Sanders v. State Of Md..
| Decision Date | 02 September 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 1011, Sept. Term, 2008.,1011, Sept. Term, 2008. |
| Parties | Oscar SANDERS v. STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Matthew H. Fogelson (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on the brief) Baltimore, MD, for appellant.
Ryan R. Dietrich (Douglas F. Gansler, Atty. Gen., on the brief) Baltimore, MD, for appellee.
Panel: EYLER, DEBORAH S., GRAEFF and PAUL E. ALPERT (Retired, Specially Assigned) JJ.
On May 29, 2008, a jury sitting in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City convicted Oscar Sanders, appellant, of motor vehicle theft, theft of property with a value over $500, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. The court imposed a sentence of 15 years, with all but eight years suspended, to be followed by five years of supervised probation. 1
Appellant presents two questions on appeal, which we quote:
1. Did the trial court err by refusing to ask a voir dire question directed at uncovering bias specific to the theft of a motor vehicle?
2. Did the trial court err by limiting Appellant's opening statement and cross examination?
For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
On January 22, 2008, Charles Donald Donahue parked his 2006 Ford Ranger in a parking space behind his rowhouse in Baltimore City. The next morning, January 23, 2008, as Mr. Donahue was leaving for work at approximately 8:00 a.m., he discovered that his vehicle was missing. He called the police and provided information about the car, including the license plate number.
Mr. Donahue testified that there were three sets of keys to the vehicle. He and his spouse each had one set, and the third set typically was kept in their home. On January 22, 2008, however, Mr. Donahue mistakenly left the third set of keys in the center console of the vehicle. He could not recall if he locked the doors to the car when he left his vehicle that day. Mr. Donahue had never met appellant, nor did he give him permission to drive his car.
Brian Bell, a Baltimore City police detective assigned to the Baltimore Regional Auto Theft Task Force, was admitted as an expert in the field of auto theft investigation. Detective Bell testified that on the morning of January 23, 2008, he and his partner, Detective Brian Ralph, responded to the parking lot of the Home Depot store in Reisterstown after members of his unit were “notified via ‘Lojack’ ” about the location of the stolen vehicle. He explained that Lojack is a tracking device that allows police to track a vehicle when it is stolen. 2
When Detective Bell arrived at the Home Depot, he observed the stolen vehicle as it was being driven through the parking lot. Detective Bell, along with his partner and other units of the Auto Theft Task Force, stopped the car. Appellant, the driver of the car, was arrested.
Detective Bell examined the car and did not find any damage to the steering column, which indicated that the vehicle was stolen through the use of a key. He observed that the key was in the ignition.
The police informed Mr. Donahue that they had found his car. When Mr. Donahue inspected it, he noted that items had been removed from the glove compartment and the console. He also found items in the vehicle that did not belong to him, such as a coffee cup and what appeared to be a “crack vial.”
Appellant did not call any witnesses, nor did he testify on his own behalf. As indicated, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all three charges. This timely appeal followed.
Appellant contends that the trial judge abused his discretion when he refused to ask defense counsel's proposed voir dire question, which inquired whether any of the jurors had “strong feelings concerning motor vehicle theft ... that would render the juror unable to render a fair and impartial verdict.” 3 Appellant argues that this question should have been asked because it was “directed at uncovering bias specific to the theft of a motor vehicle,” and the other questions asked during voir dire were “not an acceptable substitute for a question designed to reveal bias specifically relating to the crime for which [he] was charged.”
The State argues that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to ask this question. It contends that “an inquiry as to whether any potential juror holds strong feelings regarding a particular crime will only be warranted with respect to those crimes that tend generally to evoke strong passions and prejudices that would affect a juror's ability to act in an impartial manner,” and motor vehicle theft is not such a crime. Alternatively, the State argues that, even if motor vehicle theft is such a crime, the question was not required here because “any strong passions relating to the nature of the crime were simply not relevant,” given that the sole issue was whether appellant was the individual who stole the vehicle. Finally, the State argues that the court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to ask the requested question because “any bias regarding motor vehicle theft would have been, and was, uncovered through the other questions that were asked during voir dire.”
