Jackson v. State

• Decision Date: 05 November 2001
• Docket Number: No. 3023,3023
• Citation: 784 A.2d 670,141 Md. App. 175
• Parties: Bion JACKSON v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

784 A.2d 670

141 Md. App. 175

Bion JACKSON v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 3023, Sept. Term, 2000.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

November 5, 2001.

Argued Brian J. Murphy, Assigned Public Defender (Steven E. Harris, Public Defender, on the brief), Baltimore, for Appellant.

Steven L. Holcomb, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. and Patricia Jessamy, State's Atty. for Baltimore City, on the brief), Baltimore, for Appellee.

Argued before DAVIS, SALMON, and DEBORAH S. EYLER, JJ.

DEBORAH S. EYLER, J.

A jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City convicted Bion Jackson, the appellant, of two counts each of first degree burglary, robbery, second degree assault, and misdemeanor theft, and one count of felony theft. The court sentenced the appellant to two 15-year consecutive sentences on the first degree burglary convictions, two 15-year concurrent sentences on the robbery convictions, and a 10-year consecutive sentence on the felony theft conviction. Sentences on the other convictions were merged.

The appellant presents two questions on appeal, which we have rephrased:

I. Did the motion court err in ruling his confession admissible?

II. Did the sentencing court err in imposing sentences for robbery and felony theft?

For the following reasons, we answer the first question "no" and the second question "yes." Accordingly, we shall affirm the appellant's convictions but vacate his sentence for felony theft.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

On the afternoon of March 15, 2000, the appellant went to an apartment complex in the 4300 block of North Charles Street, in Baltimore City, and tricked Francis Meginnis, an elderly woman, into opening her apartment door. He forced his way inside Meginnis's apartment and demanded money and "diamonds." Meginnis gave the appellant about $100 and her ATM card. The appellant then forced Meginnis to call her neighbor, Paul Pannella, and lure him to her apartment under a pretext. When Pannella arrived, the appellant confronted him, took $40 and his credit card, and forced him and Meginnis into a bedroom, where he tied them up with telephone cord. The appellant took Pannella's keys, went to Pannella's apartment, and took $600. Finally, the appellant used Pannella's keys to steal Pannella's 1997 BMW automobile.

When Meginnis and Pannella managed to free themselves, they called the police, who launched an investigation. The next day, March 16, 2000, the appellant called Pannella's home telephone number and left a voice-mail message saying he would call back about the BMW. Pannella told the police of this and several officers came to his apartment. They were present when the appellant called back and demanded that Pannella pay "seven or eight hundred" dollars for the return of his car. Pannella offered to pay $200. The appellant agreed, and told Pannella to meet him in front of The Johns Hopkins Hospital Emergency Room to make the exchange.

A police officer posing as a taxicab driver drove Pannella to the Hopkins Emergency Room. When the appellant called out to Pannella and approached him, the police arrested him.

The appellant was transported to the Northern District Police Station. Upon being questioned by Detective Thomas Wolf, the appellant gave a written statement in which he admitted committing the crimes and then arranging to meet Pannella at the Hopkins Emergency Room. In his statement, the appellant said that a man named "Hugo" had taken him to Meginnis's apartment and, after the robbery, "Hugo" had driven the appellant home in Pannella's car and had kept the car, after giving the appellant some money and heroin.

Pannella's BMW was recovered seven days after the appellant was arrested, in the 1100 block of North Wolf Street, in Baltimore City.

Additional facts will be given in our discussion of the issues.

DISCUSSION

I.

Before trial, the appellant moved to suppress his written inculpatory statement to the police on the ground that it was not freely and voluntarily made. The court held a suppression hearing at which the State called Detective Wolf as the sole witness in its case-in-chief.

Detective Wolf testified that he arrested the appellant in front of the Hopkins Emergency Room sometime between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on March 16, 2000. He next had contact with the appellant at 9:05 p.m., at the Northern District Police Station. In the interim, Detective Wolf was driving Pannella home and the appellant was being transported to the Northern District Police Station and being held there until Detective Wolf returned.

