Huffington v. State

Decision Date06 December 1982
Docket NumberNos. 136 and 10,s. 136 and 10
Citation452 A.2d 1211,295 Md. 1
PartiesJohn Norman HUFFINGTON v. STATE of Maryland.
CourtMaryland Court of Appeals

Louis P. Willemin, Asst. Public Defender, Baltimore (Alan H. Murrell, Public Defender and George E. Burns, Jr., Asst. Public Defender, Baltimore, on the brief), for appellant.

Patricia E. McDonald, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore (Stephen H. Sachs, Atty. Gen. and Deborah K. Handel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, on the brief), for appellee.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and SMITH, ELDRIDGE, COLE, DAVIDSON, RODOWSKY and COUCH, JJ.

DAVIDSON, Judge.

On 13 November 1981, in the Circuit Court for Caroline County, a jury convicted the appellant, John Norman Huffington, of two felony murders, robbery, burglary, and violations of the handgun laws. After the jury determined that the appropriate sentence for each of the felony murders was death, the trial court imposed the death penalty. In addition, the trial court imposed consecutive terms of imprisonment for the robbery, burglary, and handgun violations. This appeal followed.

On appeal, the appellant claims that the trial court committed numerous prejudicial errors in the course of the pretrial proceedings, the trial proceedings, and the sentencing proceedings. More particularly, he points out that certain testimonial evidence was presented by the State after the prosecution and the defense each had concluded its case in chief and had rested. The appellant contends that such evidence was not properly admitted, either as rebuttal evidence or as an exercise of the trial court's discretion to vary the order of proof and admit evidence at the rebuttal stage that should have been adduced during the prosecution's case in chief. Because we find that the testimony in question was not rebuttal evidence, that the trial court was not, in fact, exercising its discretion to admit nonrebuttal evidence at the rebuttal stage of the trial, and that the trial court committed prejudicial error by admitting the evidence, we shall reverse the convictions and remand the case for a new trial. Under these circumstances, no other questions need be considered.

At the trial, both direct and circumstantial evidence was produced during the prosecution's case in chief that was intended to show that on 25 May 1981 the appellant killed Diane Becker and Joseph Hudson, both of whom had lived together in a trailer located in the Long Bar Harbor campground in Harford County. The direct evidence was adduced by an alleged accomplice, Deno Kanaras, who, at the request of the State, was called by the trial court as a witness. According to the agreed statement of facts, the substance of Kanaras's testimony concerning the events of the evening of 24 May and the morning of 25 May 1981 was as follows:

"Appellant spoke with Hudson at the Golden Forty and arranged to make a cocaine purchase after the bar closed. On leaving the club, they followed Hudson and company to the camp ground, stopping at the 7-11 on the way. At the trailer, Appellant spoke with Hudson about purchasing 3 1/2 grams of cocaine, and about arranging a subsequent deal for the remainder of Hudson's cocaine. Appellant purchased the 3 1/2 grams for $275, toward which Kanaras contributed $100. Appellant agreed to try to arrange a deal for the remainder of Hudson's cocaine, approximately another 3 1/2 grams, at a price of $350. Kanaras and Appellant then left the trailer and went to Appellant's apartment, arriving at about 3:30 a.m. At the apartment, Kanaras sat in the living room while Appellant went to the bedroom to make some telephone calls. Appellant subsequently returned and indicated that he had arranged a purchase. They returned to the campground where Appellant told Hudson he had a purchaser and also wanted to discuss a bigger deal later that evening. Hudson then got dressed and left a note on a counter in the trailer whereupon the three men left in Kanaras's car. Appellant gave directions to Wheel Road and instructed Kanaras to park the car in the driveway of an old farm. All three men got out of the car and walked up the driveway, Kanaras and Hudson walking side by side, Appellant following. Suddenly, Kanaras heard four or five gunshots and Hudson fell. Appellant reloaded the revolver, approached Hudson, and fired twice from close range into the left side of the head. Kanaras was so shocked he didn't know what to say. Appellant then rolled Hudson's body over and pulled a bag of cocaine out of his shirt pocket. Ultimately, Appellant placed this bag of cocaine into a Marlboro cigarette box. Appellant removed the bag from Hudson's pocket, turned to Kanaras, pointed the gun at him, and ordered him to drive them back to the campground. Appellant said that Hudson had $2000 at the campground, which he wanted. At the entrance to the campground, Appellant directed Kanaras to park the car some distance from Hudson's trailer so it would not be seen and to leave the car unlocked with the keys in the ignition. Appellant also directed Kanaras to accompany him to the trailer. Appellant opened the door, which was unlocked, and they went in. Becker's son was asleep in the back of the trailer at the time. After Appellant picked up the note Hudson had left and put it in his pocket, they searched the trailer, and Kanaras found the money in a cabinet. Appellant then drew a knife out of his boot and told Kanaras to kill Diane Becker. Kanaras, shocked, said he could not kill her. Appellant then walked over toward the bed, picked up a bottle from the floor, and struck Becker five or six times in the back of the head. Appellant then took the knife and stabbed Becker repeatedly in the chest, back and throat. When Appellant finished stabbing Becker in the throat, Kanaras regained his senses and left the trailer. Appellant was fifteen or twenty feet behind. They ran to the car, Appellant carrying the bottle and a pocketbook. They then drove to Appellant's apartment.