Prior to trial, defense counsel requested that the court ask the prospective jurors during voir dire if any of the jurors had “strong feelings concerning motor vehicle theft ... that would render the juror unable to render a fair and impartial verdict.” In support of this request, counsel argued:
And given that strong feeling about handguns, especially in a murder case where one could have used a handgun to commit murder, but on the other hand one could have used a handgun to defend oneself. And if someone has strong feelings about handguns in the-let's say against handguns, they may not be able to distinguish between the lawful use of a handgun versus the unlawful use and probably would convict the person because that person used a handgun to defend himself or herself.
Another example would be domestic violence. Some folk can hear the word domestic violence and say, he's guilty because he's charged with domestic violence. Others are strong the other way because they know of someone who may have been falsely accused and I don't believe a word, “she said.”
Where is that stigma that you gave some cursory attention to, to auto theft?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Well, Your Honor, I would only suggest to the court that-well, in Baltimore City that there are significant high rate of auto thefts and it's not unprobable that the members of the panel will have-been the victims or known victims or otherwise slipped through the cracks of the court's other questions, but have strong feelings about the issue of auto theft.
And as it is the accusation and as the question is framed to determine whether or not an individual in their own belief cannot be fair, I believe it's an appropriate question to ask because it deals specifically with the allegation as being alleged here.
Defense counsel concluded:
The trial court declined to ask this question, explaining its ruling as follows:
And I'll back up to [proposed voir dire question nine] so the Appellate Court if it becomes necessary will understand that my reason for denying the question on motor vehicle theft pertains to Singfield as I found that Singfield really stressed the concerns about the handgun. And the court recognizes the stigma attached to handguns and that there are other cases such as have been mentioned during the course of these discussions such as domestic violence, drugs, child abuse which could be at times part of domestic violence, but other times it's not.
But those are examples of cases where there's a strong stigma attached just the very nature of the charge that inflames people, citizens one way or the other. And this is not that type where the court believes would warrant a question. The court instructing or informing the jury that it is a motor vehicle theft case and asking the questions that the court will ask will give a juror an opportunity to respond if there is a problem, but those are my reasons for not asking those questions.
The court then began voir dire of the prospective jurors as follows:
Case now under consideration is the State of Maryland versus Oscar Sanders, case number 808067010. Mr. Sanders is charged with unlawful taking [of] a motor vehicle, theft of property over $500 in value and related charges which [are] alleged to have occurred on January 23rd, 2008 in the 6600 block of Reisterstown Road in Baltimore City, the [S]tate of Maryland.
* * * I am going to ask you several questions in order to obtain certain information that may be helpful to the attorneys in the selection of a jury in this case.
* * *
Has any member of the jury panel or a member of your immediate family ever been, part one, the victim of a crime, part two,...
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Thompson v. State
...ought to be able to carry a handgun and defend themselves. Other people believe that no one should have handguns.” Sanders v. State , 194 Md.App. 162, 168, 4 A.3d 1 (2010), vacated on other grounds by , 418 Md. 368, 14 A.3d 1163 (2011). Indeed, the intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii ob......
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State v. Shim
...led some to believe that we have engaged in a crime-by-crime approach to mandatory voir dire questions. See, e.g., Sanders v. State, 194 Md.App. 162, 177, 4 A.3d 1, 9–10 (2010) (stating that the Curtin majority, in declining to adopt Chief Judge Bell's suggestion of a mandatory question in ......
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Gilbert v. State, 1925
...v. State, 399 Md. 146, 157 (2007); Dingle v. State, 361 Md. 1, 16 n.9 (2000); State v. Logan, 394Md. 378, 398 (2006); Sanders v. State, 194 Md. App. 162, 171 (2010), vacated on other grounds, 418 Md. 368 (2011). Although there is no Maryland precedent barring such a generalized catch-all qu......