Caston v. United States

• Citation: 146 A.3d 1082
• Decision Date: 29 September 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15-CO-36,15-CO-36
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals
• Parties: Joel Caston, Appellant, v. United States, Appellee.

146 A.3d 1082

Joel Caston, Appellant,

v.United States, Appellee.

No. 15-CO-36

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued January 19, 2016

Decided September 29, 2016.

Jonathan Zucker, with whom Patricia Daus was on the brief, for appellant.

Christopher Macchiaroli, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Vincent H. Cohen, Jr., Acting United States Attorney at the time the brief was filed, and Elizabeth Trosman and Frederick Yette, Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief, for appellee.

BEFORE: THOMPSON and EASTERLY, Associate Judges; and KRAVITZ, Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia.^*

THOMPSON

, Associate Judge:

In 1996, a jury convicted appellant of the August 1994 fatal shooting of Rafique Washington and of related weapons offenses. In December 2011, after this court had affirmed appellant's convictions on direct appeal and subsequently affirmed the denial of his motion filed pursuant to D.C. Code § 23–110 (2001)

,¹ appellant filed a motion to vacate his convictions under the provisions of the Innocence Protection Act codified at D.C. Code § 22–4135 (2001) (the “IPA”). The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on the IPA motion and thereafter denied the motion, stating that it could not “find that it is more likely than not that [appellant] is actually innocent of the crime.” This appeal followed.

Appellant asserts numerous claims of error, several of which we reject. As explained in more detail below, however, in denying appellant's IPA motion, the Superior Court judge (1) seemed, mistakenly, to regard new evidence that was presented—an affidavit and hearing testimony from a putative eyewitness to the murder who stated that appellant was not the shooter—as mere “impeachment evidence” that is inadequate to warrant relief under the IPA; (2) discredited that witness's statements on the basis of inconsistencies between statements contained in his affidavit and in his hearing testimony, without regard to whether the inconsistencies were trivial or insignificant and whether they were explainable; (3) did not critically examine the weight of the trial evidence; and (4) contrary to this court's guidance in Bouknight v. United States , 867 A.2d 245 (D.C.2005)

, appears ultimately to have adjudged the credibility of the (putative) eyewitness's testimony in light of the court's adverse determination about appellant's own credibility. While we accord “great deference to the trial court's role as the trier of fact on the ultimate issue of ‘actual innocence’ under the IPA,” Richardson v. United States , 8 A.3d 1245, 1249 (D.C.2010), we cannot be confident that, had the judge's decision not been influenced by the foregoing factors, he would have reached the same conclusion about the likelihood that appellant is “actually innocent of the crime.” Accordingly, we remand the matter to the trial court for reconsideration in light of this opinion.

I. The Evidence at Appellant's Trial²

The evidence at appellant's 1996 trial (on the charge of first-degree murder and related weapons charges) established that on the evening of August 14, 1994, Washington was shot and killed in front of the New China Carry Out (the “carryout”) at the corner of 16th Street and Good Hope Road, S.E. Government witness Edward Thompson testified that on that evening, he rode to the carryout with Washington, a man named “Gene,” and driver “Mark.” After the group had made their purchases, Thompson walked across the street to use a payphone, leaving Washington, Gene, and Mark standing on the steps in front of the carryout. Thompson returned a few minutes later and asked the others to get into the nearby car so they could leave. As Thompson was trying to open the car door, he heard a gunshot and saw Washington fall in front of the carryout's front door. Thompson testified that he then saw appellant “c[o]me from out the shadow of the carryout,” run toward Washington, place a revolver inches from Washington's body, almost touching Washington's head, and fire “about five” additional shots.³ Thompson testified initially that appellant was “standing over” Washington, but then explained that appellant was “steadily moving” while he was shooting, and “wasn't just standing in one spot when he was shooting” Washington. Appellant then fled, and Thompson, Gene, Mark, a woman named Lazetta Uzzle, and Uzzle's boyfriend Kevin Molden (nicknamed “Half” or “Haf”) all stood around Washington's body. Thompson testified that he saw Half search through Washington's pockets, but that he did not know whether anything was taken. Everyone fled the scene before the police arrived. Thompson testified that, at some point before the shooting, Washington told him that he (Washington) “ha[d] a problem with [appellant].”⁴

