Jones v. State
| Decision Date | 08 July 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 1425,1425 |
| Parties | KENNETH JONES v. STATE OF MARYLAND |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Circuit Court for Baltimore City
Case No. 113310058
UNREPORTED
Kehoe, Shaw Geter, Battaglia, Lynn A. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.
Opinion by Kehoe, J.
*This is an unreported opinion, and it may not be cited in any paper, brief, motion, or other document filed in this Court or any other Maryland Court as either precedent within the rule of stare decisis or as persuasive authority. Md. Rule 1-104 Kenneth Jones was indicted on seventeen criminal counts and was convicted on six of them after a jury trial in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, the Honorable Timothy J. Doory presiding. He appeals his convictions and raises nine issues, which we have rephrased and reordered as follows:
We will affirm the convictions.
The State charged Jones with a number of crimes arising out of his alleged role as an enforcer for the Black Guerilla Family (the "BGF"), a criminal gang in Baltimore City. Among the witnesses who testified at Jones's trial were an alleged victim, former members of the BGF, and law enforcement officers. All linked Jones to the BGF and to the crimes he was alleged to have committed. The jury convicted Jones of conspiracy to establish and entrench a gang through unlawful means; knowing participating in a criminal gang in violation of Criminal Law Article § 9-804; first-degree murder; attempted first-degree murder; use of a handgun in a crime of violence; and possession of a handgun by a prohibited person.
Jones does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, so it is not necessary for us to provide a detailed statement of the evidence adduced at trial. See Washington v. State, 180 Md. App. 458, 461 n. 2 (2008).
Jones's convictions arise out of his involvement with the BGF, a nationwide criminal gang that operates through smaller "regimes" in cities and prisons across the country. One such "regime" operates in and around the Greenmount area of Baltimore City, and engages in drug dealing, robbery, extortion, and murder. The BGF has a constitution and bylaws,known as "22s and 33s;" which require its members to take an oath1 and pay dues;2 and is managed by a hierarchy of officers.3
At trial, several witnesses testified that Jones was a member of the BGF. Baltimore City Police Detective Phillip Smith was admitted as an expert in gang identification, organizational structure, and activities. Detective Smith testified that members of the BGF can be identified by tattoos depicting symbols unique to the BGF, and by the use of codewords borrowed from the Swahili language. The State showed photographs of Jones's tattoos to Detective Smith, and, over defense counsel's objection, the photographs were admitted into evidence. The photographs showed tattoos of "276,"4 with "jamaa"5 written inside of the "6;" a shotgun and sword crossed as an "X," and a black dragon, all of which,according to Detective Smith, are indicative of membership in the BGF. Detective Smith indicated that members of the BGF would "terminate on sight" any person displaying these tattoos who was not a member of the BGF.
Detective Smith's testimony was corroborated by Christopher Meadows, James Cornish, and Lamontae Smith, all of whom claimed to have been members of the BGF at the same time as Jones. Although Meadows and Jones joined the BGF together, Meadows eventually left the gang when people started "getting each other killed." Cornish, who has known Jones since the fourth grade, joined the BGF in 2006 while he was incarcerated. He testified that Jones was also a member of the BGF and that Jones had "a lot of pull which means he knows a lot of people in high places in the gang[.]" Lamontae Smith also testified that he and Jones were both members of the BGF. All three referred to Jones as "Slay," his nickname within the BGF.
Meadows, Cornish, and Smith also testified that Jones played a significant role in merging the Young Guerilla Family (the "YGF") with the BGF. Detective Smith described the YGF, by way of analogy, as:
The minor league baseball team of the BGF. Those were the younger people who weren't already BGF members. So they was pretty much using the kids straight out of what we call "baby book 'em." They would use them at a young age. They would do the work and they was all a part of the YGF. And then they graduate and they come into BGF.
