Marshall v. State

• Decision Date: 01 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 75,75
• Citation: 695 A.2d 184,346 Md. 186
• Parties: Harold Louis MARSHALL v. STATE of Maryland. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 186

346 Md. 186

695 A.2d 184

Harold Louis MARSHALL v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 75, Sept. Term, 1996.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 20, 1997.

Fred R. Joseph (Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A., on brief), Greenbelt, for Petitioner.

Mary Ann Ince, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General, on brief), Baltimore, for Respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, CHASANOW, KARWACKI, RAKER and WILNER, JJ.

RAKER, Judge.

The issue we must decide in this case is whether the trial judge unduly restricted the cross-examination of the State's key witness regarding a plea and pending sentence in an unrelated criminal case, where the witness's testimony against the defendant was a requirement of the witness's plea. We shall hold that the limitation of the cross-examination was a violation of the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 21 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights and that the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

I.

On May 30, 1993, the victim, Nathaniel New, was wounded on a street corner in Prince George's County; he died as a result of the gunshot wound on November 3, 1993. At the crime scene, police officers saw several men present, but only one person, a seventeen year old named Barry Edwards, remained to speak with them. Edwards, initially identifying himself as Barry Smith, but later providing his correct name, told police that he saw a black car drive up and turn around, that he heard gunshots, and that New was shot in the back while leaving the scene. On June 3, 1993, during Edwards's second police interview, he told police for the first time that Petitioner, Harold Marshall, was the person who shot Mr. New. He told the police that he initially gave his last name as Smith because he "didn't want to be bothered" and because he was scared.

In August, 1993, after the shooting and before Petitioner's trial, Edwards was involved in an unrelated incident and was indicted by a grand jury for either assault with intent to murder or assault with intent to maim. ¹ As a result of a plea agreement, Edwards entered an Alford plea to the reduced charge of reckless endangerment. ² See Maryland Code (1957, 1996 Repl.Vol.) Art. 27, § 12A-2. As a condition of the plea, Edwards agreed to testify on behalf of the State at Petitioner's trial. At the time of Petitioner's trial, Edwards had not been sentenced on the reckless endangerment charge.

At Petitioner's trial, Edwards was the State's sole eyewitness. Edwards testified that Marshall was the person he saw in the black car, and that he observed Marshall exit the car, approach Mr. New, argue with him, and then pull out a handgun from under his shirt, shoot Mr. New and return to the black car and drive away.

The State filed a motion in limine, seeking to preclude defense counsel from questioning Edwards about his guilty plea. The court held a hearing on the motion prior to opening statements. At the hearing, all parties acknowledged that Edwards's testimony at Petitioner's trial was a mandatory condition of his plea agreement, although this requirement had not been authorized by the prosecutor in the Marshall case, or even communicated to her.

Defense counsel argued that it was necessary to cross-examine Edwards about his plea agreement with the State to expose his motive for testifying on behalf of the State. ³ The trial court granted the State's motion in limine on the grounds that first, the plea was not yet a final conviction, ⁴ and second, that it was inappropriate to inquire into a plea of guilty in an unrelated case.

Petitioner was convicted of first degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. On the murder conviction, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, and on the handgun conviction, he was sentenced to ten years in prison, to be served concurrent with the murder sentence.

Petitioner appealed to the Court of Special Appeals and in an unreported opinion, a divided panel affirmed the convictions. The intermediate appellate court held that the witness's plea in an unrelated case was a collateral matter and therefore irrelevant to any issue in Marshall's case. The court held that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in limiting defense counsel's cross-examination. The intermediate appellate court then added that, in any case, "any limitation, to the extent it can be characterized as such, ... was ... harmless." Chief Judge Joseph F. Murphy, Jr. dissented. He concluded that Petitioner had a constitutional right to inform the jury that Edwards, a key prosecution witness, had a strong motive to falsify because, in an unrelated criminal proceeding, 1) he had entered into a plea agreement which required that he testify against Petitioner in the case sub judice and 2) he was awaiting sentencing in that proceeding at the time of his testimony. In addition, Chief Judge Murphy concluded that the error was not harmless.

