State v. Demetrius Daughtry.
| Decision Date | 25 April 2011 |
| Docket Number | Sept. Term,No. 81,2010.,81 |
| Citation | 419 Md. 35,18 A.3d 60 |
| Parties | STATE of Marylandv.Demetrius DAUGHTRY. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Cathleen C. Brockmeyer, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Douglas F. Gansler, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Petitioner.Amy E. Brennan, Assistant Public Defender (Paul B. DeWolfe, Public Defender, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Respondent.Argued before BELL, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, MURPHY, ADKINS, and BARBERA, JJ.HARRELL, J.
We re-visit here a line of Maryland cases involving Maryland Rule 4–242(c) and knowing and voluntary guilty pleas, beginning largely with State v. Priet, 289 Md. 267, 288, 424 A.2d 349, 359 (1981). Our principal inquiry is whether that line of cases is affected by the Supreme Court's decision in Bradshaw v. Stumpf, 545 U.S. 175, 125 S.Ct. 2398, 162 L.Ed.2d 143 (2005). The State of Maryland (“the State” or “Petitioner”) challenges here the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals vacating Demetrius Daughtry's (“Daughtry” or “Respondent”) guilty pleas in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, reasoning that Daughtry's “guilty plea was defective because the voir dire did not show it was knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently entered.”
We hold, for reasons to be explained more fully infra, that allowing a trial court, in ensuring that a guilty plea is knowing, voluntary, and entered intelligently, to rely essentially on nothing more than a presumption that “in most cases defense counsel routinely explain the nature of the offense in sufficient detail to give the accused notice of ... what he is being asked to admit” runs contrary to Rule 4–242's requirement that there be an adequate examination “on the record in open court.” Aside from Daughtry offering a bare affirmative answer to the trial court's query, “Have you talked over your plea with your lawyer?,” there is no record evidence tending to show that Daughtry's plea was entered knowingly and voluntarily. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.
On the afternoon of 14 December 2005, officers of the Prince George's County Police Department raced to Oxon Hill to respond to the report of a shooting. Upon arriving at the scene, the officers observed a vehicle, containing passengers matching descriptions given to the 911 dispatcher by a witness, leaving the scene at a high rate of speed. The officers followed the vehicle in hot pursuit into the District of Columbia, at which time two occupants exited the vehicle and fled on foot.
One of the occupants—Daughtry—was apprehended and transported to the Metropolitan (DC) Police Department Violent Crime Branch. He gave a statement regarding his involvement in the matter. Apparently,1 Respondent met Adrian Ashton and decided to visit one Anthony Brown in Oxon Hill and rob him of some marijuana. Upon entering Brown's apartment, there was a struggle between Ashton and Brown, at which point Daughtry fired a handgun in the direction of Brown, grabbed some marijuana, and fled the apartment.
Brown was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy revealed that the cause of Brown's death was multiple gunshot wounds. The manner of death was homicide. 2 The doctor conducting the autopsy recovered two bullets which were given to a police technician. The technician identified the two bullets as being a .45 caliber bullet and a .40 caliber bullet. Recovered from Daughtry and Ashton, upon their apprehension, were .45 caliber and .40 caliber handguns.
On 17 January 2006, in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Daughtry was charged by indictment with murder, robbery, robbery with a deadly weapon, and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony or a crime of violence. His trial counsel entered his appearance on 6 February 2006. Daughtry negotiated with the State to plead guilty to first-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony or a crime of violence.
On 5 September 2006, at the plea hearing, the following colloquy ensued:
(Emphasis added.) The Circuit Court agreed to the sentencing terms of the plea agreement—life imprisonment, suspend all but thirty years—in exchange for Daughtry's cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of Ashton. 3
On 19 August 2008, Daughtry's appellate counsel filed a Supplemental Application for Leave to Appeal, asserting that Daughtry's plea of guilty should be vacated because the Circuit Court judge did not “determine on the record that defense counsel had advised [him] of the elements of first degree murder.” 4 The Court of Special Appeals directed the State to respond to Daughtry's claim and explain “why the judgment entered in this case should not be reversed because, as part of the guilty plea voir dire, Daughtry was not informed that he was pleading guilty to first-degree murder and was not advised of the elements of the crime of first-degree murder.” The State complied.