Meadows testified that he and Jones were founding members of the YGF, which, like the BGF, operated in the Greenmount area, and that they merged with the BGF in the mid-2000s.
Gregory Rochester, a.k.a "Craig Mack," was found dead on January 11, 2007, in the home of Gerald Johnson, a.k.a "Geezy" or "GZ" or "Big Geez."6 Rochester had been shot a total of nine times, four of which were in the head. Detective Joseph Landsman, of the Baltimore City Police Department, testified that because Gerald Johnson was a high-ranking member of the BGF, the police investigated Rochester's murder as a gang-related murder.
Cornish and Meadows confirmed that Rochester's murder was gang-related. Meadows told Detective James Lloyd, a sergeant with the Baltimore City Police Department's Homicide Section, that the BGF ordered Jones to kill Rochester because Rochester was "snitching" on other members of the gang. Meadows related that Jones and Charles Pace, a.k.a. "Foo,"7 shot and killed Rochester in "Geezy's" house, and that Jones shot Rochester first. Meadows also gave a description of one of the guns used to shoot Rochester, and that weapon was later recovered from Jones's cousin.
Sandra Bohlen, a supervisor of the Firearms Examination Unit for the Crime Laboratory of the Baltimore City Police Department, testified that, based on the ballistics evidence found at the scene, Rochester had been shot with at least two guns. A firearm waslater recovered from a separate investigation, and, after testing the firearm, Supervisor Bohlen concluded that the recovered firearm was one of the guns used to shoot Rochester.
On the night of April 11, 2011, Perry Johnson was involved in an altercation with at least five other people on North Avenue in Baltimore City. The altercation was observed by Baltimore Police Officer Austin Sailor who was patrolling the area in his vehicle. After hearing gun shots, Officer Sailor saw Jones running away from the group while holding his waistband. Jones was apprehended and a stolen handgun and four spent casings were found in his pants.
Meanwhile, Perry Johnson was taken to the hospital as a result of gunshot wounds he suffered from the altercation. There, Detective Christopher Wade read Johnson his Miranda rights and conducted a recorded interview. Johnson told Detective Wade that Jones was a high-ranking member of the BGF, that Jones was the shooter, and that Jones shot first but that Johnson fired back. Johnson believed he was targeted by the BGF because someone accused him and his wife of being "rats" by cooperating with the police. Additionally, Johnson told Detective Wade that the BGF had previously tried to kill him in 2006. At trial, the State called Johnson as a witness. When Johnson's memory failed him on the witness stand, the court found Johnson's lack of memory contrived and allowed the prosecution to play Johnson's previous statements to the police to the jury.
Angelique Petty, Johnson's wife, was present at the altercation, and was also interviewed and recorded by Detective Wade. From a photo array, Petty identified Jonesas the shooter. The State also found it necessary to play Petty's prior statements from the recorded interview to the jury at trial.
On October 5, 2013, Lamontae Smith, a.k.a "Chop," was shot near Greenmount Street in Baltimore City. Three weeks after the shooting, Baltimore City Police Detective Brian Lewis interviewed Smith. During that interview, Detective Lewis showed Smith a photo array from which Smith identified Jones as the person who shot him. According to Smith, the shooting was the result of an internal dispute within the BGF, of which Smith and Jones were on opposing sides. Smith testified that he did not initially tell the police who shot him because he believed that if he did so, Jones would attempt to kill him again.
Alexis Roberts, a.k.a "Big Baby," was interviewed by Baltimore City Police Detective Frank Gaskins in connection to Smith's shooting. Roberts told Detective Gaskins that "Slay [Jones] shot Chop [Smith]." Roberts's memory also failed at trial, and her prior recorded statements to the police were played for the jury.
Jones was charged with the murder of Gregory Rochester; the attempted murder of Lamontae Smith; conspiracy to establish and entrench a gang through unlawful means; knowingly participating in a criminal gang in violation of Md. Code (2002, 2012 Repl. Vol.)...
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