Carter v. State

• Decision Date: 01 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. 0506,0506
• Parties: Antwan Leroy CARTER, v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

802 A.2d 460

145 Md. App. 195

Antwan Leroy CARTER, v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 0506, Sept. Term, 2001.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

July 1, 2002.

Sherrie B. Glasser, Asst. Public Defender (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellant.

Leigh S. Halstad, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. and Patricia Jessamy, State's Atty. for Baltimore City, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellee.

Submitted before SALMON, KENNEY, ADKINS, JJ.

ADKINS, Judge.

A jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City convicted Antwan Leroy Carter, appellant, of possession of a regulated firearm by one previously convicted of a crime of violence, possession of a regulated firearm by a person under the age of twenty-one, and unlawful discharge of a firearm within the City of Baltimore. In challenging his convictions, appellant presents two issues of first impression in Maryland:

(1) Did the trial court err in refusing to withhold from the jury evidence that appellant had been convicted of a violent felony when appellant was willing to concede that element of his crime?

(2) Did the trial court err in refusing appellant's offer, as a fall-back position, to stipulate before the jury that he was guilty of a "crime of violence," instead of admitting evidence of his conviction for armed robbery?

We shall hold first that, because the fact of a prior conviction is an element of the offense charged, the State had a right to introduce evidence of the prior conviction to the jury. Second, because appellant offered, as a fall-back position, to stipulate that he was guilty of a prior crime of violence, the trial court was required to weigh the probative value of introducing evidence of the name of his crime against the risk of unfair prejudice to appellant in doing so. We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in this regard.

FACTS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Baltimore City Police Officer Ronald Marriott testified that at approximately 10:45 on the night of August 29, 2000, he was in the 900 block of Coppin Court when he heard gunfire that he estimated to be within 100 yards of his location. Marriott ran to the location from which the gunfire originated. He saw two men wearing white sweatshirts running down Bethune Road, toward Bunch Road. He also saw appellant approximately 50 yards from him, holding a handgun and firing it into the air. After firing the gun, appellant followed the other men.

Officer Marriott followed appellant. He lost sight of him for 10 or 15 seconds when appellant ran between two houses, but eventually caught up to appellant and placed him under arrest. Appellant did not have a gun on him when he was arrested. Police officers searched the area, but were unable to find the gun. A gunshot residue test performed on appellant's right hand after his arrest, however, returned a positive result.

As a result of this incident, appellant was charged with possession of a regulated firearm by one previously convicted of a crime of violence, possession of a regulated firearm by a person under the age of twenty-one, and unlawful discharge of a firearm within the City of Baltimore.¹ Before trial, defense counsel requested that the trial court "sanitiz[e] the first count."

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: ... [W]e were hoping that before you announced to the jury what the charges were that you would consider sanitizing the first count and redacting from it the charge that—convicted of a crime of violence— what we'll be proposing is that the charge of possession need not go to the jury. If they convict him of that, we understand that that is possession of a handgun by someone who's been convicted of a crime of violence. What it does is, obviously, it eliminates the potential prejudice—

THE COURT: I'm hearing you, ... but I truly would have hoped for you to have raised all of these issues before I had the panel. I gave you an opportunity to do that. You are not, I know, new to the bar and these issues are not new to the Court, so go ahead.

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: And to be quite frank, Judge, I didn't think it would be much to do about it because it seems—it doesn't deprive the State of anything and, better yet, it ensures that this young man [will] get a fair trial on these charges.

THE COURT: Well, clearly, the count that the State is bringing is a crime, there's no question about that. And if that information came to the jury's attention, I would give ... an instruction, a curative instruction, so that the jury considers that prior conviction only for the purposes that—

Let me hear from the State.

[PROSECUTOR]: Your Honor, I'd just point out that at this point we're ready to pick a jury. But also, that's one of the crimes that the Defendant is charged with, and I do believe that the jury, as the trier of fact, has to be able to decide that issue. That issue, there will be evidence presented to the jury to support a conviction on that charge the State's proffering, and that it's rightfully before this jury to decide....

