Jackson v. State
| Decision Date | 30 May 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. 4D10–949.,4D10–949. |
| Citation | 89 So.3d 1011 |
| Parties | Michael L. JACKSON, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Anthony Calvello, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Myra J. Fried, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
In this case, we write to address two issues-whether the prosecutor's closing argument improperly made a case for the credibility of a state witness and whether the testimony of two detectives about the reluctance of witnesses in the neighborhood of the shooting to be seen cooperating with the police was irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. Finding no error, we affirm.
A grand jury indicted Michael L. Jackson Jr. for first-degree murder with a firearm. The charge arose from eighteen-year-old Jackson's shooting of a drug dealer, Jenoi Hand, on a street in West Palm Beach. The state's chief witness was Matia “Coco” Dingle, Hand's lookout. Though other people were present at the time of the shooting, Dingle was the only eyewitness to identify Jackson as the shooter. The state's case turned on her credibility. Jackson's primary attack against Dingle's credibility was that she was not there, so her testimony was made-up. Following a jury trial, Jackson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Dingle, in her mid-twenties, was a user of powder cocaine. When she was high, she was alert, energetic, and quiet. Dingle's criminal history included possession of cocaine with intent to sell, giving a false name to a police officer, and retail theft. Hand, the victim, was her friend. They had been friends for over five or six years and Hand treated her “like [she] was somebody.” Hand sold crack cocaine. Testimony established that Hand's territory, as recognized on the streets, was Sixth Street and Sapodilla Avenue. Dingle worked for Hand as a lookout, watching for police and potential robbers. For this, Hand paid her $50 to $80 a day, but did not compensate her with drugs.
On July 29, 2009, the night of the shooting, Dingle used powder cocaine and served as Hand's lookout. Dingle and Hand hung out all that day and night on Sixth Street. Hand did not have his gun. A little after midnight, Shaniece “Shay Shay” Gaskin and Nakera “Kera” Dawson arrived in Dawson's car. At some point, Hand and Dawson were inside her car—Hand was in the backseat, Dawson sitting on his lap—while Gaskin was outside riding around on Hand's bicycle. Dingle was at the intersection of Sixth Street and Rosemary Avenue, down the street from the intersection of Sixth Street and Sapodilla Avenue. She was behind a taxicab stand snorting cocaine. As Hand's lookout, Dingle's attention was focused solely on Hand. The area was lit by street lamps. Dingle observed Hand conduct a drug sale. There were no problems and the customer left.
After the sale, Hand was in the middle of the road near Dawson's car. Then appellant Michael Jackson, someone Dingle knew, “ran through the cut,” the area of land between two houses that were facing Sixth Street. Hand yelled out to Jackson, asking whether he was running from police. Jackson did not respond, but he approached Hand. They started talking to each other.
Bent over and snorting a line of cocaine, Dingle heard gun shots from the direction where Hand and Jackson were speaking. The shots caused Dingle to look up and she saw Hand on the ground. She rushed toward him, but her testimony was unclear on how close she got to Hand. Regardless, Hand was still alive.
Meanwhile, Jackson had run off toward the cut. He reloaded his gun and came back to where Hand was lying face up on the street. By that time, thinking that Jackson had seen her, Dingle had dived under a car and hid. As she lay under the car, she watched Jackson's feet as Jackson shot Hand again. Jackson fled through the cut.
Scared, Dingle also ran away, in the direction of a club. She came back to the scene, however, after she heard an ambulance. Because she was scared and did not know what to do, Dingle acted like she had just arrived. A lot of people from the neighborhood were there. While Dingle was at the scene, television reporters showed up. Dingle told one reporter that Hand was her brother, people would miss him, she had just arrived on scene, and nobody knew anything. At trial, Dingle explained that she told the reporter something other than the truth because she was scared and, also, because she did not want to be seen on television discussing what happened.