Marshall filed a petition for writ of certiorari, which this Court granted. Marshall v. State, 343 Md. 566, 683 A.2d 178 (1996). In the interim, this Court decided the case of Ebb v. State, 341 Md. 578, 671 A.2d 974 (1996), wherein we considered whether the trial court abused its discretion by precluding cross-examination of a State's witness concerning pending criminal charges. Because there was no offer of leniency and no basis to infer an expectation of leniency, we held in Ebb that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in precluding cross-examination on the pending criminal charges. Id. at 591, 671 A.2d at 980. We summarily vacated the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals in Marshall v. State, 341 Md. 605, 671 A.2d 987 (1996), with directions for that court to reconsider the case in light of Ebb. On remand, the Court of Special Appeals, in a unanimous opinion, affirmed. Marshall again filed a petition for writ of certiorari, which we granted to consider whether denying a defendant the opportunity to cross-examine a State witness regarding a plea and pending sentencing in an unrelated criminal case, where the witness's testimony is a condition of the witness's plea agreement, is violative of the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment and Article 21 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights.

II.

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment guarantees an accused in a criminal proceeding the right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him." Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 678, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1435, 89 L.Ed.2d 674, 683 (1986). This right means more than simply confronting the witness physically. Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 315, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 1110, 39 L.Ed.2d 347, 353 (1974). This same right is guaranteed to a criminal defendant by Article 21 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Simmons v. State, 333 Md. 547, 555-56, 636 A.2d 463, 467, cert. denied, 513 U.S. 815, 115 S.Ct. 70, 130 L.Ed.2d 26 (1994). The constitutional right of confrontation includes the right to cross-examine a witness about matters which affect the witness's bias, interest or motive to testify falsely. Ebb, 341 Md. at 587, 671 A.2d at 978. An attack on the witness's credibility "is effected by means of cross-examination directed toward revealing possible biases, prejudices, or ulterior motives of the witness as they may relate directly to issues or personalities in the case at hand." Davis, 415 U.S. at 316, 94 S.Ct. at 1110, 39 L.Ed.2d at 354. The Supreme Court recognized in Davis that "the exposure of a witness' motivation in testifying is a proper and important function of the constitutionally protected right of cross-examination." Id. at 316-17, 94 S.Ct. at 1110, 39 L.Ed.2d at 354; see Smallwood v. State, 320 Md. 300, 306, 577 A.2d 356, 359 (1990). Commenting on the importance of cross-examination concerning motive to falsify, Chief Judge Joseph F. Murphy, Jr., in his treatise Maryland Evidence Handbook, observed that "[t]his is the most important impeachment technique because 'even an untruthful man will not usually lie without a motive.' " J. Murphy, Maryland Evidence Handbook § 1302(E), at 662 (2d ed.1993) (quoting Gates v. Kelley, 15 N.D. 639, 110 N.W. 770, 773 (1907)).

The right to cross-examination, however, is not without limits. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1435, 89 L.Ed.2d 674, 683 (1986); Smallwood, 320 Md. at 307, 577 A.2d at 359. The trial judge retains discretion to impose reasonable limits on cross-examination to protect witness safety or to prevent harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, or inquiry that is repetitive or marginally relevant. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 679, 106 S.Ct. at 1435, 89 L.Ed.2d at 683; Smallwood, 320 Md. at 307, 577 A.2d at 359. Although the scope of cross-examination is within the discretion of the trial judge, that discretion may not be exercised "until the constitutionally required threshold level of inquiry has been afforded the defendant" to satisfy the Sixth Amendment. Brown v. State, 74 Md.App. 414, 419, 538 A.2d 317, 319 (1988); see Smallwood, 320 Md. at 307, 577 A.2d at 359; United States v. Landerman, 109 F.3d 1053, 1061 (5th Cir.1997); United States v. Restivo, 8 F.3d 274, 278 (5th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 807, 115 S.Ct. 54, 130 L.Ed.2d 13 (1994); United States v. Christian, 786 F.2d 203, 213 (6th Cir.1986); Hoover v. Maryland, 714 F.2d 301, 305 (4th Cir.1983); United States v. Tracey, 675 F.2d 433, 437 (1st Cir.1982). "The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment is satisfied where defense counsel has been 'permitted to expose to the jury the facts from which jurors, as the sole triers of fact and of credibility, could appropriately draw inferences relating to the reliability of the witness.' " Restivo, 8 F.3d at 278 (quoting Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 318, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 1111, 39 L.Ed.2d 347, 355 (1974)). The trial court's discretion to limit cross-examination is not...