Lloyd v. State

• Decision Date: 26 March 2021
• Docket Number: No. 460, 2019,460, 2019
• Citation: 249 A.3d 768
• Parties: Eric C. LLOYD, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.
• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware

249 A.3d 768

Eric C. LLOYD, Defendant Below, Appellant,

v.STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

No. 460, 2019

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: January 6, 2021

Decided: March 26, 2021

Megan J. Davies, Esquire (argued), Haddonfield, New Jersey; Jan A. T. van Amerongen, Jr., Esquire, Office of Conflicts Counsel, Wilmington, Delaware, for Defendant Below, Appellant Eric C. Lloyd.

Sean P. Lugg, Esquire (argued), Delaware Department of Justice, Wilmington, Delaware, for Plaintiff Below, Appellee State of Delaware.

Before SEITZ, Chief Justice; VALIHURA, VAUGHN, TRAYNOR, and MONTGOMERY-REEVES, Justices, constituting this Court en Banc.

SEITZ, Chief Justice:

A Superior Court jury convicted Eric Lloyd of six felonies stemming from his involvement in a Wilmington drug dealing enterprise. The Superior Court sentenced Lloyd to an aggregate of thirty years of incarceration without the possibility of early release. On appeal, Lloyd challenges his convictions and sentence. First, Lloyd contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to sever his case from that of co-defendant Dwayne White. Second, Lloyd argues that the trial court erred when it denied his motion for a mistrial after an eyewitness to a shooting misidentified Lloyd as the gunman. In Lloyd's third and fourth claims of error, he argues that the trial court should not have admitted gun evidence seized from a codefendant's apartment and rap music videos created by other enterprise members. Fifth, Lloyd argues that the trial court erred by allowing testimony from Lloyd's former attorney's secretary about a drug transaction. And finally, Lloyd contends that the trial court violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment by imposing consecutive sentences, resulting in thirty years of incarceration, without the option for early release. For the reasons discussed below, we find Lloyd's claims are without merit and affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

I.

This Court has already affirmed the convictions of Lloyd's co-defendant, Dwayne White, who was tried with Lloyd.¹ We incorporate the factual background in that thorough opinion and focus on the facts pertinent to Lloyd's conviction and his arguments on appeal.

A.

According to the record before us, Lloyd was the leader of a sprawling drug dealing enterprise in Wilmington.² Beginning in 2015, enterprise members sold large amounts of cocaine and heroin. Lloyd enlisted members to distribute cocaine on a consignment basis.³ According to William Wisher, an admitted enterprise member, Lloyd would provide him with cocaine at an agreed upon price.⁴ Wisher would then "cook" the powder cocaine with baking soda to turn it into crack cocaine.⁵ After selling the crack cocaine, Wisher would keep as profit the amount above the agreed upon price.⁶ Wisher and Lloyd would communicate using Facetime to avoid law enforcement surveillance.⁷ Dante Sykes, another admitted enterprise member, confirmed the same consignment arrangement. Sykes described one transaction when Lloyd delivered a brick of cocaine by putting it in the trunk of his car while Sykes was meeting with his lawyer in Wilmington.⁸ The same lawyer, Joseph Benson, represented other members of the enterprise, including Lloyd.

Lloyd concealed illegal drug sale proceeds through the purchase of investment properties, gambling, and sports betting.⁹ Lloyd and White created LLCs to purchase real estate, only to quickly transfer the title to a friend or family member at no cost.¹⁰ In one transaction, a property owned by an enterprise member with an assessed value of $52,000 was transferred to White's wife, Nyeesha White, for free. Nyeesha White then placed the property in a trust for fifteen months and transferred the property, again for free, to NCTZA, LLC. The address listed for NCTZA, LLC was the address Lloyd listed as his primary residence.¹¹ Sykes also described how Lloyd instructed him to use a first-time homeowner program to purchase real estate so he could conceal drug proceeds.¹²

When Lloyd returned to federal custody in 2017 for a probation violation, he transferred control of the enterprise to White.¹³ White expanded the enterprise into heroin sales. Lloyd continued to communicate with members of the enterprise while in prison.¹⁴ At times Lloyd would discuss enterprise business and the challenges of running a large-scale operation.¹⁵ He also continued to manage his investments from prison.

