Gilliam v. State
| Decision Date | 25 September 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 150,150 |
| Citation | 320 Md. 637,579 A.2d 744 |
| Parties | Tyrone Delano GILLIAM v. STATE of Maryland. Sept. Term 1989. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Richard B. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., both on brief), Baltimore, for appellee.
Argued before MURPHY, C.J., ELDRIDGE, COLE, RODOWSKY, McAULIFFE and CHASANOW, JJ., and CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr., Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland (Retired, Specially Assigned).
During the early morning hours of Saturday, December 3, 1988, the body of Christine Doerfler (Ms. Doerfler) was found slumped over the wheel of her Nissan Sentra automobile. She had been shot in the back of the head with a sawed-off shotgun. The following facts were adduced at the trial of Appellant, Tyrone D. Gilliam, Jr. (Gilliam).
On Thursday afternoon, December 1, Gilliam and the Drummond brothers, Kelvin LeGrant Drummond (Kelvin) and Delano Anthony Drummond (Tony), sat in a friend's apartment and got high on cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol. With them they had a sawed-off Winchester pump shotgun.
The three men talked about "what was going to happen, since [they] had the shotgun, and that is when Tony and Tyrone [Gilliam] came up with the idea of going to Harford County." They discussed their plans for
The next day, the threesome drove to Harford County in a Nova they had stolen earlier in the week. Each was wearing a stolen snowsuit and gloves taken from a sporting goods store Kelvin had recently burglarized. Gilliam carried the sawed-off shotgun inside his snowsuit.
After reaching Harford County at about 2:00 p.m., the three men visited a friend's apartment and "smoked some greens." 1 At about 6:00 p.m. they left the apartment, and with Kelvin behind the wheel, they drove the Nova to Baltimore County. There they stopped at the entrance of a townhouse development "[b]ecause [they were] planning on robbing somebody." Kelvin put on the hazard lights of the Nova, feigning trouble, and they waited for a victim.
Meanwhile, that same Friday night at approximately 7:00 p.m., Ms. Doerfler left her home in Baltimore City to make the 20-25 minute drive to her sister Nancy's townhouse in Still waiting at the entrance of the townhouse complex, the three men watched as a car approached. This first car was driven by a man. Gilliam and Tony told Kelvin not to follow the car. At about 7:45 p.m., Ms. Doerfler pulled her Nissan Sentra into the parking lot of her sister's townhouse complex. The men had their victim.
Baltimore County. At 7:12 p.m. she stopped en route at a nearby Erol's video store where she checked out a videotape. She may also have made an additional stop at her brother's house, although[579 A.2d 747] this could not be confirmed because he was not home that evening
As Ms. Doerfler pulled into a parking spot, Kelvin pulled the Nova in back of her Sentra. Ms. Doerfler was getting out of her car, but had not yet shut her door, when Tyrone and Tony jumped out of the Nova. They pushed their way into her car and forced her to drive down Belair Road while Kelvin followed in the Nova.
Because he was not certain of any plan, Kelvin signaled the lead car to join him in the rear lot of a Channel store. Both cars stopped and Tony got out of Ms. Doerfler's car to tell Kelvin that "she didn't have no money" but that she had a Signet bank card. Tony rejoined Gilliam and Ms. Doerfler in the lead car and the two cars continued to drive in tandem to find a Signet Bank. Eventually, they turned into Town and Country at the end of Gum Spring Road in Baltimore County.
The cars stopped, and Kelvin pulled the Nova beside Ms. Doerfler's Sentra. Tony Drummond then got out of the Sentra and took Ms. Doerfler's car keys with him. He joined his brother Kelvin in the Nova, leaving Ms. Doerfler alone with Gilliam.
The two brothers sat in the Nova talking and waited for Gilliam to join them. Kelvin testified that it was at this point that he looked up and saw Gilliam standing outside Ms. Doerfler's car on the driver's side. Ms. Doerfler was still sitting in the driver's seat. Kelvin could see Gilliam standing with one arm on the hood of Ms. Doerfler's car
leaning down talking to her. In his other hand he held the shotgun, grasping it in the center on the pump area, his arm fully extended down. Kelvin then turned to his brother Tony for a cigarette. He testified
Gilliam quickly rejoined the brothers in the Nova and the three drove off, leaving Ms. Doerfler at the dead-end of Gum Spring Road. Kelvin asked Gilliam why he did it and Gilliam answered, "because she saw [my] face." They had stolen three dollars.