In an unreported, per-curiam opinion, the Court of Special Appeals granted Daughtry's Application for Leave to Appeal, and vacated his convictions, explaining:
In this case all that applicant said was that he had “talked over his plea” with counsel. While this statement may have been adequate to assure a finding that applicant understood the nature of the proceeding, it did not, in any way, assure that he understood the elements of the charge of first-degree murder.... Consequently, the voir dire conducted in this case failed to show that the plea met the required knowing, voluntary, and intelligent standard [of Maryland Rule 4–242 and relevant caselaw]. 5
The State filed timely a Petition for Writ of Certiorari, which we granted, State v. Daughtry, 415 Md. 608, 4 A.3d 512 (2010), to consider whether:
1. As a matter of first impression, did the Supreme Court's opinion in Bradshaw v. Stumpf, 545 U.S. 175[, 125 S.Ct. 2398, 162 L.Ed.2d 143] (200 [5] ), eliminate the longstanding presumption set forth in Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637[, 96 S.Ct. 2253, 49 L.Ed.2d 108] (1976), that “even without ... [an] express representation” by defense counsel that the nature of the offense to which a defendant enters a plea of guilty “has been explained to” the defendant “it may be appropriate to presume that in most cases defense counsel routinely explain the nature of the offense in sufficient detail to give the accused notice of ... what he is being asked to admit”?
2. If the Henderson presumption is no longer viable, should the intermediate appellate court's opinions in Abrams [ v. State, 176 Md.App. 600, 933 A.2d 887 (2007),] be given retrospective application?
For reasons to be explained more fully infra, the colloquy in the present case between the trial judge and Daughtry was insufficient to show that Daughtry was pleading guilty “with understanding of the nature of the charge” as required by Maryland Rule 4–242(c), and, accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals. Further, we hold that, because our opinion in the present case does not represent a departure from our jurisprudence regarding the voluntariness of guilty pleas, this opinion must be given full retrospective application.
The State asserts that the caselaw of Maryland and the federal courts, epitomized essentially in the cases of the United States Supreme Court, dictate a result different than that reached by the Court of Special Appeals. It is well settled that where a case “involves an interpretation and application of ... case law, our Court must determine whether the lower court's conclusions are ‘legally correct’ under a [non-deferential] standard of review.” Schisler v. State, 394 Md. 519, 535, 907 A.2d 175, 184 (2006); see Ali v. CIT Tech. Fin. Servs., Inc., 416 Md. 249, 257, 6 A.3d 890, 894 (2010). Further, to the extent that the State argues that the Maryland Rules require a result different than that reached by the intermediate appellate court, we note that “[b]ecause our interpretation of ... the Maryland Rules [is] appropriately classified as [a] question[ ] of law, we review the issues [without deference to the lower courts' decisions] to determine if the trial court was legally correct in its rulings on these matters.” Davis v. Slater, 383 Md. 599, 604, 861 A.2d 78, 80–81 (2004); see Owens v. State, 399 Md. 388, 402–03, 924 A.2d 1072, 1080 (2007).
In Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637, 96 S.Ct. 2253, 49 L.Ed.2d 108 (1976), Henderson, indicted initially for first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of twenty-five years to life. See Henderson, 426 U.S. at 642, 96 S.Ct. at 2256, 49 L.Ed.2d at 113. At the plea hearing,
[i]n direct colloquy with the trial judge [Henderson] stated that his plea was based on the advice of his attorneys, that he understood he was accused of killing Mrs. Francisco in Fulton County[, New York], that he was waiving his right to a jury trial, and that he would be sent to prison. There was no discussion of the elements of the offense of second-degree murder, no indication that the nature of the offense had ever been discussed with [Henderson], and no reference of any kind to the requirement of intent to cause the death of the victim.
Henderson, 426 U.S. at 642–43, 96 S.Ct. at 2256, 49 L.Ed.2d at 113. Henderson initiated proceedings in state court to have his guilty plea vacated on grounds that he entered into the plea involuntarily, which proved...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rochkind v. Stevenson
...question has been preserved for appellate review." Kazadi, 467 Md. at 47; Hackney v. State, 459 Md. 108, 119 (2018); State v. Daughtry, 419 Md. 35, 77 n.26 (2011). In this context, the "relevant question" is whether a trial court erred in admitting or excluding expert testimony under Maryla......
-
Rochkind v. Stevenson
...review." Kazadi , 467 Md. at 47, 223 A.3d 554 ; Hackney v. State , 459 Md. 108, 119, 184 A.3d 414 (2018) ; State v. Daughtry , 419 Md. 35, 77 n.26, 18 A.3d 60 (2011). In this context, the "relevant question" is whether a trial court erred in admitting or excluding expert testimony under Mar......
-
Alexis v. State
...about Jalloh. In a reply brief, relying on Whorton v. Bockting, 549 U.S. 406, 127 S.Ct. 1173, 167 L.Ed.2d 1 (2007), and State v. Daughtry, 419 Md. 35, 18 A.3d 60 (2011), appellant contends that the Court of Appeals's holding in Goldsberry is applicable to this case because the case was pend......
-
Denisyuk v. State
...“prospective only” application arises; the decision applies retroactively in the same manner as most court decisions.State v. Daughtry, 419 Md. 35, 78, 18 A.3d 60, 86 (2011) (quoting Houghton v. County Comm'rs of Kent County, 307 Md. 216, 220, 513 A.2d 291, 293 (1986)); see Walker v. State,......