Some enterprise members were associated with smaller groups within the enterprise. White and three other members—Teres Tinnin, Michael Pritchett, and White's brother, Rasheed White—belonged to a group called "The Four Horsemen."¹⁶ Tinnin and Pritchett were also members of the "Big Screen Boys," a group of friends who had an ongoing feud with one of their former associates, Markevis Stanford.¹⁷ The Big Screen Boys included Ryan Bacon, Maurice Cooper, Dion Oliver, Dante Sykes, Tinnin, and Pritchett.¹⁸

Believing Stanford was a "snitch," the feud escalated when the Big Screen Boys published a video of two members having sex with Stanford's girlfriend.¹⁹ This led to a series of retaliatory shootings, assaults, and robberies between Stanford and members of the enterprise. The violent activity drew attention from police, which was bad for the enterprise's drug business.²⁰ White determined Stanford "had to go," and White placed a "bounty" on Stanford's life.²¹

On June 6, 2017, Oliver and Pritchett targeted Stanford in two shootings. Stanford avoided being hit in both incidents. During the second shooting, he shielded himself behind a vehicle stopped at a stop sign.²² Gunfire meant for Stanford shattered the vehicle's windows and struck a six-year-old passenger, Jashown Banner, causing paralysis and brain damage from his wounds.²³

After police arrested Pritchett for Banner's shooting, White offered $20,000 to members of Banner's family in exchange for a sworn statement that Pritchett was not involved in the shooting.²⁴ While investigating Banner's shooting, police obtained a warrant for a wiretap on White's phone. The wiretap revealed links between White and other individuals who had previously been arrested for drug offenses, as well as connections between these individuals and the larger drug enterprise.

B.

In October 2017, a New Castle County grand jury returned a 36-count indictment against Lloyd and thirty-three other defendants. A series of superseding indictments modified the charges. Lloyd and White were charged in the indictment's lead count, Criminal Racketeering. Lloyd was also charged with six other felony counts: Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Racketeering, Drug Dealing Cocaine, Conspiracy to Deal Cocaine, Money Laundering, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, and Attempting to Evade or Defeat Tax.

Of the three defendants, White was the only defendant charged with the attempted murder of Stanford and Banner's shooting.²⁵ Lloyd moved to sever his trial from White's trial. Lloyd argued that the Jashown Banner shooting was a separate and distinct event that fell outside of enterprise activity. The court denied the motion. Also, before trial, Lloyd learned that White planned to admit guilt to the Drug Dealing, Conspiracy to Commit Drug Dealing, and Criminal Racketeering charges against him, but that White intended to deny involvement in the charges related to the shooting. Lloyd renewed his motion to sever, this time arguing that White's defenses and Lloyd's defenses were mutually antagonistic. Lloyd also asked the court to reconsider his prior claim that the shooting was beyond the scope of enterprise activity. The court denied the motion.

In addition to witnesses who testified about Lloyd's involvement in the enterprise, the State called three members of Banner's family at trial—Banner's father, Joshua Potts; his mother, Shaylynn Banner; and his grandmother; Deborah Banner. Each served as a witness for the shooting and the bribery attempts. White approached Potts in person and offered him $20,000 in exchange for an affidavit exonerating Pritchett.²⁶ Next, White sent text messages to Shaylynn Banner and included photos of Pritchett and himself, so she knew who to exculpate.²⁷ Shaylynn turned the texts and photos over to police. Finally, White approached Deborah Banner in person and made the same $20,000 offer, which she also rejected.²⁸ The members of the Banner family that White approached each testified that White identified himself only as "Boop" and they did not know who White was prior to the bribe and never saw him again after.²⁹

White admitted that he attempted to bribe the Banner family. During Potts’ testimony, the State asked him to identify the person who attempted to bribe him. Pointing to Lloyd, Potts identified the person in "[b]lue jeans over there" as Boop.³⁰ When the State asked Potts to clarify, Potts again identified Lloyd as Boop.³¹ After the misidentification, Lloyd moved for a mistrial. The court denied the request. The State called witnesses to make clear that White solicited the bribe.³² Counsel also agreed to a stipulation read to the jury correcting the misidentification.³³

On June 14, 2019, a jury convicted Lloyd of Criminal Racketeering, Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Racketeering, Conspiracy to Deal Cocaine, Money Laundering, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, and Attempting to Evade or Defeat Tax.³⁴ Lloyd was found not guilty of Drug Dealing Cocaine. On October 17, 2019, the Superior Court sentenced Lloyd to an aggregate thirty years of incarceration, followed by a term of probation.³⁵ This is Lloyd's direct appeal.

II.

A.

First, Lloyd challenges the Superior Court's denial of two motions to sever his trial from that of co-defendant Dwayne White. Under Superior Court Criminal Rule 8(a), a defendant may be indicted for two or more offenses if the offenses are "of the same or similar character or are based on the same act or transaction or on two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or...