Decker v. State

• Decision Date: 13 May 2009
• Docket Number: No. 44, September Term, 2008.,44, September Term, 2008.
• Citation: 971 A.2d 268,408 Md. 631
• Parties: Charles Henry DECKER v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

971 A.2d 268

408 Md. 631

Charles Henry DECKER v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 44, September Term, 2008.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

May 13, 2009.

Kellie M. Black, Assistant Public Defender (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, and Mark Colvin, Assistant Public Defender, of Baltimore), on brief, for petitioner/cross-respondent.

Brian S. Kleinbord, Assistant Attorney General (Douglas F. Gansler, Attorney General of Maryland, of Baltimore, on brief), for respondent/cross-petitioner.

Argued before: BELL, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, ADKINS, BARBERA, and JOHN C. ELDRIDGE, (Retired, specially assigned), JJ.

BARBERA, J.

During the trial of Petitioner Charles Henry Decker, the court admitted evidence that on a previously scheduled trial date Petitioner left the courthouse before trial commenced. The State offered the evidence to show that Petitioner fled from prosecution, thereby reflecting his consciousness of guilt of the charged crimes. Petitioner challenges the admission of the evidence, arguing that it was too ambiguous and equivocal to be indicative of consciousness of guilt, and, even if marginally probative, its relevance was outweighed by unfair prejudice to him. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the trial court neither erred nor abused its discretion in admitting the challenged evidence.

I.

Petitioner was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court for Harford County, on June 8 and 9, 2006. The jury found Petitioner guilty of possession of a regulated firearm after having been convicted of a disqualifying crime, driving under the influence of alcohol, and other driving and weapon offenses.

The convictions stemmed from Petitioner's involvement in a single-vehicle accident that occurred in the early morning of January 9, 2005. Petitioner, while driving a Ford Expedition ("Expedition"), evidently lost control of it and drove off the road. Only Petitioner was injured. During their investigation of the accident, police officers found a nine millimeter Beretta handgun on the passenger's seat of the vehicle.

Petitioner conceded during opening statement that he was drunk at the time of the accident, and he stipulated that he had been convicted of a crime that made it illegal for him to possess a firearm. The trial therefore focused on whether Petitioner knowingly possessed the handgun that the police found in the Expedition.

The evidence showed that on the evening before the crash Petitioner and his half brother, William Pell, went "bar hopping." Petitioner drove the Expedition and, over the course of several hours, the two men visited four bars and each drank at least twenty beers and an unspecified number of "shots."¹ At approximately 1:30 a.m., Petitioner and Mr. Pell left the last bar to go home. The two men exchanged words about Petitioner's sobriety and ability to drive. Mr. Pell became angry with Petitioner and decided to make his own way home. Petitioner drove off, alone, in the Expedition.

Petitioner was driving southbound on Conowingo Road, near Main Street, Darlington, when he evidently lost control of the Expedition. It crossed the center line, went off the highway and up an embankment, hit some trees, then rolled down the embankment and back onto the highway.

Deputy Sheriff Ronald Randow was the first officer to arrive at the accident scene. He found the Expedition unoccupied. He heard, however, someone walking through the brush of the wooded area of the embankment. As Deputy Randow began his search of the Expedition, he spotted a man, later identified as Petitioner, standing in the parking lot in front of a convenience store, across the highway. Deputy Randow radioed Corporal Donald Gividen, who was en route to the accident scene, and directed him to go to the parking lot to investigate. Deputy Randow joined Corporal Gividen soon thereafter. The two officers noticed that Petitioner was bleeding from the mouth, his eyes were glassy, and he smelled of alcohol. Petitioner told Corporal Gividen that he left the scene of the accident because he was scared, had been drinking, and was "fucked up."

Meanwhile, Corporal Mark Fox conducted a more thorough search of the Expedition and found what turned out to be a loaded, nine millimeter Beretta handgun laying on the passenger seat of the Expedition next to the center console. Although there were papers strewn around the vehicle, none was atop the handgun.

Petitioner was transported by ambulance to the emergency room of the local hospital. There, Deputy Randow advised Petitioner that he was under arrest and informed him of the charges, including, evidently, a weapons charge. Petitioner responded that "the gun in the vehicle was not his."