"At the apartment, Appellant changed clothes, and cleaned the gun, knife, and bottle with some rags. He counted the money and forced Kanaras to take $840, although Kanaras tried to refuse it. Appellant put his pants in the sink and poured bleach on them in an effort to clean out the bloodstains. Later, he put the pants into a bag and put the knife, bottle, and pocketbook into another bag. They then left the apartment, Appellant having ordered Kanaras to take him to the Fiddler's Convention. En route, they stopped by a creek at Harmony Church Road where Appellant threw the bottle into some brush, burned the pocketbook and note, and threw some live rounds of ammunition into the creek. They drove further to a location in Cecil County where Appellant dropped the knife and gun into some stagnant water. Still terrified, being unsure whether Appellant possessed any further weapons, Kanaras drove Appellant to the Fiddler's Convention as directed. They walked around the Convention and Kanaras spoke with someone he knew. They left after an hour. Kanaras drove Appellant to Hall's Furniture Store in Aberdeen, where a friend of Appellant's would be working. At that time, Appellant threw the bag with the pants into a nearby dumpster. Appellant then went into the furniture store. Kanaras drove home."

Much circumstantial evidence was also adduced by the State as a part of its case in chief. Neighbors who had been with Hudson and Becker at the Golden Forty Club on the evening of 24 May, and were with them when they left, saw a blue 1980 Monte Carlo, a type of car frequently driven by Kanaras, follow Hudson and Becker to their trailer. The car was then occupied by two men, one of whom Becker referred to as Deno. As the babysitter caring for Becker's child was leaving the trailer shared by Becker and Hudson, she saw two men emerge from such a car and walk to the porch of the trailer.

Additionally, police officers, accompanied by Kanaras, found a knife and sheath, a gun, and a holster in a pool of water located in Cecil County. According to an expert, the expended bullets in Hudson's body could have been fired from that gun, and the bent shell casings found near Hudson's body were fired by that gun. The police officers, accompanied by Kanaras, also found six live rounds of .38 caliber ammunition, the remains of a burnt handbag, and a Smirnoff's bottle of Harmony Church Road. According to an expert, some of the bullets recovered from Hudson's body, as well as bullets recovered from the creek at Harmony Church Road, contained similar chemical compositions. In addition, according to experts, the recovered vodka bottle had human bloodstains on it that could have come from Becker, and a latent fingerprint that matched a fingerprint taken from the appellant's right index finger. Moreover, the police officers, accompanied by Kanaras, found a brown paper bag containing corduory pants that were damp and smelled of bleach in a dumpster near Hall's Furniture Store. At the appellant's apartment, the police officers found a Marlboro box containing a white powder subsequently determined to be cocaine. According to experts, hair samples taken from the appellant microscopically matched hair found in Becker's garter belt and a blanket from her bed. The appellant's right boot contained a spot of blood, although there was not enough to tell if it was of human or animal origin, while Kanaras's left boot contained human blood.

Finally, there was evidence to show that at or about 12:30 a. m. on 26 May 1981, the appellant gave the police a statement, found by the trial court to be voluntary. In that statement, the appellant said that at or about 1:00 a.m. on 25 May, the appellant and Deno Kanaras had arrived at the Golden Forty Club where they remained until the club closed. The appellant stated that they then went to a weekend Fiddler's Convention in Cecil County where they remained until about 11:00 a.m. on 25 May. At that time, the appellant specifically denied having gone to Hudson's...

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34 cases
  • Huffington v. State
    • United States
    • Maryland Court of Appeals
    • September 1, 1984
    ...Huffington in this, his third trip to this Court, the second after a death sentence. His first trip was reported in Huffington v. State, 295 Md. 1, 452 A.2d 1211 (1982), where we reversed and remanded for a new trial. Upon the remand after that reversal the case was removed to the Circuit C......
  • Ayers v. State
    • United States
    • Maryland Court of Appeals
    • September 1, 1993
    ...the particular discretion it purported to exercise." Booze and Snead, 334 Md. at 70, 637 A.2d at 1217, citing Huffington v. State, 295 Md. 1, 15, 452 A.2d 1211, 1217 (1982) and Mays v. State, 283 Md. 548, 553-55, 391 A.2d 429, 431 (1978). Consequently, where evidence that is not properly re......
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    • United States
    • Maryland Court of Appeals
    • November 15, 2000
    ...within the discretion accorded to a trial court. Smallwood v. State, 320 Md. 300, 307, 577 A.2d 356, 359 (1990); Huffington v. State, 295 Md. 1, 14, 452 A.2d 1211, 1217 (1982). The Jury Without objection, the trial court instructed the jury that an officer may use deadly force when the offi......
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    • United States
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    • November 21, 1983
    ...A.2d 986 (1983); Harris v. State, 295 Md. 329, 455 A.2d 979 (1983); Poole v. State, 295 Md. 167, 453 A.2d 1218 (1983); Huffington v. State, 295 Md. 1, 452 A.2d 1211 (1982); Johnson v. State, 292 Md. 405, 439 A.2d 542 (1982); Poole v. State, 290 Md. 114, 428 A.2d 434 (1981); Tichnell v. Stat......
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