Daniels v. State

• Citation: 913 A.2d 617,172 Md. App. 75
• Decision Date: 26 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 223, September Term, 2005.,223, September Term, 2005.
• Parties: Sonya Marie DANIELS v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 617

913 A.2d 617

172 Md. App. 75

Sonya Marie DANIELS v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 223, September Term, 2005.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

December 26, 2006.

Stacy W. McCormack (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on brief), for appellant.

Jeremy M. McCoy (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Panel DAVIS, SALMON and RAYMOND G. THIEME, Jr. (retired, specially assigned), JJ.

DAVIS, J.

Appellant, Sonya Marie Daniels, was charged in the Circuit Court for Frederick County with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted kidnapping and carrying a handgun. Appellant, facing the death penalty, requested a change of venue and the case was transferred to the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. On October 21, 2003, jury selection began and, after trial, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, on November 19, 2003, declared a mistrial after the jurors were unable to reach a verdict.

On October 18, 2004, appellant's second trial began. The State, however, decided not to seek the death penalty and, on November 8, 2004, appellant elected to proceed by way of a not guilty agreed statement of facts on two counts of first-degree murder. Based on the statement of facts, the trial court entered a finding of guilty as to both counts. On February 3, 2005, appellant was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for each count of first-degree murder, the sentences to run concurrent. Appellant filed this timely appeal, presenting the following questions for our review:

I. Did the trial court err in denying appellant's motion to suppress evidence seized during a search of appellant's van?

II. Did the trial court err in denying appellant's motion to suppress statements made by appellant to deputies from the Frederick County Sheriff's Department prior to her presentment before the magistrate?

For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgments of the circuit court.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On October 19, 2002, a dark green minivan drove onto Discovery Boulevard and pulled in front of the house of Deanne Prichard. Nine-year-old Lee Prichard, Jr. was out front when the van pulled up. Lee, his mother, Patricia Collins, his sister, sixteen-year-old Deanne Prichard, and his five week old niece, Makayla, had just returned home from visiting Tracy Frost, his sister's boyfriend, at the Washington County Detention Center. The driver of the van, an African American female with marks on her face, rolled down her window and told Lee that she was "Tracy Frost sister from New York" and that she wanted to see the baby. Lee then went inside to get his sister.

As Collins walked outside with her daughter, granddaughter and son, the assailant, in a black ski mask and hood, jumped out of the van holding a black handgun. The assailant demanded that Prichard get into the van, but she refused as she was holding her baby. The assailant pointed the gun at Prichard and fired. After she and the baby fell to the pavement, the assailant pointed the gun at the baby and fired a second shot. The assailant jumped back in the van and drove off.

The Frederick County Sheriff's Office responded and arrived on the scene immediately after the shooting, finding Prichard and baby Makayla lying on the street. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. The police spoke with several individuals at the scene and all gave varying descriptions of the assailant and the van. In an effort to find possible suspects, the police went to the Washington County Detention Center to speak with, Makayla's father Tracy Frost. During their conversation with Frost, police learned that there had been an altercation at the prison two weeks earlier between appellant, who was Frost's ex-girlfriend and Prichard. Frost informed the police that, on October 5, 2002, appellant was visiting him during the same time that Prichard, Makayla and Collins were visiting. Following a confrontation between Prichard and appellant, appellant was asked to leave.

Based on information gathered from the scene and at the detention center, the Frederick County police turned their attention to appellant as a suspect. Detectives Dewees and Jenkins drove to the Martinsburg, West Virginia Police Department and requested assistance. Detective Dewees informed Martinsburg police that appellant was a suspect in a double homicide investigation and that they were trying to locate a green mini-van that was registered to appellant's father. Detective Dewees then provided the officers with appellant's address and license plate number of the van and instructed the Martinsburg police to conduct a stop of the vehicle.

On October 19, 2002, at approximately 9:25 p.m., Martinsburg police officers stopped appellant while driving the green mini-van four blocks from her home. After stopping the vehicle, the officers ordered appellant out of the mini-van. She was told that she was free to leave, but that the van was being detained. When appellant was further told that officers from the Frederick County Sheriff's Department were en route to Martinsburg, she agreed to stay until they arrived.