Deputy Randow testified that he and other officers had Petitioner under guard at the hospital. At one point, Petitioner was taken to a room for an x-ray. Deputy Randow and two other officers waited for Petitioner outside the room. After a few minutes, Deputy Randow had cause to go into the room and saw that Petitioner had left the room via another exit. The police officers later found Petitioner "going down another hallway."

Near the close of Deputy Randow's direct examination, the prosecutor asked him if he had been in the courthouse a year earlier, on June 1, 2005. Petitioner's trial in this case was originally scheduled to go forward on that date. Deputy Randow testified that he was present in the courtroom on that date and observed Petitioner there. Before the deputy could testify further, defense counsel objected. At the bench, the State argued that the evidence it was about to elicit from the deputy was relevant as "flight to avoid prosecution." Defense counsel responded that, unlike the evidence that Petitioner was "trying to leave the hospital," his "being here on a prior court appearance and leaving, I don't know that that is indicia of guilt." The court overruled the objection, reasoning that the evidence was relevant as "indicia of guilt."

Deputy Randow then testified about what took place at the courthouse on the previously scheduled trial date. Deputy Randow spotted Petitioner in the courtroom where the trial was to be held, after which Petitioner "basically [ ] walked out of the courthouse." Officer Randow and other deputies searched the hallways of the courthouse, but could not find Petitioner. Deputy Randow added that Petitioner's trial was postponed for a year.

The defense called one witness, Petitioner's mother, Wanda Decker. Ms. Decker testified that, although the Expedition belonged to her, Petitioner was the primary driver. She also testified that other persons regularly drove the Expedition; she found things in the Expedition "all the time" that did not belong to Petitioner; and on only one occasion did someone retrieve an item that had been left in the Expedition. Ms. Decker also testified that her employer owned a gun and sometimes used the Expedition to take deposits from the store where she worked to the bank. She was not sure, however, if her employer ever took the gun out of the store.

Without objection from the defense, the court gave the jury an instruction concerning flight evidence, reading verbatim the pattern instruction on that subject from Maryland Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions, 3:24. During closing argument, the State summarized three instances of what it characterized as flight by Petitioner: when he walked away from the crash scene; when he left the x-ray room at the hospital through an unguarded exit; and when he left the courthouse on the scheduled first trial date.

The jury found Petitioner guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, driving while under the influence of alcohol, failure to drive to the right of the center line of a roadway, and transporting a handgun. The court sentenced Petitioner to a total of six years' imprisonment.

Petitioner noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, which, in an unreported opinion, affirmed the judgments. The intermediate appellate court held, inter alia, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Deputy Randow's testimony concerning Petitioner's leaving the courtroom on the prior trial date. That court reasoned that the evidence was relevant as consciousness of guilt, and "[e]vidence of the first two instances of flight, when considered along with the other evidence of guilt, tend[s] to buttress the court's reasoning in admitting evidence of appellant's leaving the courthouse immediately prior to trial one year before."

We granted a writ of certiorari, Decker v. State, 405 Md. 290, 950 A.2d 828 (2008), to address two questions. The first, raised by Petitioner, asks:

Did the trial court err in admitting evidence that Petitioner walked out of the courthouse on a prior trial date before the case was called for trial?

The second, raised by the State by way of a conditional cross-petition, asks:

Did the Court of Special Appeals err in failing to address the State's argument that Decker's claim was not properly preserved for appellate review?

II.

We first address the State's cross-petition. The State argues in its brief: "[T]o the extent that [Petitioner] claims that he was prejudiced as a result of the flight instruction, that claim is not preserved." The State notes that Petitioner "did not object to the flight instruction, and has never alleged that the instruction was not proper in this case. Accordingly, any objection to the flight instruction has been waived." In any event, the State further argues, the instruction was proper. Petitioner replies that he "has not raised any issue concerning the flight instruction." Rather, he challenges only the "admissibility of the testimony that [he] walked out of the courthouse on a prior trial date."

Because Petitioner raises no challenges related to the instruction, we have no need to address the merits of the State's cross-petition.

III.

Petitioner argues that the trial court erred by allowing the State to elicit...