Gilchrist v. United States
| Decision Date | 28 September 2012 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. DKC 08-1218,Criminal No. DKC 02-0245 |
| Parties | DERRELL LAMONT GILCHRIST v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Presently pending and ready for resolution in this case is a motion filed by pro se Petitioner Derrell Lamont Gilchrist to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. (ECF No. 76). Also pending are Petitioner's two motions to amend his § 2255 motion (ECF Nos. 79, 109); three motions for discovery (ECF Nos. 76, 93, 103), and a motion for appointment of counsel (ECF No. 76).1 The relevant issues have been briefed and the court now rules pursuant to Local Rule 105.6, no hearing being deemed necessary. For the reasons that follow, Petitioner's motions will be denied.2
Petitioner was charged by a twelve-count superseding indictment with four armed bank robberies, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and (d); carjacking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2119; four counts of use of a handgun in the commission of the bank robberies and the carjacking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c); conspiracy to engage in two of the bank robberies and the carjacking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; and possessing a firearm after a felony conviction, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 955(g). (ECF No. 4). Following the denial of his pre-trial motions - including motions to sever and to suppress identification evidence - the case proceeded to a jury trial on January 7, 2003.
The evidence adduced at trial was as follows. On March 15, 2001, at approximately 2:00 p.m., Robin Harris, the branch manager of Columbia Bank in Greenbelt, Maryland, observed from her office window a "heavyset" black male, wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans, pacing on the sidewalk in front of the bank. (T. 1/7/03, at 27-28). Shortly thereafter, Ms. Harris walked to the break room and heard a "loud commotion" coming from the customer service area. (Id. at 28). She learned from a co-worker that a robbery was in progress. Another bank employee was in the lobby when a "[h]eavyset guy"with "a full face ski mask [and a] gray sweatshirt and jeans" entered the bank and started "waving a gun, saying give me the money, no dye packs, get down on the floor." (T. 1/8/03, at 77-79).3 A customer in the teller line similarly described the robber as a "stocky" man wearing a "gray . . . sweatshirt, dark jeans, [and] boots" who "point[ed] the gun at the teller, saying give him the money, no dye packs." (Id. at 105-06). After collecting $10,809 from the tellers (id. at 130), the man stated, "thank you, Merry Christmas," as he exited the bank (id. at 106).
Ms. Harris and one other witness watched from separate windows as the robber ran to a black Jeep Cherokee and drove away, but neither witness was able to read the license plate. (T. 1/7/03, at 29; 1/8/03, at 88). Ms. Harris recognized the man she saw running from the bank after the robbery as "the same guy who was walking across the sidewalk that [she] had seen earlier." (T. 1/7/03, at 29).
On April 25, 2001, the teller coordinator at a Bank of America branch in Mitchellville, Maryland, was assisting a customer when she noticed a "guy come in the door on the left-hand side . . . [and] put [a] ski mask on." (T. 1/8/03, at 175-76). The man pointed a "flat silver plated gun" as he "told everybody to get down on the floor" and "started to rob the teller line," instructing the tellers, "no dye pack[s]." (Id. at 177). The robber was a black male with a "stocky" build, approximately 5'5", and wearing a dark jacket and a mask that covered his face completely. (Id. at 195, 198-99). As the man exited the bank, with approximately $12,029 from the teller windows (id. at 232), he stated, "have a blessed day" (id. at 178) and "merry F-ing Christmas" (id. at 209).
One of two other witnesses who provided accounts of the Bank of America robbery saw the perpetrator "run around the building and go in the direction of the woods" as he left. (Id. at 210). A construction worker at a job site behind the bank saw a "stocky" man wearing a dark leather jacket and a "doo-rag" partially covering his face running from the bank along the edge of a wooded area. (Id. at 240-41). At one point, the man got "caught in some briars" and a black item of clothing "came off . . . his head or around his neck." (Id. at 248). An FBI agent arrived later, spoke to the construction worker, and recovered a black skull cap from the wooded area next to the bank. (Id. at 263).
On June 15, 2001, at around 3:30 p.m., Matilda Burgos was seated in her car in a parking lot outside a SunTrust Bank branch in Landover Hills, Maryland, when she observed two blackmen walk by. The face of one of the men was "covered with a mask." (T. 1/9/03, at 110). As the two men approached the bank, "one pull[ed] a weapon" and Ms. Burgos immediately called police. (Id.). She watched the men for approximately twenty seconds as they entered the bank. The man wearing the mask was taller and thinner than the other man; the unmasked man, identified in court by Ms. Burgos as Petitioner, had "bushy" hair and wore baggy clothing. (Id. at 112).
