State v. Saloy
| Decision Date | 27 February 2017 |
| Docket Number | 72467-3-I |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
| Parties | THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. D'ANGELO A. SALOY, Appellant. |
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
In October 2008, 16-year-old D'Angelo Saloy was involved in a drive-by shooting near Seattle's Garfield High School that killed one youth and injured another. In 2012, after a lengthy investigation, the State charged Saloy with the shootings. A jury convicted Saloy of first degree murder with a firearm enhancement for the death of Quincy Coleman. The jury also convicted Saloy of first degree attempted murder with a firearm enhancement for shooting Demario Clark. The trial court imposed a standard range sentence of 712 months imprisonment. Saloy will be over 80 years old before eligible for release.
Saloy raises multiple issues on appeal including: (1) the validity of the intercept order, (2) prosecutorial misconduct for comments made at trial, (3) the admission of gang related evidence, (4) preaccusatorial delay resulting in prejudice and (5) the imposition of mandatory legal financial obligations. We affirm the trial court on these five issues and affirm Saloy's conviction.
Saloy also challenges the trial court's imposition of a de facto life-without-parole sentence without conducting a Miller[1] hearing to consider mitigating circumstances related to Saloy's age at the time of the crime. As our Supreme Court recently confirmed: State v Ramos, No. 92454-6, slip op. at 1 (Wash. Jan. 12, 2017) (quoting Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S.__, 132 S.Ct 2455, 2464, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012)). Because the trial court imposed a de facto life-without-parole sentence, the sentencing court must conduct an individualized Miller hearing and "'take into account how children are different, and how those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in prison.'" Ramos, slip op. at 1 (quoting Miller, 132 S.Ct. at 2469).
We vacate Saloy's sentence and remand for resentencing.
On the evening of October 31, 2008, five teenagers affiliated with the Central District (CD) gang: Quincy Coleman, Gary Thomas, Demario Clark, Frank Graves, and Cleden Jimerson, were standing on the stairs leading to the Garfield High School baseball fields. A car pulled up and shooting began. Two bullets struck Coleman, killing him. Clark suffered two gunshot wounds but survived.
The police found a single .40 caliber shell casing at the scene. Both bullets recovered from Coleman's body were .38 caliber. Clark's wounds were "through and through, " so the police were unable to identify the type of gun used to shoot him. The case was assigned to Detective Dana Duffy and her partner. Although there were numerous bystanders, no witnesses were able or willing to identify the shooters.
Clark was uncooperative and hostile with the police when they spoke with him at the hospital; he refused to provide a statement, or participate at trial. Jimerson told the police only that the car was a light-colored Ford Taurus. Graves agreed to an interview with the police a week after the shooting. However, the only information he provided was that he believed the car involved was a silver Ford Taurus and that he saw a dark-skinned arm with a gun.
Detective Duffy initially focused on a South End gang member named Monroe Ezell and a Samoan male named "Ramsey." Duffy interviewed Ezell in November 2008. Ezell claimed that around the time of the crime, he was at the Union Gospel Mission to pick up community service paperwork. Ezell gave conflicting accounts of where he went afterwards. Robert Martin, who worked at the Union Gospel Mission, later confirmed that Ezell had been at the Mission around the time of the shooting. Martin also informed Duffy that Ezell told him that "a guy named D'Angelo Saloy" and "Ramsey" had done the shooting. Duffy was able to identify "Ramsey" as Ramsey Fola. Detectives learned that one of Fola's family members owned a gray Ford Taurus that Fola sometimes drove.
When the detectives interviewed Fola, he told the police that he was at his friend Kenneth Woods' house on the night of the shootings. In December 2008, Woods and his mother told detectives that Fola and Saloy were at their home the night of the shooting. Woods did not remember what time they came over. Because Fola had turned off his cell phone during the time of the shooting, police were unable to confirm his location at that time.
