Simmons v. State

• Decision Date: 10 December 2020
• Docket Number: No. 1028,No. 831,831,1028
• Parties: DERRICK RAMONT SIMMONS v. STATE OF MARYLAND TERICA ANTOINETTE EVANS v. STATE OF MARYLAND
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

DERRICK RAMONT SIMMONS
v.
STATE OF MARYLAND

TERICA ANTOINETTE EVANS
v.
STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 831
No. 1028

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2018
December 10, 2020

Circuit Court for Baltimore County
Case Nos. 03-K-17-003444, 03-K-17-003445

UNREPORTED

CONSOLIDATED CASES

Friedman, Wells, Wright, Alexander, Jr., (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned) JJ.

Opinion by Friedman, 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.

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Appellants, Derrick Simmons and Terica Evans, were tried together for the shooting deaths of Angel Crespo and Edgardo Estremera at the Motel 6 in the Woodlawn area of Baltimore County. Following a six-day jury trial, Simmons and Evans were each convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of using a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, and one count of illegal possession of a regulated firearm. Simmons and Evans each received consecutive life sentences for the murders of Crespo and Estremera, and additional concurrent sentences for the remaining counts. For the reasons that follow, we affirm their convictions.

FACTS

When Edgardo Estremera moved to Maryland from Puerto Rico in June 2017, his friend Angel Crespo helped him find a job working as an auto mechanic. Until Estremera found a place to live, he was staying in motel rooms, and around 9 p.m. on Friday, June 16th, Estremera and Crespo checked into the Motel 6 in Woodlawn. Throughout the evening and into the night, Crespo was in contact with Simmons and Evans, attempting to arrange a drug transaction. Shortly before 1:30 a.m., Simmons and Evans arrived at the Motel 6. Around that time, the guest in the room next door reported hearing loud noises, like gunshots. Although she called the front desk, no one acted on her report. Early the next afternoon when Estremera and Crespo failed to check out on time, housekeeping unlocked the door to their room and immediately called the police. Estremera's body was visible from the doorway, and Crespo was found in between the beds. Both men had suffered several gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene.

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After Crespo and Estremera were identified, police obtained Crespo's phone records and noticed that he'd been in contact with one particular number, (443) 553-[----], throughout the evening prior to his death, and that it had been the last contact with Crespo's phone before all activity abruptly ended. Although Crespo's phone records showed the existence of the calls and text messages, his service provider did not retain the content of text messages. Police obtained a warrant to seize the records of the other phone number, from a different cellular carrier, which did contain the content of the text messages:

05:15 p.m.	Crespo:	Mami; I have bars white for sell
05:17 p.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	I get off at 7 B round at 730
05:18 p.m.	Crespo:	ok; let me know; I have bars white for sell; and; I want perks
05:19 p.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	grey 20 I got 5 how many u want
05:20 p.m.	Crespo:	20mlg op??
05:20 p.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	no op
05:21 p.m.	Crespo:	cool
* * *
11:42 p.m.	Crespo:	and $20 dollars in weed for my girl
11:44 p.m.	Crespo:	she paid you cash
11:46 p.m.	Crespo:	you come right????
11:48 p.m.	Crespo:	Mami
11:48 p.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	Si
11:49 p.m.	Crespo:	cool and $20 dollars in smoke please for; my girl

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12:06 a.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	o[n] m[y] w[ay] 15 mins
12:06 a.m.	Crespo:	cool
12:07 a.m.	Crespo:	text me in front parking
12:07 a.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	[o]k
12:07 a.m.	Crespo:	ok
* * *
12:33 a.m.	Crespo:	w[here] y[ou] a[t]???; you come or no??
12:38 a.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	yes 15
12:38 a.m.	Crespo:	15 what??
12:44 a.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	mins
12:45 a.m.	Crespo:	ok
* * *
01:22 a.m.	(443) 553-[----]:	pul[li]n[g] up

Because Simmons and Evans had already been under surveillance in an unrelated matter, police were able to connect the 553-phone number to Simmons. Police were also already familiar with the vehicle that Simmons and Evans were often seen driving, a distinctive gold Mercury Grand Marquis with three missing hubcaps. Police surveillance cameras located near the Motel 6 captured video of the Grand Marquis traveling in the direction of the Motel 6 shortly after 1 a.m., and traveling away from the Motel 6 shortly after 1:30 a.m., right around the time that Crespo's phone activity abruptly ended and the occupant of the neighboring room heard gunshots.

