Bryant v. State

• Decision Date: 01 June 2005
• Docket Number: No. 1154 Sept. Term, 2003.,1154 Sept. Term, 2003.
• Citation: 163 Md. App. 451,881 A.2d 669
• Parties: Michael Jerome BRYANT v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

881 A.2d 669

163 Md. App. 451

Michael Jerome BRYANT v. STATE of Maryland.

No. .

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

June 1, 2005.

Reconsideration Denied September 21, 2005.

Deborah S. Richardson (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender on the brief), Baltimore, MD, for Appellant.

Annabelle L. Lisic (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General on the brief), Baltimore, MD, for Appellee.

Panel: HOLLANDER, KRAUSER, CHARLES E. MOYLAN, JR., (Retired, Specially Assigned) JJ.

HOLLANDER, J.

Michael Jerome Bryant, appellant, was convicted by a jury sitting in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County of first degree premeditated murder, felony murder, and first degree burglary. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the first degree premeditated murder conviction and to a concurrent twenty-year term for the burglary conviction. Appellant presents two questions for our review, which we have reworded slightly:

I. Did the trial court err or abuse its discretion in precluding appellant from presenting an expert witness who would have testified to appellant's psychological profile and its relationship to the mens rea of the crimes charged?

II. Did the trial court err or abuse its discretion in allowing the State to introduce into evidence communications that were privileged and irrelevant?

For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

On July 20, 2002, appellant's ex-wife, Donna Martin, was fatally stabbed at her townhouse located on Merust Lane in Gaithersburg. The victim sustained numerous stab and cutting wounds, and was pronounced dead soon after she was transported to the hospital.

Appellant and Ms. Martin had two children together, who were three and four years of age at the time of trial in May 2003. Ms. Martin also had a third child with another man; the baby was approximately six months old at the time of Ms. Martin's death.

The State presented evidence that appellant had threatened Ms. Martin a year before she was killed. Specifically, at a court proceeding held on April 9, 2001, Ms. Martin was speaking to a judge in the presence of appellant. A tape of appellant's comments was admitted in evidence, and showed that he made threatening comments to Ms. Martin at that time.¹ In addition, Cynthia Sargeant, a registered nurse, came into contact with appellant on April 9, 2001, during an intake medical screening at the Montgomery County Detention Center. Sargeant testified: "He [i.e., appellant] indicated that he had a definite plan to kill her. He indicated that he enjoyed seeing her blood. He indicated that he was obsessed with killing her and that she messed with him." Sargeant added that appellant also stated that the "[t]hought of killing her won't go away."

The State also showed that, in the period prior to her death, Ms. Martin sought to conceal her whereabouts from appellant. Dorothy Ann Troup, who lived on Topfield Drive in Gaithersburg, testified that she came to know Ms. Martin through Ms. Martin's mother, who lived in Troup's neighborhood. According to Troup, Ms. Martin and appellant stopped living together shortly before Christmas of 2000, when Ms. Martin moved in with Troup and filed for divorce. Troup claimed that Ms. Martin attempted to conceal her location from appellant. For instance, even when Ms. Martin was not living with Troup, she had her mail sent to Troup's residence. Ms. Martin also used a post office box and Troup took telephone calls for her. At one point, appellant came to Troup's home, but Troup did not tell him that Ms. Martin was living with her.

At the time of Ms. Martin's murder, appellant was required to have supervised visitation with his children, which was coordinated by Betty Wages, who worked for the Family Trauma Service. Wages recalled that, at approximately 9:00 a.m. on July 20, 2002, appellant telephoned her office in Wheaton Plaza concerning a visit he believed had been scheduled for that day. Wages informed appellant that she had been unable to set up visitation for that day. Because appellant was in the area, Wages told him to come to her office and she would call Ms. Martin to set another date for visitation. When appellant entered Wages's office, she was on the telephone with Ms. Martin. Wages described appellant as having "just sort of a flat demeanor." Eventually, a visit was scheduled for the following Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Appellant was in Wages's office for about ten minutes and then left.

