State v. Haywood
| Decision Date | 30 October 2020 |
| Docket Number | DOCKET NO. A-3074-17T2 |
| Parties | STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. TERRELL HAYWOOD, a/k/a TERRELL DURANT, TERREL HAYWOOD, ZYON THAGGARED, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
Before Judges Sabatino, Currier, and Gooden Brown.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Essex County, Indictment No. 17-05-1420.
Zachary G. Markarian, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant (Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney; Zachary G. Markarian, of counsel and on the briefs).
Lucille M. Rosano, Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for respondent (Theodore N. Stephens II, Acting Essex County Prosecutor, attorney; Lucille M. Rosano, of counsel and on the brief).
Defendant Terrell Haywood appeals from his convictions and sentence following a jury trial. On the second day of trial, a juror informed the court that her daughter had visited her the prior evening wearing a sweatshirt bearing the image of the victim who the State alleged defendant had shot and killed. After questioning the juror about the occurrence, the court declined defendant's request to excuse the juror. After a careful review of the record and considering the juror's close relationship with her daughter and the circumstantial nature of the evidence against defendant, we conclude the incident had the clear capacity to influence the juror's partiality and it was error not to excuse her. On those grounds, we therefore vacate the convictions and sentence and remand for a new trial.
On May 26, 2017, an Essex County grand jury indicted defendant for first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:5-2 and 2C:11-3(a)(1) (count one); first-degree murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3(a)(1) (count two); second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun without a permit, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(b) (); second-degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose,N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4(a) (count four); and second-degree aggravated assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(b)(1) (count five).1
We derive the facts from the evidence presented at trial. Around 12:30 p.m. on March 18, 2014, Queeson Mitchell was driving with his five-year-old son on Isabella Avenue in Newark. Isabella Avenue is a one-way street in a residential neighborhood that intersects with Plymouth Street; the area was known for narcotics sales.
Queeson saw his friend, Kyrie Reynolds,2 known to him as "Buckey," with six or seven other men near a vacant lot at 78 Isabella Avenue, about one house from the corner of Plymouth Street. Queeson parked his pickup truck on the left side of the street in front of the lot where Kyrie was standing and went around to the passenger side - which faced the street - to take his son out of the truck. After he walked his son to the sidewalk, Queeson returned to the passenger side of his truck to pick up some belongings.
As Queeson stood at the side of his truck, he heard gunshots coming from the corner of Plymouth Street and Isabella Avenue and saw two men runningdown Isabella Avenue toward the group standing on the vacant lot. Queeson stated one man was running on the street and the other was running along the sidewalk on the other side of the street.
Queeson testified that the men had slender builds, were dressed all in black and wearing ninja-style ski masks exposing only their eyes. He observed one of the men was carrying a gun. Queeson heard "a lot" of "continuous" gunshots, estimating at least twenty shots. He believed both men were shooting because he heard two different guns being fired. Everyone ran.
Queeson was shot four times in the right upper arm and shoulder before he could run from the passenger side of his truck. The guns were still firing when Queeson stumbled and tripped over Kyrie, who was laying on the ground behind Queeson's truck, half on the sidewalk and half in the street. Queeson stated he "tried to get up" and run, but because of the injury to his right arm he fell again, landing next to Kyrie.
Queeson saw one of the men run around the side of his truck. The man stood directly over them with a black gun as he fired three or four times at Kyrie. The man looked at Queeson and then ran with the other man back toward Plymouth Street. Queeson did not see Kyrie with a gun.
Once the assailants departed, the street "got crowded" as more people came outside to see what had happened. Kyrie's grandmother, who lived nearby, called 9-1-1 to report the shooting. Police officers responded and observed Kyrie lying in the street with gunshot wounds. They heard Queeson "screaming" and looking for his son. Queeson later learned that a man had grabbed his son when the shooting began and ran toward the backyard of a house to escape. The boy was not injured.
Emergency medical services responded and transported Kyrie and Queeson to the hospital. Kyrie was pronounced dead at 12:51 p.m. He had nine gunshot wounds. Two gunshots that penetrated the right side of the chest and the abdomen were fatal. Those bullets were recovered from the body. A third gunshot that penetrated the left buttocks was also recovered from the body.
