McCray v. State

• Decision Date: 01 September 1997
• Docket Number: No. 1036,1036
• Citation: 716 A.2d 302,122 Md.App. 598
• Parties: Karen McCRAY v. STATE of Maryland. ,
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 598

122 Md.App. 598

716 A.2d 302

Karen McCRAY v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 1036, Sept. Term, 1997.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

Aug. 26, 1998.

Julia Doyle Bernhardt, Asst. Public Defender (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender, on the brief), Baltimore, for appelllant

Regina Hollins Lewis, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., Baltimore, and Davis R. Ruark, State's Atty. for Wicomico County, Salisbury, on the brief), for appellee.

Argued before WENNER and SONNER, JJ., and ROSALYN B. BELL, Judge (retired), Specially Assigned.

SONNER, Judge.

In the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, a jury convicted appellant, Karen McCray, of first degree premeditated and felony murder, robbery, attempted robbery, assault with intent to murder, misdemeanor theft, and conspiracy to commit robbery. ¹ On appeal, appellant presents the following questions for our review:

I. Did the testimony of the accomplice's minor child sufficiently corroborate the testimony of the accomplice?

II. Did the trial court err in admitting prior statements of the accomplice?

III. Was appellant's statement to the police voluntary?

We find that the trial court erred in admitting the accomplice's prior consistent statements and, accordingly, reverse and remand.

FACTS

Before being suffocated to death on September 12, 1996, Lucy Lyles lived on Booth Street in Salisbury, Maryland. About a month prior to her murder, she had opened her home to Tawanna Howell and Howell's four children (ages eleven, eight, seven, and five), at the request of Ms. Howell's mother, Diane Burgess. While living with Ms. Lyles, Howell met and began to socialize with Karen McCray, who lived a short distance away.

At trial, Howell described the events of September 12, 1996 as follows: She and her four children were at McCray's home; the children were playing upstairs with McCray's son, while McCray, Howell, appellant's brother, Glen McCray, and some friends were downstairs smoking crack cocaine. While Howell was at McCray's, Diane Burgess stopped by and told Howell that she had her children's Social Security check. Howell left McCray's house to cash the check. When she returned to the McCray house, she gave McCray $20 so that McCray could purchase more crack cocaine. Howell waited for her children while McCray and the others continued to smoke. Then, at about 10:00 p.m., Howell, her four children, and McCray left the McCray house and went to the Lyles home. Before leaving, McCray inquired of Howell whether Ms. Lyles had any money and Howell told her that she probably did. McCray told Howell that they were going to go to Ms. Lyles's house "and scare her and try and get some money out of her."

Howell told McCray that she did not need to hurt Ms. Lyles because, if she asked, Ms. Lyles would give her the money.

Howell and the children entered the apartment by the back door, while McCray waited outside. At McCray's request, Howell put her children in the bathroom and then returned to the back door to let McCray in. When she opened the door, Howell found that McCray had put a black net stocking over her face and that her brother, Glen, had also come over. Howell let both of them enter and Howell began to walk toward Ms. Lyles's bedroom door. McCray opened the bedroom door and flicked the light switch on and off. Ms. Lyles called out, asking, "Who is that?" No one answered, but all three entered the bedroom, and McCray jumped on top of Ms. Lyles's head, "straddling her with her legs sitting on top of her face." McCray repeatedly demanded money while Ms. Lyles said, "Oh, my God, they [sic] trying to kill me." Howell stood at Ms. Lyles's feet and McCray told her to grab them because Ms. Lyles was flailing her legs and arms. Howell grabbed the victim's feet while McCray tried to tie Ms. Lyles's hands with the cord of an iron. Ms. Lyles continued to struggle, so McCray hit her on the side of the head with the iron. Meanwhile, Glen McCray rummaged through Ms. Lyles's belongings, looking for money.

After being struck with the iron, Ms. Lyles stopped struggling and lay on the ground mumbling, "Oh, my God, why, why?" McCray then took a large pillow and put it over Ms. Lyles's face and sat on top of the pillow. After minutes passed, Ms. Lyles stopped moving completely and McCray got up and started going through the victim's belongings. McCray found Ms. Lyles's work bag with a black wallet, from which McCray removed fifty dollars. After she found the money, McCray told Howell to get her children out of the bathroom. McCray and her brother left first and then Howell brought her children out and they left Ms. Lyles's home and went to McCray's home. Howell and the children went inside and, while Glen watched the children, McCray and Howell went away and bought some beer and crack cocaine. They returned to McCray's house and smoked the crack cocaine.

