at 1:28 p.m. and concluded at 3:21 p.m. with an audio tape recorded statement that began at 3:12 p.m. In the recorded statement Baynor admitted shooting at Williams and Nock. Specifically, Baynor stated that he and a friend had planned to rob Williams and Nock, but then either Williams or Nock pulled out a gun and began shooting.3
The transcription of Baynor's recorded statement is seven and one quarter letter size pages. The first two pages are a point by point reconfirmation by Baynor of his written waiver of rights. The inculpatory section of that transcript reads as follows:
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"BAYNOR: About 20, 30, 40 dollars."
Baynor was indicted, and the first appearance of his counsel was on December 11, 1996. That day, the State disclosed that Baynor had made a taped statement, and the tape and a transcript of it were made available to the defense.
In January 1997, Baynor requested that the State, pursuant to Maryland Rule 4-263, furnish to him, inter alia, "any relevant material or information regarding the acquisition of statements made by the defendant," and the substance of each oral statement made by Baynor to a State agent that the State intended to use at hearing or trial.
During a pretrial hearing held on September 24, 25, and 26, 1997, Baynor moved to suppress the nine-minute recorded statement. Baynor alleged that during the interrogation he initially denied involvement in the shooting. The defense position was that "the [inculpatory] statement is not voluntary, that there were promises or inducements or suggestions made by the police officer to compel [Baynor] to change his statement." Baynor also argued that the recorded statement must be suppressed because the defense was entitled to a copy of his unrecorded exculpatory statements under Maryland Rule 4-263(b)(2)(B) and Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). In essence, Baynor argued that, without a report of the substance of the exculpatory oral statements, the hearing court and the trial jury could not properly assess the voluntariness of the recorded inculpatory statement.
Detectives Glenn and Jones and the defendant were examined by the defense at the suppression hearing. The court denied the motion to suppress, finding that "the State has satisfied its burden of proof that the statements made by the Defendant were made completely voluntarily and that they were made with appropriate advice as to his right to speak or not to speak."
The case was tried before a jury over four days in October 1997. On October 9, the jury returned its verdict against Baynor, finding him guilty of the second degree murder of Williams, the attempted second degree murder of Nock, two counts of the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, and two counts of unlawful possession of a handgun. On December 18, 1997, the circuit court sentenced Baynor to a total of one hundred years incarceration.
Baynor appealed to the Court of Special Appeals which affirmed in an unreported opinion. We granted Baynor's petition for a writ of certiorari. The following questions are presented for review:
We shall address issue 1.A in Part I, infra, and issues 1.B and 2 in Part II, infra.
Baynor initially relies on Maryland Rule 4-263 in arguing that he was entitled to pretrial disclosure of "the entire circumstances" of his statement, including exculpatory statements.
Rule 4-263 provides in relevant part:
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...Louisiana State v. Thibodeaux , 750 So.2d 916 (La. 1999) Maine State v. Buzzell , 617 A.2d 1016 (Me. 1992) Maryland Baynor v. State , 736 A.2d 325 (Md. 1999) Massachusetts Commonwealth v. Diaz , 661 N.E.2d 1326 (Mass. 1996) Michigan People v. Fike , 577 N.W.2d 903 (Mich. Ct. App. 19......
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