Several witnesses from the victim's neighborhood testified that they saw a man, not specifically identified as appellant, near the victim's home on July 20, 2002. For example, Mary Freckleton testified that on July 20, 2002, between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., she was visiting her sister, who lived in an apartment on Merust Lane in Gaithersburg, when she looked out the window and noticed a man "walking back and forth." Freckleton, who visited her sister nearly every day, did not recognize the individual as someone who lived in the neighborhood. Later, between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m., Freckleton again saw the man. Thereafter, between 3:30 p.m and 4:00 p.m., Freckleton saw the man "sitting on the side of the embankment looking down at the apartments[.]"

When asked to describe the man, Freckleton responded:

He was brown skin, short hair. I remember his lips was full. I say he was maybe six, five feet, something and he weighed about 200 and some pounds. He had real short close — short close hair. His hair was cut real close. He was brown skin. . . .

* * *

When I seen him the first time, he had a tee-shirt on. It wasn't — it was not white. If it was white, it was dirty. It was dirty, dirty. It wasn't white. He had . . . I don't if it was jeans. I can't recall if it was blue jeans or black jeans.

Derrick Hall, who was twelve years old at the time of trial and who had lived next door to Ms. Martin, testified that on July 20, 2002, he was playing football with some friends when an African-American man, whom Hall had never seen before, approached them to ask where a woman lived. Hall described the man as "like short" with "a little bit of hair." According to Hall, the man described the lady as "big boned," short, with two children and a baby. Hall pointed to Ms. Martin's residence. Later, after Hall went inside his house, he saw the man "walking around back and forth" behind Ms. Martin's residence.

Tee Martin, who was fifteen years old at the time of trial, testified that he lived on Merust Lane, "two houses over" from Ms. Martin. On the date in question, he arrived home around 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. After arriving home, Mr. Martin's attention was drawn to the back of his townhouse, where he saw an African-American man "pacing." Mr. Martin had never seen the man before and estimated that he walked back and forth about ten times. Later, Mr. Martin heard the sound of shattering glass and, a few minutes after that, he noticed that the police were in the neighborhood.

Loretta Payne testified that, on the date in question, she was staying with her mother, Brenda Cooper, who lived in a townhouse on Merust Lane two houses down from Ms. Martin. Payne recalled that at noon or 1:00 p.m. she was sitting at the kitchen table and "kept seeing somebody walk back and forth behind the houses." Payne stated that she had never seen the man before and described him as African-American, at least 5'8" tall, with short hair, and wearing a pull over shirt. Payne testified that the man she saw was not the father of Ms. Martin's youngest child.

Stanley Bradley testified that, at 5:00 p.m. on the date in question, he was working with Joseph Hammond, a friend, on Hammond's car, which was parked on Merust Lane. At that time, he noticed a woman with a baby in her arms and a little boy walking toward the door to a townhouse. When the woman was at the door, Bradley heard a bang followed by the woman "hollering." Upon looking toward the house, Bradley saw the arm of an African-American male grab the woman by the hair and he also "vaguely" saw a knife. The woman yelled: "Somebody help me. He is going to kill me." He saw a man drag the woman, who was still holding the baby, into the house, leaving the boy outside. Bradley also heard yelling coming from inside the house. A woman went to the door and took the child, who had been left outside. The police were called and, when they arrived approximately five minutes later, Bradley related what had occurred.

Kristie Sykes lived on Merust Lane and recalled that she was at the playground with her two children at approximately 5:00 p.m. on the date in question, when she noticed a woman standing beside a car with three children in the car. Sykes watched the woman walk toward her house, then saw "an arm come out and grab her." The woman "ended up in her house" with one of the children, while one child was left outside. Sykes heard screaming coming from the house. Later, Sykes saw a man running. She described him as "a big black male . . . about 5'10", just a little over 200 pounds[.]" He was carrying a 40 ounce bottle of alcohol.

Montgomery County Police Officer Sean Wade responded to Merust Lane for the report of a woman being stabbed. When he arrived on the scene, two other officers were already present, but were unable to enter the townhouse through the front door. Officer Wade ran to the rear of the residence where he found a "broken out rear window." The back door was unlocked so the officer opened the door, stepped inside, and identified himself as a police officer. A small girl approached the officer and he carried her outside and asked where her mother was. The girl pointed at the house. The officer entered the house and found Ms. Martin on the floor in a pool of blood. An infant was found in the house crying and "covered with blood." On the staircase, the officer found a knife.

Captain William Wells, an EMT, responded to Ms. Martin's residence, where he found an infant "covered from head to toe in...