Police obtained arrest warrants for both Simmons and Evans on charges of first-degree murder. On the morning of June 21, 2017, police waited near where the Grand

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Marquis was parked outside Simmons' residence. As Simmons and Evans approached the car around 6 a.m., police pulled up behind where it was parked and announced themselves. Simmons and Evans immediately fled.

Simmons ran through a nearby apartment complex, jumped a fence, and ran into an intersection where he was cut-off by a police car. Although he collided with the car, he kept running for a short distance before eventually surrendering. When he was apprehended, Simmons was in possession of the keys to the Grand Marquis and a cellphone with the number (410) 553-[----].

Evans, who had fled in the opposite direction, was pursued down a tree line and eventually onto a grassy embankment. As she was running, she pulled out a gun. Evans then began to stumble. She slipped and fell, dropping several items that she had been carrying, including the gun, which was thrown into a nearby storm drain. Evans was then apprehended by police. She was in possession of a pocketknife, two cellphones, a pill bottle containing oxycodone, a small bag that contained marijuana, and a smaller bag containing cocaine. The gun was later recovered from the storm drain.

From the Grand Marquis, police recovered a backpack on the floor by the front passenger seat that contained baggies of ammunition, a sock containing more ammunition, and an old report card bearing the name "Derrick R. Simmons." In the pocket on the back of one of the front seats, police recovered a notebook containing a variety of papers bearing Terica Evans' name. In addition, a bag of marijuana was found in the glove compartment.

Following the arrests, police searched both Simmons' and Evans' residences. From Simmons' bedroom, police recovered a learner's permit and other paperwork bearing

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Simmons' name, several cellphones, and a firearm. At Evans' residence, police recovered the title to the Grand Marquis.

A police firearm and toolmark expert examined both firearms that were recovered during the investigation. The gun recovered from the storm drain that had been in Evans' possession was a .32 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. The gun recovered from Simmons' bedroom was a .32 caliber semiautomatic pistol. Also during the investigation, bullets and bullet fragments were recovered from the autopsies of Crespo and Estremera, and some shell casings were recovered from the motel room. At trial, the expert testified that four fired shell casings and a live round recovered from the motel room, and the bullets recovered from Estremera's body during his autopsy, had all been fired by the semiautomatic pistol recovered from Simmons' bedroom. The expert further testified that a bullet recovered from Crespo's head during his autopsy had been fired by the revolver that was dropped by Evans and later recovered from the storm drain. Additional bullet fragments recovered from Crespo's body and the motel room could not be conclusively identified as having been fired by the revolver due to their condition, but the police expert testified that the revolver could not be eliminated as having fired them.

DISCUSSION

Altogether we will address six issues: First, Simmons and Evans both challenge that (1) the trial court erred in denying their motions to suppress evidence that was discovered as a result of an insufficient search warrant, and that (2) the trial court erred in denying their motions to sever. Next, Simmons individually challenges that (3) the trial court erred in refusing to give the jury an instruction regarding the absence of evidence that he had

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been incarcerated prior to trial, and that (4) the trial court erred in prohibiting re-cross examination. Then Evans individually challenges that (5) her trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to voir dire questions that improperly shifted the burden for determining individual bias to the jurors themselves.¹ And finally, (6) both Simmons and Evans separately challenge that the evidence was insufficient to sustain their convictions.

I. MOTION TO SUPPRESS

First, both Simmons and Evans challenge that the trial court erred in denying their motions to suppress all of the direct and derivative evidence discovered as a result of the warrant issued for Simmons' cellphone records. In a pre-trial hearing, Simmons and Evans argued that the warrant was invalid, first, because the issuing judge did not have a substantial basis for finding probable cause, and second, because the warrant failed to meet the particularity requirements. No witnesses were presented at the suppression hearing. The suppression court denied Simmons' and Evans' motions, finding that there was probable cause to support the issuance of the warrant and that it had the necessary specificity as to the place to be searched and the things to be seized. On appeal, Simmons and Evans raise these same issues, and we reach the same conclusions as did the suppression court.

Both the federal and state constitutions protect against unreasonable searches and...