Uzzle also testified at trial. She told the jury that shortly before the shooting, she saw appellant, whom she had known her entire life, talking with another man inside 1641 W Street, S.E. Uzzle then walked north on 16th Street, looking for Washington so she could purchase cocaine from him. At some point, while standing at the intersection of 16th and U Streets with Half, Uzzle saw Washington drive by in a car, which also contained Thompson, Gene, and Mark. Washington told Uzzle and Half that he did not have any cocaine and then went into the carryout. Soon thereafter, Uzzle, who was then about a block away from the carryout, heard gunshots, but did not see who fired the shots.⁵ She ran in the opposite direction of the gunshots, but at some point, turned around and headed back toward the carryout to join Half, whom she had seen run “towards the shot.” Uzzle arrived at the carryout to see Half going through Washington's pockets. Gene was on the scene as well. Thompson ran past Uzzle and was behind the car, and Mark was standing nearby. Half took money out of Washington's pockets. Uzzle then ran back in the direction of the building where she had seen appellant earlier that evening. Uzzle explained that she ran from the scene because “Ha[l]f and [she] had just took the money off [Washington]” and she “didn't want to be around when the police came.” Uzzle spotted appellant again and told him “to go home” because Washington had just been killed and because appellant, who had fought with Washington a few weeks prior,⁶ would be the prime suspect for the murder.

The government also presented evidence that two days after the shooting, police spotted appellant and two other men engaged in suspected narcotics activity. All three men were “holding their waistbands as if they had a gun.” As officers approached, appellant and the other men fled and ran inside an apartment. Officers found two of the men “come from out of the hallway closet” and found two guns on the floor of the closet. An officer found appellant “peep [ing]” out from a closet in the nearby back bedroom. The officer did not see a gun in appellant's hand, but searched the closet and found a chrome .44 Magnum revolver sticking out from a shoebox that was on a shelf.⁷ The Magnum revolver was tested for latent fingerprints, but none were found. A firearms expert testified that bullet fragments recovered from Washington's body and from the crime scene “were in fact fired through the barrel of th[e] .44 Magnum revolver[.]”

Finally, the government introduced evidence that about a week after the shooting, police executed a search warrant at appellant's mother's residence, where appellant also resided. Underneath appellant's mattress, police found a “speed loader”—a device used for rapidly loading ammunition into a firearm—containing six rounds of .44 caliber ammunition as well as additional rounds of ammunition.

II. The Affidavits and Hearing Testimony in Support of Appellant's IPA Motion

In support of his IPA motion, appellant submitted affidavits from Lloyd Rodgers, Uzzle, and Jermaine Brown. Appellant's counsel explained to the court (the Honorable Gregory Jackson) that after interviewing Rodgers, counsel had decided not to call him to testify at the IPA hearing because he “really couldn't elucidate much.”

Rodgers stated in his affidavit that he was an eyewitness to the shooting on August 14, 1994. Specifically, he stated that he was inside the carryout ordering food when he saw Washington, Gene, and Mark enter the carryout. After he exchanged greetings with the men, he left the carryout and noticed a “slim brown/dark-skinned guy dressed in all black wearing a baseball cap standing at the phone booth.”⁸ Before Rodgers could open the door of his parked car, he saw the three men exit the carryout, and then heard a gunshot. After taking cover, Rodgers saw the man from the phone booth standing over Washington and firing rounds into Washington's body before running off. After the shooter fled, Gene and Mark were standing there and “their buddy Eddy [presumably, Thompson]” ran over from across the street. According to Rodgers, “they” told him that the person who had shot Washington was Half. Rodgers stated in addition, “I know without a shadow of a doubt that the guy I saw commit this was not Joel Caston.”

Uzzle, Brown, and appellant all testified at the hearing on appellant's IPA motion. Uzzle testified that, on the evening of the shooting, she was speaking with Washington about buying some cocaine when Half interrupted the conversation and began arguing with Washington about Uzzle's “having [had] sex with [Washington].”⁹ According to Uzzle, Washington “pulled a gun out on Half[.]” Half retreated after Uzzle told the men that they needed to “cut that out,” but Uzzle heard him say that “this wasn't the end of it, that he'll be back.” Uzzle interpreted Half's words as meaning that Half “was going to get [Washington] for pulling [a] gun on him.” Uzzle testified that Half then “ran up the street” toward where she and Half lived, and that she “knew he was running to go get a gun[.]” A little while later, Uzzle heard gunshots coming from the direction in which Half had run. When Uzzle ran in that...