Dingle talked with police at the scene, but again tried to act as if she had just arrived. Dingle did not want to be seen talking to the police in front of people from the neighborhood. Asked why, she explained: “Because when you do, people around the neighborhood call you the police, the snitch, all type of stuff.” Dingle was willing to talk to the police, but not in public. She, Dawson, and Gaskin walked down the street, where the police picked them up. They were transported to the police station. Once at the station, Dingle talked to the police.
Later, on August 15, Dingle spoke with Detective Dennis Hardiman, one of the investigators, in an interview room at the police station. At that time, Dingle told the detective everything she knew, including things she withheld the first time she spoke with police. She explained: Dingle said she did not feel open with the other police officers because they wanted to speak to her in front of other people. During the interview, Detective Hardiman conducted a photographic lineup; Dingle identified Jackson. She identified him again in court.
During the cross-examination of Dingle, Jackson's attorney pressed Dingle on her previous statements denying that she was at the scene at the time of the shooting.
After rehashing her testimony about the night of July 29, Jackson's attorney questioned Dingle on the statements she made at the police station that night. Dingle, Dawson, and Gaskin were put in a room at the police department where they were secretly recorded. Defense counsel asked Dingle whether she remembered making certain statements, to which Dingle responded that she had been high and, repeatedly, that she did not remember anything she said. Defense counsel played an audio recording of the conversation in an attempt to have Dingle identify her voice on it and, also, to refresh her recollection of what she said. Dingle was generally resistant to listening to the tape.
Dingle admitted telling a detective she was not there when the shooting occurred, something which was apparently captured on the recording. Dingle explained in court that, at that point, she did not want to get involved. Defense counsel played a portion of the tape in which it appears Dingle was asking the other women what the shooter was wearing. After some prodding, Dingle explained that she asked these questions to make it appear as if she had not been there, as she did not want to get involved. As cross-examination continued, Dingle became increasingly upset. Eventually, she asked the trial court whether she still had to answer questions.
Later, an issue arose as to a video-and-audio recording of the conversation between Dingle, Gaskin, and Dawson at the police station. While the parties previously thought the DVD contained only the same content as the audio recording Jackson's attorney had earlier used, they later discovered that the DVD contained more than the audio recording. The trial court ordered the state to produce Dingle the day after she first testified so Jackson's attorney would have an opportunity for full cross-examination.
The further cross-examination was contentious. Dingle resisted answering some of the questions. She complained that the defense attorney was “messing” with her. As she did the day before, Dingle maintained that she could not remember what she had said the night of the shooting. Defense counsel then played the DVD and pressed Dingle about what she said on the recording and challenged her testimony that she had witnessed the shooting.
Gaskin also testified, and her testimony largely corroborated Dingle's. While she roughly described the shooter, she did not identify him. When asked if she saw Dingle at the scene when the shooting happened, Gaskin answered, Gaskin repeated this on cross-examination. She said Dingle left the area of the shooting shortly after Gaskin and Dawson arrived, but she could not remember if Dingle ever returned because she was not paying attention. The first time she remembered seeing Dingle again was after the police arrived.
Gaskin stayed to talk to the police after the shooting, although she did not want to cooperate with them. Like Dingle, Gaskin did not want to be involved. She had the police meet her somewhere else: “Because I didn't want nobody else to see me get in the car, the police car.” She, Dingle, and Dawson eventually went to the station. There, Gaskin described to Dingle in detail what she had seen. Dingle told her that she wished she had stayed at the scene, but she was suffering a headache.
The two detectives who investigated the shooting were Adam Myers and his partner Dennis Hardiman. On appeal, Jackson challenges their testimony on the general reluctance of people in the neighborhood to talk with law enforcement. 1
Detective Myers provided the following testimony:
[By the State:]
Q. Okay. And on scene, did you talk to any witnesses?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Did you talk to a Shaniece Gaskin or Shay Shay?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you talk to a Nakera Dawson?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Who goes by Kera?
A. Yes.
Q. And could...
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