A few days later on December 5, 1988, at about 3:15 a.m., Trooper Gary D. Kulick of the Maryland State Police was on patrol in Harford County when he received a broadcast over his radio that an "incident" 2 had occurred near his patrol. He was told to look out for two cars driving on Route 40. Minutes later, Trooper Kulick spotted the cars--a gold, four-door, Toyota Camry followed by a Dodge Colt. The vehicles drove in tandem at a distance of about two to three car lengths and traveled at a speed of 50 m.p.h. in a posted 55 m.p.h. zone.
Trooper Kulick positioned his cruiser so that the approaching cars would not see him. He then received another broadcast which gave the license tag number of the Colt. He radioed the police barrack that he had spotted the cars and asked for back-up.
Deputy Buchannan of the Harford County Sheriff's Department came to his assistance. The Deputy signaled the Toyota Camry to pull off the road, which it did, and Kelvin Drummond was arrested.
The Toyota, however, which Trooper Kulick attempted to stop, sped away. A high-speed pursuit ensued, reaching speeds of over 100 m.p.h. The chase ended only when the Toyota, unable to pass a pick-up truck, spun around and hit the median retainer wall head-on. The driver, bleeding from the forehead, was Gilliam.
Gilliam was arrested and his car searched. The search netted a loaded, sawed-off shotgun lodged between the front door and the driver's seat of the car. The shotgun had three shells in it.
At about 3:50 a.m., Trooper Kulick left the accident scene with Gilliam and took him to the Fallston General Hospital emergency room. Gilliam received treatment 3 and was visited by his mother. He was released from the hospital at 6:10 a.m.
Gilliam was taken to the Maryland State Police Barracks in Bel Air, Maryland, where he was directed to a holding cell. More than 12 hours after his arrest, at approximately 4:45 p.m., Gilliam was removed from his holding cell and walked 30 to 40 feet into an interview room where he was questioned by Corporal Ryan and Detective Naylor of the Baltimore County Police Department. Although Gilliam at first denied committing the murder, he ultimately confessed after being confronted with statements Kelvin Drummond had made to police. Gilliam made both oral and tape recorded confessions.
Gilliam was then charged with murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Pursuant to Maryland Code (1957, 1987 Repl.Vol., 1989 Cum.Supp.), Article 27, § 412(b), the State timely notified Gilliam that if a conviction of first-degree murder was returned, it would seek the The Circuit Court for Baltimore County held a hearing on June 5, 1989, to consider Gilliam's motion to suppress his statements to police. The motion was denied. Presiding without a jury, the Circuit Court for Baltimore County (Fader, J.) conducted a trial on the merits on June 5-7, 1989.
death penalty. 4 Kelvin Drummond was also indicted and pleaded guilty to first degree murder of Christine Doerfler. However, Kelvin Drummond made an agreement with the State that, if he testified for the State at Gilliam's trial, the State would recommend that Kelvin receive a sentence no more severe than life with the possibility of parole
The State's case against Gilliam consisted of three elements: The testimony of Kelvin Drummond; Gilliam's high-speed flight from police in a car containing a sawed-off shotgun; and Gilliam's statements made to police after he was brought into the police barracks. The trial court found Gilliam guilty of murder in the first degree (on theories of both premeditated murder and felony murder), guilty of robbery with a deadly weapon, guilty of kidnapping, and guilty of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence.
The trial judge conducted a hearing on June 23, 1989 to determine whether Gilliam elected to be sentenced by the court or by a jury. Gilliam elected to be sentenced by the court.
On October 30-31, 1989, Judge Fader, sitting without a jury, found that Gilliam was a principal in the first degree of the murder of Christine Doerfler and, as an aggravating factor, found that the murder was committed during the course of a kidnapping, Md.Code (1957, 1987 Repl.Vol.), Art. 27, § 413(d)(4), and robbery, Art. 27, § 413(d)(10). The court found no mitigating factors. Gilliam was sentenced to death. In his appeal to this Court pursuant to Md.Code
(1957, 1987 Repl.Vol.), Art. 27, § 414, Gilliam raises seven issues for our determination.
The first issue raised by Gilliam in this appeal concerns the admissibility of statements he made to police during the interrogation after his arrest. Gilliam contends that the trial court erroneously...
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