Kyrie also suffered six perforating wounds to the upper and lower right thigh, left thigh, left elbow, left forearm and right buttocks. In addition, he had abrasions to the right knee, the back of the left hand, the right hand near the wrist and some bruises on the back of the chest.
Queeson suffered four gunshot wounds to his right upper arm. His humerus bone was severed from his shoulder and required surgery to remove the damaged bone and insert a cadaver bone as well as metal rods and rings. Heunderwent numerous additional surgeries and testified he did not have "full function" of his arm, could not perform physical work, lost his job as a landscaper, and had permanent scars.
Detective Murad Muhammad of the Newark Police Department (NPD) Homicide Task Force and Detective Rashon Johnson of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office (ECPO) Homicide Task Force took formal statements from Queeson and his son at the hospital. Queeson described the man who shot Kyrie as five feet, eight inches tall, 175 to 180 pounds, wearing all black clothing and a mask. He thought the shooter may have had braids or dreadlocks because the top of his mask was a "little puffy." Queeson could not describe the other assailant other than he was also dressed in black and wearing a mask. Because Queeson only observed the second man as he was running away, he could not tell if he was carrying a gun.
Around 1:00 p.m., after the hospital visit, Muhammad went to Isabella Avenue with other officers to search for evidence there and on Plymouth Street. He observed thirty or more spent shell casings on the ground. The shell casings were on the sidewalk and east and west sides of Isabella Avenue. Two vehicles had been hit by gunshots.
Detectives from the ECPO Crime Scene Unit arrived at the scene around 1:25 p.m. Thirty-eight spent shell casings, one live (whole) bullet and fifteen whole or fragmented spent projectiles were collected. The fifteen spent projectiles were found in and around 74, 77, 80, and 85 Isabella Avenue and inside the two cars.
The officers went door-to-door on Isabella Avenue and Plymouth Street to attain additional information. Some residents stated they heard gunshots or saw Kyrie on the ground after the shooting, but no one was able to identify the shooters.
Muhammad described for the jury his review of the chronology of 9-1-1 calls about the shooting. The first call reporting the shooting was received at 12:28:47 p.m. Muhammad spoke to two callers listed in the chronology, but they only heard shots fired. No one saw the shooting or could identify the assailants.
Five weeks after the shooting, on April 26, 2014, Detective Hugo Rebiero with the Gangs and Organized Crime Unit of the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) and two detectives with the ECPO Crimes Suppression North Unit3 werepatrolling a Newark neighborhood in an unmarked vehicle. The officers were dressed in civilian clothes and tactical vests identifying them as "State Police."
While on patrol, the officers saw defendant walking on the street to the left of the officers' vehicle. Defendant was wearing sweatpants and an open black vest over a dark gray jacket. Rebiero stated he observed a "big bulge" in defendant's right jacket pocket that "was consistent with . . . a gun." As defendant crossed the street behind the officers' vehicle, Rebiero turned around in his seat, looked through the back window and saw the "black handle of a handgun" protruding from defendant's jacket pocket.
The officers stopped defendant on the sidewalk and Rebiero removed a handgun - a Springfield Armory 45-caliber semi-automatic - from defendant's right jacket pocket. The gun's magazine contained nine live rounds. The detectives also took defendant's cellphone.
The detectives arrested defendant and handcuffed him. While the officers waited for backup, defendant sat down on the curb and Rebiero read defendant his Miranda4 rights. Defendant remained silent.
En route to police headquarters, defendant sat in the backseat of the vehicle next to Rebiero. When defendant asked Rebiero if he was going to jail,Rebiero told him he was. Rebiero then read defendant his Miranda rights for the second time because defendant "initiated [the] conversation regarding the case."
Defendant then asked if the officers could "get rid of the gun." Rebiero believed defendant was asking them to "[g]et rid of the charges and not charge him." Rebiero told defendant they could not do that and then asked how long defendant had...
To continue reading
Request your trial