State v. Brown
| Decision Date | 10 August 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 212,212 |
| Parties | STATE OF MARYLAND v. TERRANCE J. BROWN |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
UNREPORTED
Opinion by Graeff, 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.
Terrance Brown, appellee, was charged in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County with two counts of first degree murder and related charges.1 Appellee moved to suppress: (1) evidence recovered during a search of his car; and (2) statements he made to police. After a hearing on March 16, 2015, the court granted appellee's motion to suppress.
On appeal, the State presents the following questions for our review:
For the reasons that follow, we shall reverse the judgment of the circuit court.
Trooper Greg Fellon, a member of the Maryland State Police, testified that, at approximately 1:00 a.m. on October 5, 2014, he heard a dispatch broadcast that there had been a shooting at the Elks Lodge in Cambridge, Maryland. He then heard that an unknown person had called 911 to report that he or she was injured, was driving from Cambridge to the Hurlock Village Apartments in Hurlock, and "didn't want to go to jail." Trooper Fellonresponded to the Hurlock Village Apartments and parked his car at a business "a couple of hundred feet" from the entrance to the apartments.
Trooper Fellon observed a 1998 Nissan Maxima pull into the apartment complex and park on the left side of the lot. A man exited the vehicle and went inside an apartment building. Trooper Fellon approached the car to identify the remaining occupants. One of the occupants opened the passenger side door to speak to him, and Trooper Fellon observed a "stone colored jacket hanging out the front passenger door" and dried blood in the passenger area. He described the blood as "nickel sized drops maybe ten or less on the seat and floor and I believe there was some on the door."
Trooper Fellon inquired about the person who had been in the empty passenger seat. The occupants told him that they had gone to Cambridge to "pick up T.J. Brown and bring him home to his mother's" house. T.J.'s mother lived in the apartment complex, but they did not know in which apartment. Appellee's mother then pulled into the parking lot, and Trooper Fellon asked her to ask appellee to come outside so that he could talk to him. She agreed, and appellee came out to the parking lot.
When appellee came outside, Trooper Fellon observed that he had was wearing a T-shirt with blood on it, and blood was dripping from his earlobe. An ambulance arrived and emergency responders began examining appellee. When they removed his shirt, Trooper Fellon noticed a "graze to his shoulder blade area and what appeared to be like a through and through" gunshot wound on his upper chest. Appellee told Trooper Fellon that he had been at a party in Cambridge. When he heard gunshots, he ducked and ran. Appellee was taken to the hospital.
Trooper Fellon was in contact with the investigating officers in Cambridge, and he advised about the blood seen in the Nissan and appellee's medical status. After appellee was taken to the hospital, Trooper Fellon secured the Nissan. At 2:13 a.m., the Nissan was picked up and towed to a holding area for the Cambridge Police Department. At that point, Trooper Fellon did not have knowledge that appellee was involved in the Cambridge shooting, and he did not have confirmation that appellee was the 911 caller, but based on information that "there was what they believed to be blood on the inside of the vehicle, blood on the outside of the vehicle [he] figured it was at least connected" to the shooting. When appellee asked Trooper Fellon whether he would be arrested, Trooper Fellon told him no.
Detective Edward Howard, a member of City of Cambridge Police, testified that, at approximately 5:40 a.m. he arrived at the hospital to speak with appellee to get "his side of the events being he was a victim of that shooting." Detective Howard was wearing a visible badge and weapon, and he identified himself as a police officer. Appellee was being discharged, so Detective Howard asked him to come to the police station and give a statement about the shooting. Detective Howard did not advise appellee that he was "free to go," but he made clear to appellee that he was not under arrest. At that point in the investigation, they had not "determined who exactly the shooter was." Detective Howard stated that he had "no intentions of placing [appellee] under arrest." Appellee was not handcuffed or otherwise physically restrained, but he was wearing a hospital shirt and hospital pants.
Appellee consented to go with Detective Howard to the station and "at no time put up any fight or refused to go with [him]." Detective Howard drove appellee to the station in the rear passenger seat of his marked police vehicle, where "we place all persons whether they're a victim being transported, detained or arrested." Detective Howard advised appellee that the police had transported his vehicle to the Cambridge Police Department because "there was dried blood on the passenger side." Appellee expressed concern about how he would get home, and Detective Howard "assured him that the proper arrangements would be made." When they arrived at the station, Detective Howard walked with appellee up the stairs to meet the lead detective. Appellee complained of "being in . . . a little bit of pain from the gunshot wounds, but other than that he seemed fine."
Detective Corporal Christopher Flynn, the lead investigator and a member of the City of Cambridge Police, was the on-call detective who responded to the scene of the shooting. After learning that appellee was at the hospital, he contacted Detective Howard and told him to go to the hospital to interview appellee about how he sustained his injuries. Detective Flynn had no information about the circumstances of the shooting at that time and assumed that appellee was a potential victim.
When Detective Howard took appellee to the police station, appellee was escorted to an interview room, which Detective Flynn described as an Appellee was wearing "hospital garb," and he had a bandage on his head. Appellee told Detective Flynn that he had been shot three times. Detective Flynn could smell alcohol on appellee, but "he didn't seem like he was intoxicated." Detective Flynn told appellee that he "was there to find outhow he got injured, his side, you know, what had happened earlier that evening." Appellee seemed willing to speak with Detective Flynn. Aside from Detective Flynn, who was not armed, no other officer was in the room during the interview, other than officers bringing in food and water for appellee upon his request. At that point, appellee had not been given his Miranda rights.
Appellee told Detective Flynn that he After appellee indicated that he ran toward Cross Street, Detective Flynn began to suspect, based upon the direction that the shooter could be seen running in the surveillance video, that appellee might be the shooter. Detective Flynn explained that only two people ran toward Cross Street in the surveillance video, "the guy who did the shooting and the guy who shot the guy that did the shooting." Prior to appellee stating that he ran toward Cross Street, it did not occur to Detective Flynn that appellee could be a suspect rather than a victim. After appellee's statement, he "kind of went from a victim to a suspect, but at that point [Detective Flynn] didn't believe we had enough to charge [appellee]." Because Detective Flynn "couldn't positively say which was which [he] just felt it better to go ahead and Mirandize [appellee] at that point."
Detective Flynn explained to appellee: "I have to advise you of your rights." Appellee responded: Detective Flynn toldappellee that he was not under arrest. After Detective Flynn explained to appellee his rights, the following colloquy ensued:2
The interview continued and appellee subsequently gave a written statement, signed at 6:53 a.m., consistent with his pre-Miranda statement. Shortly thereafter, appellee was arrested.
At some point, Detective Flynn advised officers to tow the Nissan in order to secure it. Sometime thereafter, police sought and received a warrant authorizing the search of appellee's apartment in Hurlock Village, the Nissan, and appellee's person. The warrant was executed on October 5, 2014, in phases: at 10:40 a.m., the residence; and at 1:30 p.m., the car.
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