While waiting for the officers from Frederick County, Martinsburg police set up a perimeter around the van and blocked off the area with police tape. Using flashlights to facilitate an inspection of the vehicle, the officers noticed several dark stains on one of the rear hubcaps. In an effort to preserve possible evidence on the vehicle from rain which had begun to fall, a tent was placed over the van. When the Frederick County police officers arrived two hours later, they were met by a Martinsburg's police officer who had remained at the scene with the van.

Appellant spoke with police officers briefly, then left the scene with her sister. Her father, the owner of the van, remained with the vehicle. A warrant to search the van was obtained by Martinsburg police at 1:00 a.m., approximately two hours later. While the search of the van was being conducted, Martinsburg police, accompanied by a Frederick County officer, went to appellant's home and executed the fugitive warrant they had obtained for her arrest. She was then taken to the Martinsburg Police Department where she was processed and placed in a room where she was interviewed by Detectives Dewees and Jenkins, beginning at 1:48 a.m.

At approximately 4:00 a.m., appellant complained of chest pains and was taken to the hospital, where she was treated and released the next morning. At approximately 10:05 a.m. the next day, appellant was taken before a magistrate. At approximately 3:15 p.m., she was again interviewed by Deputies Dewees and Jenkins. Appellant was then returned to Maryland, where she faced charges of two counts of first-degree murder and related offenses in Frederick County.

After the State filed its notice to seek the death penalty, appellant filed for a change of venue, prior to trial. On September 29, 2003, a hearing on pre-trial motions was conducted in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. Appellant's initial trial commenced on October 29, 2003. On November 19, 2003, a mistrial was declared after the jury informed the court that it was unable to reach a verdict. Prior to the second trial, the State withdrew its notice to seek the death penalty, seeking instead a maximum penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On June 30, 2004 and September 2, 2004, additional hearings on pre-trial motions were held.

After jury selection, appellant's retrial commenced on October 25, 2004. On November 3, 2004, six days into the trial, the State disclosed that it intended to call Joe Daniels, Jr., appellant's brother, as a witness on behalf of the State. He had been an alibi witness for the defense in the first trial and it was anticipated that he would again provide an alibi in the second trial. According to the State's proffer, Daniels was prepared to implicate appellant in the murders. Appellant's defense counsel moved for a mistrial, specifically conditioned on preclusion of the State from seeking the death penalty at a subsequent trial. In the alternative, defense counsel moved to continue the trial for two weeks. The trial court took the matter under advisement and continued the case for several days. On November 8, 2004, trial resumed; defense counsel renewed her motion for a mistrial with the same condition regarding seeking exposure to the death penalty at a subsequent trial. The trial court denied the motion. Defense counsel, faced with what she considered a Hobson's choice, proffered that the defense and the State were negotiating aborting the trial and entering an agreed statement of facts with respect to the two counts of murder, coupled with the State's agreement to nolle pros each of the remaining counts in the indictment.

Appellant, responding to the examination by the court as to whether she concurred with the proposed agreement between her counsel and the State, indicated that she wanted to abort the trial and proceed by way of a not guilty agreed statement of facts. Appellant then entered a plea of not guilty to the counts charging the first-degree murders of Deanne Prichard and Makayla Frost and the State presented the following agreed statements of facts to the trial court.

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on October 19th of 2002, members of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, responded to Discovery Boulevard in Walkersville, Frederick County, Maryland. The bodies of 16-year-old Deanne Prichard and 5-week-old Makayla Frost were lying on Discovery Boulevard. Both were pronounced dead from single gunshot wounds.

Witnesses at the scene, including Maria Beyer, Leda Harris, Robert Crouse and Scott Shaffer would testify that they observed a dark green mini van, pulling away from the scene of the shooting. Robert Crouse would further testify that he saw an African American female with freckles on her face, driving the van. Leda Harris would further testify that the green mini van had...