Carver v. State
| Decision Date | 20 December 2022 |
| Docket Number | 14-2022 |
| Parties | STEVEN G. CARVER v. STATE OF MARYLAND |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
STEVEN G. CARVER
v.
STATE OF MARYLAND
No. 14-2022
Maryland Supreme Court[*]
December 20, 2022
Argued: October 3, 2022
Circuit Court for Baltimore City Case No. 18916403
Fader, C.J., Watts, Hotten, Booth, Biran, Gould, Eaves, JJ.
OPINION
HOTTEN, J.
This appeal arises from the petition of Steven G. Carver ("Petitioner") for a writ of actual innocence under Md. Code Ann., Criminal Procedure ("Crim. Proc.") § 8-301. On March 14, 1989, John Green was shot and killed on a populated street in Baltimore City in broad daylight. Petitioner was subsequently arrested for the murder. On November 16, 1989, a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City convicted Petitioner of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in a crime of violence, and wearing or carrying a handgun. The circuit court sentenced Petitioner to life without parole for the first-degree murder charge plus an additional twenty-year term for the handgun offenses.
In 2012, Petitioner filed a petition for writ of actual innocence, arguing that three categories of new evidence created a substantial possibility that the trial would have achieved a different outcome, had the jury considered such evidence. The circuit court denied the petition, finding that the evidence did not address Petitioner's actual innocence, did not constitute newly discovered evidence, and did not create a substantial possibility of a different outcome at trial. Thereafter, Petitioner appealed to the Appellate Court of Maryland (at the time named the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland)[1], which affirmed and held that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion. Petitioner timely appealed to this Court.
This Court granted certiorari to address the following questions:
1. As a matter of first impression, when evaluating newly discovered evidence in an actual-innocence proceeding, must a court consider the new evidence and the evidence admitted at trial collectively with
evidence that was available to the defense but not offered at trial, and/or offered but excluded, where the available evidence was made relevant and admissible by the newly discovered evidence?
2. Where Joseph Kopera was the sole firearms expert at trial, is the contrary opinion of a non-fraudulent firearms expert, obtained after the revelation of Kopera's fraud, newly discovered evidence?
3. Did the lower courts err by failing to consider the cumulative impact of separate but related categories of newly discovered evidence, as required by Faulkner v. State, 468 Md. 418[, 227 A.3d 584] (2020)?
4. Did the circuit court err by denying the petition for writ of actual innocence?[2]
This Court answers the first question in the affirmative. Regarding the remaining three questions, this Court answers in the negative and shall affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
I. Underlying Factual Background
During the late afternoon of March 14, 1989, Mr. Green died by gunfire on Old York Road, a populated street in Baltimore, Maryland. The State relied on three eyewitnesses to the shooting: Carmelita McIntosh, Hodges Epps, and Arlin Doles.
Carmelita McIntosh testified that she was driving down Cator Avenue when she observed three men. She heard a loud "pop" and observed the man in the center falling towards her car. She swerved and drove around him. In her rearview mirror, she saw the man on the right shoot the fallen man in the head. She stopped her car and, as she exited, heard the man on the right state "bust him, yo." Ms. McIntosh testified that she then observed the second man shoot the fallen man. She heard about four or five "pops" in total. Ms. McIntosh described one of the shooters as lighter-skinned and the other as darker-skinned, but did not positively identify Petitioner from a photo array as either of the men.
Another eyewitness, Hodges Epps, testified that he was in a laundromat when he heard the shooting and observed Mr. Green, Petitioner, a man he identified as Arlin Doles, and another unidentified person, together on Cator Avenue.[3] Mr. Epps testified that he grew up with Mr. Green, went to high school with Mr. Doles, and had known Petitioner for six to twelve months prior to the shooting. Mr. Epps observed Petitioner and the unknown man both shoot Mr. Green. Mr. Epps identified Petitioner from a photo array as one of the men who fired at Mr. Green.