According to Detective Wolf, the appellant was in police custody for "probably an hour and a half" before he and his partner, Detective Myra Sexton, returned to the station house. During that time, the appellant was kept in Detective Wolf's office, and was handcuffed. Also during that time, other police officers may have had contact with the appellant. An activity log was not kept because it was not standard practice to do so except in homicide and rape cases.

Detectives Wolf and Sexton together interviewed the appellant and took his written statement. At the outset of the interview, Detective Wolf read the appellant his Miranda warnings.¹ The entire interview lasted about 20 minutes. Detective Wolf testified that no police officers threatened or physically abused the appellant or "offer[ed] him anything" to prompt a statement from him. After the appellant gave his statement, he was transported to Central Booking.

The appellant then testified. He said he was transported to the Northern District Police Station in a paddy wagon and was placed in a room alone for about an hour. A man then entered the room. He was wearing a name tag, but the appellant could not remember his name. When asked to describe the man, the appellant said he was "kind of tall." The man was not in a uniform. The appellant thought the man was a sergeant, however, because one of the officers present at the Emergency Room had commented that they were waiting for a sergeant to arrive. The appellant did not say whether he had seen the tall man at the hospital, however.

According to the appellant, the tall man asked him his name, and said, "Where's the car at?" The appellant replied, "Man, I'm high right now." The tall man then "choked him" with both hands and demanded that he say "where the car [was] located." The tall man left the room to do a computer check on the appellant's name. When he returned, he was with a "black female" and "another black guy."² The appellant did not identify these people or describe them in any greater detail than that. All three people demanded to know where the "ATM cards," "BMW car," and "money" were, threatened to charge the appellant with Meginnis's murder,³ and then "bum wrestled," "beat[ ]," "chok[ed]," and "hit[ ]" the appellant, using "[f]ists, cuffs, the chair that was in there, everything." The appellant vomited during the beating. Afterward, he was "bruised up, bleeding, busted open." He had been "cut up," and had "busted lips, swollen eyes, head."

The appellant further testified that about 15 minutes elapsed between the beating and the start of the interview by Detective Wolf. When Detective Wolf came in the room and started the interview, the appellant's injuries were present. In fact, the appellant was still "bruised up, bleeding, [and] busted open" after the interview, when he was taken to Central Booking. The appellant described the interview as being 3½ hours long. He also said the "female officer and the black guy" both were present during the interview.⁴ The appellant claimed he was high on heroin when he was interviewed. He reviewed his written statement and testified that even though his initials appear on it, he did not remember telling Detective Wolf most of the information in it. The appellant further testified that three days after the interview he was taken to a hospital for treatment.

On rebuttal, the State re-called Detective Wolf. It did not call any other witnesses. Detective Wolf testified that when he first saw the appellant at the station house, the appellant appeared "normal. He wasn't agitated and he appeared to be pretty much the same when I left him from the arrest scene." Detective Wolf did not see any injuries or marks on the appellant, and the appellant did not seem to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Detective Wolf identified a photograph taken of the appellant after the interview, at Central Booking, "probably after midnight" on March 17, 2000. The photograph, which was taken as a routine part of the booking process, is a close-up shot of the appellant's head and face. It shows no signs of injury.

Detective Wolf testified that, in his experience, Central Booking will not accept for intake a prisoner with injuries or one who is "intoxicated over a level they think is unsafe" or has "any unusual psychological problems." Instead, police policy requires that such a prisoner immediately be transported to Mercy Medical Center for evaluation by a doctor. Only after medical clearance will Central Booking accept the prisoner. In this case, Detective Wolf explained, the appellant was not taken to the hospital for clearance and was accepted by Central Booking—both of which were inconsistent with his having sustained any injuries.

At the end of the State's rebuttal case, neither the prosecutor nor defense counsel made arguments to the court; instead, they both said they were "submit[ting] on the evidence." The court denied the appellant's motion to suppress, without comment. The case then went to trial.⁵

The appellant's written statement was admitted into evidence in the State's case, through Detective Wolf. In the defense case, the appellant testified that he was physically abused by four police officers (not three) before Detective Wolf interviewed him. First, a man he thought was a sergeant choked him while he was handcuffed to a chair. He then left and "three more officers" came in,...