Belton v. State
| Docket Number | 8- 2022 |
| Decision Date | 31 May 2023 |
| Parties | TERRANCE BELTON v. STATE OF MARYLAND |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Watts Hotten Booth Biran Gould Eaves Getty, Joseph M. (Senior Justice, Specially Assigned), JJ.
The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant the right to a fair trial, which requires that the members of the jury not be biased against the defendant. The fair trial right also includes the right to a trial judge who is impartial both in fact and in appearance.
Petitioner Terrance Belton[1] does not contend that the Baltimore City jury that found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter and related offenses was biased against him. Nor does he complain that the judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City who presided over his trial and who sentenced him was anything but impartial. Rather, he argues that the Appellate Court of Maryland (at the time, called the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland)[2] displayed bias against him in extensive dicta in its reported opinion affirming his convictions. Among other things, the Appellate Court in its opinion compared Belton - an African American man - to Grendel, the mythical monster in the Old English epic, Beowulf. Belton asserts that this analogy evokes racist tropes of African Americans as subhuman. He raises similar objections concerning several other passages in the Appellate Court's dicta.
Belton asks us to hold that the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial extends to appellate proceedings and further to hold that he did not receive due process on appeal.
The State agrees that the right to a fair trial extends to appellate proceedings but argues that Belton's appeal did not suffer from any constitutional infirmity.
We agree with the parties that a criminal defendant's right to due process requires not only a fair and impartial trial, but also a fair and impartial appellate process. Because we conclude that the Appellate Court erred in deciding the merits of Belton's appeal and that a new trial is required, we shall not decide whether the Appellate Court's opinion violated Belton's right to due process. However, as we discuss below, this case reinforces the need for judges to use language that reflects the court's impartiality.
On December 6, 2018, sometime after 7:00 a.m., Terrance Belton 19, and his mother, Shakiea Worsley, 35, arrived at the corner of South Monroe Street and McHenry Street in Baltimore City. Worsley routinely sold drugs at that corner. Belton entered the grocery store on the corner of Monroe and McHenry Streets and exchanged pleasantries with "Nut,"[3] a friend of Edward Calloway. Calloway was another drug dealer who was active on that block.
The night before, Worsley had seen Calloway out on the block, drunk and agitated; according to Worsley, Calloway could be confrontational when he had been drinking. Worsley and Calloway had been "pretty cool in the beginning" of their time selling drugs on the same block and had never argued about territory. Worsley and Calloway had had a few small arguments about other matters, but no physical altercations. Although a few others also worked that block, Worsley, Calloway, and Nut were the main regulars.
There was some history of mutual aid. Toward the end of August 2018, Worsley had been robbed at gunpoint in the alley on McHenry Street, but nobody on the block had been armed such that they could defend her. Calloway and Nut both bought handguns after that to protect those who were operating on the block. Calloway typically held the two guns, often storing one in the corner grocery store.
Belton did not know Calloway well. There was no history of arguments or fights between them. Belton knew that Worsley and Calloway had had small arguments in the past and that Calloway carried a gun. Belton had a .45 caliber handgun concealed on his person on the morning of December 6, 2018.
About 20 minutes after Worsley and Belton arrived at the corner of Monroe and McHenry Streets, Worsley moved her car closer to the corner, just as Calloway arrived in a friend's car. At approximately 7:45 a.m., Worsley and Belton exited their car and stood on the sidewalk, across the street from the car in which Calloway had arrived on the scene. Shortly thereafter, Calloway got out of the passenger seat of his friend's car and spoke to his associates gathered in the area. According to Belton, he heard Calloway tell those assembled as he pointed over the car: "This is my block." Moments later, Calloway began to head toward Worsley and Belton, holding a bag. Calloway was known to carry his handgun in such a bag. At that point, Worsley stepped ahead into the middle of the street to get between Calloway and Belton. Calloway passed by Worsley and came nearly face-to-face with Belton. Calloway had his gun out as he asked Belton whether he "want[ed] some smoke" and asked why Belton had "come down here" to the block. Belton feared that if not handled,
So Belton attempted de-escalation. He suggested to Calloway that they might settle the score with a simple fistfight. Calloway gave his handgun to Nut and agreed to the fistfight. Still in possession of his own gun, Belton walked away up McHenry Street, taking his jacket off to prepare for the fight, while Worsley watched Calloway, who went into the corner store. Worsley feared that Calloway was getting another handgun from its storage space inside the store. She followed Calloway and saw him fumbling for something. She feared it was the unaccounted-for second handgun.
