Bryant v. State

• Decision Date: 05 June 2006
• Docket Number: No. 102, September Term, 2005.,102, September Term, 2005.
• Citation: 900 A.2d 227,393 Md. 196
• Parties: Michael Jerome BRYANT v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

900 A.2d 227

393 Md. 196

Michael Jerome BRYANT v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 102, September Term, 2005.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 5, 2006.

Stephen B. Mercer (Rene Sandler of Sandler & Mercer, P.C., of Rockville, MD; William G. McLain of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law of Washington, D.C.), on brief, for Petitioner.

Kathryn Grill Graeff, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, of Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, and GREENE, JJ.

CATHELL, J.

Michael Jerome Bryant, petitioner, was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County on May 23, 2003, of one count of first degree murder under the theories of premeditated murder and felony murder and one count of first degree burglary, which served as the basis for the felony murder conviction. He was subsequently sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the first degree murder conviction and a concurrent twenty-year term for the burglary conviction. Petitioner timely filed an appeal with the Court of Special Appeals and that court affirmed the convictions. Bryant v. State, 163 Md. App. 451, 881 A.2d 669 (2005).

Petitioner filed a petition for writ of certiorari on November 15, 2005. We granted certiorari on December 19, 2005. Bryant v. State, 390 Md. 284, 888 A.2d 341 (2005). Petitioner presents two questions for our review:

"1. Whether a criminal defendant's status as an inmate deprives him of the statutory privilege for communications related to his mental or emotional disorder to a nurse conducting a mental health assessment for diagnostic and treatment purposes at a county detention facility?"

"2. Whether a criminal defendant must waive his constitutional right against self-incrimination as a condition precedent to the introduction of expert testimony rebutting or explaining evidence that the state relies upon to establish the mens rea element of the offense charged?"

We shall not address the first question as it is written because it makes an assumption not supported by the record. Instead, for the reasons that follow, we hold that petitioner's statements during the intake process are not privileged. We further hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in prohibiting petitioner's expert witness from testifying.

I. Facts

The Court of Special Appeals provided a summary of the facts that led to the present appeal from which we present the following:

"On July 20, 2002, [petitioner]'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.

...

"The State presented evidence that [petitioner] 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 [petitioner].[¹] A tape of [petitioner]'s comments was admitted in evidence, and showed that he made threatening comments to Ms. Martin at that time.[²] In addition, Cynthia Sargeant, a registered nurse, came into contact with [petitioner] on April 9, 2001, during an intake medical screening at the Montgomery County Detention Center. Sargeant testified: `[petitioner] 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 [petitioner] also stated that the `[t]hought of killing her won't go away.'"

...

"Several witnesses from the victim's neighborhood testified that they saw a man, not specifically identified as [petitioner], 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."

...

"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."

...

"Ms. Martin sustained multiple stab and cutting wounds. She was flown to Suburban Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy performed by Dr. Zabiullah Ali revealed that Ms. Martin received eight stab wounds and nine cutting wounds. Two of the stab wounds injured Ms. Martin's left lung and one of them injured her heart."

...

"On the morning of July 24, 2002, [petitioner] was arrested in an apartment on North Summit Drive in Gaithersburg. The police found him sitting in a bedroom closet behind a closed door. A wristwatch that appeared to have dried blood on it was recovered from [petitioner]'s wrist."

...

"In the defense case, counsel read the following statement to the jury: On February 14th of 2002, the defendant made the following statement to a physician, quote: `I don't have the urge to kill any more like before.' [Petitioner] did not testify."

Bryant, 163 Md.App. at 455-62, 881 A.2d at 672-76 (some footnotes omitted).

II. Standard of Review

The first question presented for our review requires our interpretation of Maryland Code (1973, 2002 Repl.Vol.), § 9-109(a)(3) of the Courts & Judicial Proceedings Article ("C.J."), which states:

"`Patient' means a person who communicates or receives services regarding the diagnosis or treatment of his mental or emotional disorder from a psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or any other person participating directly or vitally with either in rendering those services in consultation with or under direct supervision of a psychiatrist or psychologist."³

We have often stated that "the cardinal rule of statutory interpretation is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the legislature." Melton v. State, 379 Md. 471, 476, 842 A.2d 743, 746 (2004) (quoting Holbrook v. State, 364 Md. 354, 364, 772 A.2d 1240, 1245-46 (2001)). The first step in our analysis is to examine the plain language of the statute. Grandison v. State, 390 Md. 412, 445, 889 A.2d 366, 385 (2005). We will not look beyond the plain meaning of the statute when the words used are unambiguous. Grandison, 390 Md. at 445, 889 A.2d at 385; Deville v. State, 383 Md. 217, 858 A.2d 484 (2004); Melton, 379 Md. at 477, 842 A.2d at 746.

When the statute provides definitions of a particular term, we use the statutory definition in determining the scope of the specific words used. Gilmer v. State, 389 Md. 656, 667, 887 A.2d 549, 556 (2005). Furthermore, each word of the statute must be read so as to not render it "surplusage, superfluous, meaningless, or nugatory." Gilmer, 389 Md. at 663, 887 A.2d at 553; Lawson v. State, 389 Md. 570, 583, 886 A.2d 876, 883 (2005); Moore v. State, 388 Md. 446, 453, 879 A.2d 1111, 1115 (2005). The Court has also stated that privilege statutes are interpreted narrowly. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Forma-Pack, Inc., 351 Md. 396, 406, 718 A.2d 1129, 1134 (1998) ("The attorney-client privilege as applied in judicial proceedings is narrowly construed ...."); Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Gussin, 350 Md. 552, 562, 714 A.2d 188, 192 (1998) (stating that the statutorily created accountant-client privilege is narrowly construed because it is in derogation of the common law).⁴

The second question presented for our review requires the Court to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in excluding petitioner's expert witness testimony. We have often stated that "the admissibility of expert testimony is a matter largely within the discretion of the trial court, and its action in admitting or excluding such testimony will seldom constitute a ground for reversal." Clemons v. State, 392 Md. 339, 359, 896 A.2d 1059, 1071 (2006); Wilson v. State, 370 Md. 191, 200, 803 A.2d 1034, 1039 (2002) (quoting Oken v. State, 327 Md. 628, 659, 612 A.2d 258, 273 (1992)); Hartless v. State, 327 Md. 558, 576, 611 A.2d 581, 590 (1992); Johnson v. State, 303 Md. 487, 515, 495 A.2d 1, 15 (1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1093, 106 S.Ct. 868, 88 L.Ed.2d 907 (1986); Stebbing v. State, 299 Md. 331, 350, 473 A.2d 903, 912, cert. denied, 469 U.S. 900, 105 S.Ct. 276, 83...