Multiple witnesses testified that the two men entered the bank and "announced that there was a robbery." (Id. at 150). The larger, shorter man "walked up to a window and demanded that the teller give the money . . . [and] go to the next window and also get money out." (Id.). The taller, thinner man, carrying a "silver gun," approached a customer who was seated at a desk with a bank employee, "snatched" her car keys from the desk, and stated, (Id. at 166). The two men left the bank with approximately $10,742 (id. at 188-89) and fled "at a high rate of speed" in a 1996 red minivan belonging to the bank customer (id. at 167). A detective with the Prince George's County Police Department found the red minivan abandoned at a nearby location at approximately 11:00 p.m. that night. (Id. at 180-81).
On June 21, 2001, the head teller at Potomac Valley Bank in Bethesda, Maryland, was working near the entrance of the bankwhen he saw "two gentlemen come in with masks on." (Id. at 205). One of the men was "tall" and the other was "short, heavyset." (Id.). The men ordered the bank's customers and employees to get "down on the floor" and "proceeded to go to the tellers and tell them to give them the money." (Id. at 206). The taller of the two men pointed a gun at a security officer, threatening to shoot, while the shorter man collected money from the teller windows, "yelling give me more, give me some more money." (Id. at 207). The men robbed the bank of approximately $7,000 (T. 1/10/03, at 19) and were seen leaving in a "canary yellow" Toyota Camry bearing Maryland license plate number GMR297 or GMY297 (T. 1/9/03, at 208, 223, 226).4
On July 13, 2001, at approximately 9:40 a.m., Officer Raymond Redden, an undercover officer with the Prince George's County Police Department, exited a non-descript office building that housed the police department's Narcotics Enforcement Division and walked to his unmarked police car - a black, four-door Mercury Grand Marquis. (T. 1/10/03, at 31-33). When he reached the car, he saw "two black individuals crawling out ofthe woods" nearby. (Id. at 35). The larger of the two men, identified in court by Officer Redden as Petitioner, "pulled a black [semiautomatic] handgun out of his waistband" and "placed [a bandanna] up over his nose and mouth." (Id. at 35-36). The man pushed the gun into Officer Redden's side and said (Id. at 36). Officer Redden tossed his keys on the front seat through the open driver's side door, at which point Petitioner told him, (Id. at 38). When the officer refused, Petitioner threatened to "cap" him three times. (Id. at 39). After the third threat, Officer Redden grabbed the top of the gun and the two men began to struggle for possession. During the struggle, Petitioner pulled the trigger, firing one round into the air, and repeatedly urged the second man, who was holding a silver semiautomatic handgun, to "kill" Officer Redden. (Id. at 41). When Petitioner and the second man knocked Officer Redden to the ground; the officer jumped to his feet and sprinted toward the locked entrance to the Narcotics Enforcement Division. As he waited for officers inside to open the door, Officer Redden saw Petitioner driving his vehicle, with the second man seated in the backseat, as it sped away.
Police immediately scoured the area. Officer Haywood North, driving an unmarked police car with Detective Gutierrez seated in the passenger seat, was idling at a red light nearbywhen he observed what appeared to be Officer Redden's vehicle pass through the intersection. He saw a black male with bushy hair driving and a second man seated in the backseat. Upon verifying the tag number, he pursued, at which point Officer Redden's vehicle "started to speed up . . . very much." (Id. at 219). A high-speed chase ensued. It ended when Officer North crashed his vehicle as he followed the stolen car through a red light. Detective Gutierrez was injured in the accident and had to be transported to a hospital.
Three witnesses residing on nearby Allendale Terrace in Landover testified that at around 10:00 a.m. on July 13 they observed a vehicle drive down their cul-de-sac at a high rate of speed, jump the curb, and come to a sudden stop, at which point two black men exited and began running. One of the men "was sort of short . . . and sort of stocky" and appeared to drop a "pistol," which he stopped to recover, before continuing to run. (T. 1/14/03, at 23-24). One of the witnesses called police. Officer Wendell Brantley arrived approximately three minutes later, finding Officer Redden's police car "partially parked on the sidewalk and [] in a gentleman's yard." (T. 1/10/03, at...
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