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: It also would require them to prove that he's been convicted of a crime of violence, which means they put in the conviction for robbery [with a] deadly weapon. Now, we'd go to great lengths to keep that from the jury unless a person testifies.... I guess what I'm saying, Judge, is what do we gain by sending that to the jury. It doesn't fairly and accurately-the central issue, whether he had a firearm....

THE COURT: Well, in my estimation,... that is a question for the jury to determine, whether, in fact, that particular crime has been violated by [appellant] or not, and I would—the suggestion I give to you is that I will instruct the jury again not to consider—for any purpose contrary to Mr. Carter's interest. I would fashion an instruction when the time comes.

Defense counsel continued to urge the trial court not to permit the State to present evidence to the jury regarding appellant's prior conviction for a crime of violence.

THE COURT: [W]hat you're telling me is that the jury should never know—

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: That's right.

THE COURT:—about it. That's what your argument is, correct?

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, ma'am.

THE COURT: That request is denied because I am satisfied that all of the charges that [appellant] is facing should go before the jury.

When the State announced its intention to introduce a certified copy of appellant's prior conviction for robbery with a deadly weapon, a handgun, defense counsel offered to stipulate that appellant had been convicted previously of a crime of violence. The trial court rejected that suggestion, reasoning that such a stipulation would allow the jury to speculate as to what the crime of violence was and possibly conclude that it was "something maybe even worse than robbery [with a] deadly weapon[.]" Ultimately, the trial court permitted the State to introduce redacted docket entries, showing a conviction of robbery with a deadly weapon, but eliminating any mention of a handgun.

As part of its instructions to the jury, the trial court explained:

You have heard evidence that the Defendant has been convicted of a crime. You may consider this evidence in determining the guilt[] or innocence of the Defendant with respect to the crime charged of possession of a regulated firearm after having been convicted of a crime of violence. However, you may not consider this evidence in determining the Defendant's guilt[] or innocence of the crime of possession of a regulated firearm by a person who is under 21 years of age or of the crime of discharging a firearm within the City of Baltimore.

Appellant took no exception to this instruction at trial. Except to the extent that it refers to his prior crime, appellant does not challenge the validity of this instruction on appeal.² After the jury convicted appellant of all three crimes, he filed this appeal.

DISCUSSION

I. Introducing Evidence Of Prior Conviction For Violent Felony Despite Proffer To Stipulate

Appellant contends that the trial court erred in permitting the State to introduce and disclose to the jury evidence of his prior conviction for robbery with a deadly weapon. He asserts that "[o]nce the defense indicated that it was willing to stipulate to the existence of that conviction, the State had no legitimate need for the evidence." According to appellant, the trial court also erred in declining to weigh the probative value of the evidence against the danger of unfair prejudice it presented to appellant. Even if the trial court did exercise its discretion, appellant contends, its refusal to exclude evidence of the prior conviction constituted an abuse of that discretion because, "[g]iven the defense counsel's willingness to concede the existence of the prior conviction, it was simply unnecessary to apprise the jury of this prejudicial element."

The State counters that the trial court properly exercised its discretion in admitting the evidence and providing a limiting instruction to the jury. The State also points out that appellant "never explained to the trial court, nor does he explain on appeal, how the jury could convict him of a crime where the evidence of one element of that crime (whether stipulated to or proven by docket entry submitted to the court) was not presented to the jury."

Maryland courts never before have considered whether a trial court errs when it refuses to permit a defendant to withhold evidence from the jury by conceding a prior conviction that is an element of the crime charged. In State v. Broberg, 342 Md. 544, 559-60, 677 A.2d 602 (1996), the Court of Appeals held that when parties stipulate to a fact to be disclosed to a jury, the question of whether a particular piece of evidence also may be offered to prove the stipulated fact is committed to the discretion of the trial court, which must balance the competing interests of the parties. In Broberg, a homicide case, the parties stipulated to the identity of the victim, and...