At approximately 1:00 a.m., McCray, Howell, and Howell's children returned to Ms. Lyles's house. Howell straightened up Ms. Lyles's bedroom, while the children and McCray sat in the living room. Howell then returned to the living room and McCray left. The children went to sleep and, at approximately 7:00 a.m., Howell woke the children and took them to her mother's house, told her mother what had happened, and left for Pocomoke in the evening, where the police later arrested her. Howell made detailed statements, describing the killing to the police, and, subsequently, pleaded guilty to second degree murder for her involvement.

Shantanna Howell, Tawanna's twelve-year-old daughter, testified at trial. Shantanna recalled that on September 12, 1996, she, her siblings, and her mother went to McCray's home and, later that night, they walked back to Ms. Lyles's house and entered the apartment through the back door. Once inside, her mother told her and her brothers and sister to go into the bathroom and remain quiet. After they entered the bathroom, Howell closed the door. Shantanna did not see anyone else in the apartment, but, while she was in the bathroom, she heard a knock on the door and she heard Ms. Lyles ask, "who was it," but no one answered. She then heard Ms. Lyles scream and cry, while asking for help. Shantanna also heard McCray tell Ms. Lyles to "shut up," and heard "some banging and stuff moving around." After some time passed, Shantanna heard someone leave and then Howell allowed them to come out of the bathroom. Shantanna said that Howell's hair was messy, as if "she had been working." Shantanna indicated that her mother then told them to go to sleep. Early the next morning, they went to her grandmother's house, where she overheard Howell tell her mother what had happened.

ANALYSIS

I.

Appellant's first argument on appeal alleges that the testimony of Shantanna Howell, the accomplice's minor child, did not sufficiently corroborate the testimony of the accomplice, Tawanna Howell. Her claim is based on two theories: first, the corroboration came from the accomplice's child and therefore cannot constitute an independent source; second, the testimony of Shantanna and her mother was so "riddled with inconsistencies" that it did not provide corroboration with some "degree of cogency," as required. See Brown v. State, 281 Md. 241, 244, 378 A.2d 1104 (1977). We find no merit in this claim.

It has been firmly established that a "person accused of a crime may not be convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice." Turner v. State, 294 Md. 640, 641-42, 452 A.2d 416 (1982). We have expressed two reasons for requiring corroboration. First, the accomplice who is offering the testimony "is admittedly contaminated with guilt," (citation omitted), and, second, the accomplice may have an ulterior motive for testifying, such as seeking a reduced sentence or charge. Id. at 642, 452 A.2d 416. We do not require the State to produce corroboration of all of the evidence. Rather, only slight corroboration is required. As former Chief Judge Murphy said for the Court of Appeals in Brown,

[T]he corroborative evidence ... must relate to material facts tending either (1) to identify the accused with the perpetrators of the crime or (2) to show the participation of the accused in the crime itself.... If with some degree of cogency the corroborative evidence tends to establish either of these matters, the trier of fact may credit the accomplice's testimony even with respect to matters as to which no corroboration was adduced. McDowell v. State, 231 Md. 205, 189 A.2d 611 (1963). That corroboration need not extend to every detail ... is also settled by our cases.

Brown, 281 Md. at 244, 378 A.2d 1104. The Court in Turner, agreeing with the reasoning of Brown, added that "the evidence offered as corroboration must be independent of the accomplice's testimony." Turner, 294 Md. at 646, 452 A.2d 416. That is, "the proffered evidence must consist of something more substantial than the extrajudicial comments of the accomplice...." Id. at 647, 452 A.2d 416.

In this case, appellant asserts that the testimony of Shantanna cannot be considered an independent source because she is the minor child of the accomplice, with a strong interest in protecting her mother, and, as a minor child, she was under the influence and control of her mother. We find that this argument does not, in any way, detract from the fact that Shantanna's testimony was "independent of the accomplice's testimony." Id. at 646, 452 A.2d 416. All we require of the testimony is that it must be "something more substantial than the extrajudicial comments of the accomplice." Id. at 647, 452 A.2d 416. The record demonstrates that Shantanna's testimony was based on her independent recollection of the events on the night of the murder and not on statements by her mother to her grandmother. Thus, it satisfied the requirement of testimony independent of the accomplice's testimony.

We also find no support for appellant's claim that the testimony of Shantanna and Tawanna...