Finally, Mr. Doles testified as an eyewitness to the shooting. He testified he had known Mr. Green since high school and that Mr. Green introduced him to Petitioner the night before the murder. Mr. Doles further testified that, on the night he met Petitioner, he
overheard Petitioner and Mr. Green reconcile over some previous disagreement. The next day, prior to the shooting, Mr. Doles, Mr. Green, and Petitioner walked down Cator Avenue when another man, Joe Hodge, approached them. Mr. Doles then recalled hearing a gunshot.[4] Mr. Doles ran up the road and jumped a fence. He heard four additional gunshots. Mr. Doles turned around and observed Mr. Green standing with Petitioner in front of him. Mr. Green grabbed Petitioner's left arm, Petitioner jerked away, and Mr. Green fell to the ground. Mr. Doles testified that Mr. Hodge then fired at the back of Mr. Green's head. He then observed both Petitioner and Mr. Hodge run north on Old York Road with Petitioner in front of an armed Mr. Hodge.[5] After viewing a photo array, Mr. Doles identified Petitioner as a person he saw at the scene and Mr. Hodge as the assailant. Mr. Doles did not see Petitioner with a gun.
II. Circuit Court Proceedings
a. The 1989 Trial.
Petitioner and Mr. Hodge were charged with the first-degree murder of Mr. Green, use of a handgun in a crime of violence, and wearing or carrying a handgun, and were tried jointly in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. Petitioner argued at trial that he was an innocent bystander and that the same person who attacked Mr. Green two months earlier in January 1989 was the actual murderer. At the time of trial, defense counsel was aware Mr. Green had been a witness to the murder of Damon Barrett by Bryant McArthur and that Mr. McArthur later killed Kenneth Alston, the other witness to Mr. Barrett's murder. Defense counsel was also aware that Mr. Green believed Mr. McArthur wanted him dead because he witnessed Mr. Barrett's murder. Additionally, defense counsel was aware Mr. Green believed that Mr. McArthur orchestrated the January 1989 shooting, though Mr. Green did not recognize the perpetrator.
Defense counsel attempted to admit evidence of the January 1989 shooting under the theory that the same person who perpetrated the January 1989 shooting also murdered Mr. Green, but the circuit court denied its admission on grounds of relevancy. The circuit court reasoned that the identity of the January 1989 perpetrator would be relevant and "a complete defense" in this case if Petitioner could establish he was not the January 1989 perpetrator and demonstrate that the January 1989 perpetrator killed Mr. Green in March of 1989.
Joseph Kopera[6] was called as the State's ballistics expert. He testified that all of the bullets found at the scene were .38 caliber, but four of the six shell casings were too damaged to perform a microscopic analysis, so he could not provide an expert opinion regarding the number of guns used in the murder.[7] On November 16, 1989, a jury convicted Petitioner and Mr. Hodge jointly of the murder of Mr. Green and the accompanying firearms charges. On January 30, 1990, the circuit court sentenced Petitioner to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus a consecutive twenty years.
b. The Present Circuit Court Proceeding.
In 2012, Petitioner filed a pro se petition for writ of actual innocence in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, which was denied without a hearing. The Appellate Court reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings. Petitioner thereafter filed an amended petition, which was argued before the circuit court in May and August 2017. Concerning the present appeal, Petitioner alleged that several pieces of newly discovered evidence warranted a new trial, namely:
1. A series of police reports related to threats against the victim, John Green, and an alleged assault on Denise Brewer.
* * *
3. False credentials of the State's ballistics expert, Joseph Kopera.
4. Criminal history of Hodges Epps.
(footnote omitted).[8]
Petitioner presented newly discovered evidence of a report Mr. Green filed with the police after someone shot at him in January 1989. In the report, Mr. Green asserted that Mr. McArthur threatened to kill him for being a witness to Mr. Barrett's murder. Petitioner also presented evidence of several police reports detailing an assault on Denise Brewer.
Denise Brewer reported to police that an individual referred to as "Darnell,"[9] a close associate of Mr. McArthur, approached Ms. Brewer in early March of 1989, requesting that she lure Mr. Green to a certain location so "they could 'get him[.]'" She refused. Ms. Brewer also reported to police that "Darryl" or "Darnell" assaulted her on April 10, 1989, shortly after Mr. Green's murder, because she knew who killed Mr. Barrett. Petitioner also presented new evidence concerning open warrants Mr. Epps had at the time of trial. Additionally, Petitioner presented evidence of Mr. Kopera's fraudulent credentials, as well as an affidavit and testimony from William Conrad, a firearms identification expert who reviewed Mr. Kopera's report.[10]
The circuit court rejected Petitioner's contention that this newly discovered evidence would have substantially impacted Petitioner's trial. In a written opinion filed on July 19, 2018, the circuit court determined that Petitioner's defense counsel was aware of the substance of the newly discovered evidence, namely that...
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