As Calloway was about to exit the store - and with Belton out of sight on McHenry Street - Worsley preemptively "started swinging" at Calloway in an attempt to prevent Calloway from "getting anywhere near [her] son." Their altercation spilled out in front of the grocery store. Calloway quickly gained the upper hand, knocking Worsley onto Monroe Street. After subduing Worsley, Calloway started walking quickly toward the corner of Monroe and McHenry Streets.
In the meantime, as Belton was walking up McHenry Street preparing for what he thought was going to be his own fistfight with Calloway, Nut called out to him that "they're fighting," which Belton understood to mean that Calloway was "physically assaulting" Worsley. Belton turned around and saw Nut holding the handgun he had taken from Calloway. Belton could not see Calloway and Worsley fighting - they were around the corner from where Belton was - but he did see several men hastily backing up from the site of the fight. This suggested to Belton that Calloway had another gun, given Belton's belief that "a bunch of grown men" would not have been so scared by a run-of-the-mill fistfight.
Belton quickly walked back toward the corner of Monroe and McHenry Streets. He testified at trial that, as Calloway "pop[ped] around the corner," he saw Calloway lifting a small handgun out of his pants and approaching him quickly and aggressively, beyond the point of being reasoned with. Belton said he thought Calloway was going to shoot him. Belton then shot at Calloway until Calloway dropped his gun.
As Belton was shooting at him, Calloway turned and ran back around the corner toward where Worsley was still lying on the ground. Wounded by five gunshots, Calloway fell to the ground on top of Worsley. According to Worsley, Calloway said, "This bitch shot me." Belton then ran a short distance back up McHenry Street to where Worsley's car was parked. Worsley got out from under Calloway and hobbled to her car. Worsley then drove herself and Belton away from the scene. According to Belton, they left immediately, rather than stay on a block where the others present knew each other and might be hostile to him and Worsley, because:
It's a block full of people that I don't know. It's a drug shop. Any one of these people could shoot me. I'm not going to stand around a bunch of people that know each other, congregate with each other, everyday [sic]. And I'm, like, the enemy, you know, I guess, at this point.
Calloway died from his wounds two days later. Belton was charged with murder and related offenses. Worsley was charged with being an accessory after the fact to Calloway's killing.
B. The Trial
Belton and Worsley were tried jointly in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City in January 2020. In her opening statement, Belton's attorney said the evidence would suggest that "if anyone is kind of in charge on that corner it's [Calloway]." The video footage and testimony, she said, would show that, on the morning of December 6, 2018, Calloway got out of his friend's car with "an attitude" and a bag with a gun in it. Defense counsel told the jury that Belton also had a gun that morning, and that he used it to shoot Calloway in defense of himself and Worsley.
In its case-in-chief, the State introduced footage of the shooting taken from surveillance cameras at Best Crabs, a business located across the street from where the shooting occurred.[4] The video footage appears to show the following beginning at approximately 7:45 a.m.: Calloway gets out of his friend's car, points over the car, then walks past Worsley and comes almost face-to-face with Belton. Moments later, Belton walks up McHenry Street, away from the grocery store, while Calloway appears to go into the grocery store. Very shortly after that, Calloway and Worsley begin fighting just outside the grocery store, and the tussle moves toward the curb on Monroe Street. Calloway knocks Worsley off the curb just onto ...
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