Duffy interviewed Dewaun Miller on March 9, 2009. Miller stated that Saloy had told him that he shot Coleman and that Fola was driving. On March 10, 2009, the police went to a possible address for Saloy and left a message for him to contact them. Saloy called Duffy the next day and said that he would arrange a meeting the following week; however, Saloy did not call back or answer his phone.
On June 30, 2009, Gang Unit detectives alerted Duffy that they were holding Saloy at police headquarters for an unrelated incident. Duffy interviewed Saloy about Coleman's murder for the first time. Saloy told her that he was at Woods' house with Fola and estimated that he left before it got "real dark." Saloy did not recall how he got to or left Wood's house. He believed that he walked or that his sister picked him up.
On September 29, 2009, police arrested Wendell Downs on an unrelated matter. Downs informed police that he heard Saloy bragging about shooting Coleman. Downs told police that Saloy said he had a .38 caliber revolver and Ramsey had a .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun. Downs also claimed that he heard Fola talking about how he was driving his brother's Ford Taurus while Saloy shot at Coleman and his friends.
In December 2009, Downs contacted Duffy and arranged to meet at Mount Baker Park on the shore of Lake Washington. Once at the lake, Downs pointed out the location where Saloy told Downs he had thrown the guns. Downs reported that two days earlier, Saloy brought Downs with him to retrieve the guns but the water was too cold. Duffy called the Harbor Patrol to look for the weapons but due to the hours of daylight and dense foliage, they were unable to locate them.
Based on her investigation and communications with Downs, on January 4, 2010, Duffy applied for and received an order authorizing Duffy and the Seattle Police Department to intercept and record conversations of Saloy and Fola with Downs. Downs was unable to make contact with either Fola or Saloy prior to the expiration of the order.
In August 2010, Duffy made contact with a confidential witness who informed her that on the night of the murder he was in his car when a vehicle occupied with a Samoan male and Saloy pulled up. He reported that Saloy said he had just shot two CD guys on the stairs at the Garfield Community Center. Saloy reportedly pulled out a .38 revolver out and showed it to the witness. The witness reported that Saloy said it was a "CD-Southend" thing, a retaliation shooting for the shooting of a South End member.
On October 10, 2010, Duffy learned that Homeland Security believed Juan Sanchez had information about the Coleman murder. Under threat of deportation over their immigration status, Sanchez's mother informed Homeland Security that Sanchez told her about the murder and that he knew someone who confessed to being involved. Sanchez agreed to an interview with Duffy and another detective. During the interview, Sanchez informed the detectives that he had known Saloy approximately five years and was a close friend. Sanchez stated that approximately two weeks after the murder, Saloy confessed that he had shot Coleman with a .38 caliber weapon. Sanchez reported that Saloy told him that Fola was also involved and was driving his sister's car, a Ford Taurus.
Based on her investigation to date, and based on Sanchez's agreement to cooperate, Duffy prepared a second application for an intercept order to record conversations between Sanchez, Saloy, and Fola during the period between November 27, 2010 and December 4, 2010. The intercept order was signed on November 22, 2010.
On December 1, 2010, detectives wired Sanchez and his car for both audio and video. Sanchez picked up Saloy and the two drove around. They drove to Garfield High School, where they got out of the car at the scene of the shooting. During this time, Saloy confessed to murdering Coleman and provided significant detail about the shooting.
In September 2012, the State filed an information charging Saloy with first degree murder and first degree assault. Following Saloy's decision to go to trial, the State amended the first degree assault charge to attempted first degree murder. Both charges included a weapons enhancement and a gang aggravator.
A jury found Saloy guilty of first degree murder with a firearm enhancement for the death of Coleman. The jury also found Saloy guilty of first degree attempted murder with a firearm enhancement for shooting Clark. The jury did not reach a unanimous verdict on the gang aggravators.
On September 10, 2014, the trial court imposed a standard-range sentence of 382 months for the first degree murder, 210 months for the first degree attempted murder, and 60 months for each of the two weapons enhancements; a total of 712 months imprisonment.
Saloy asserts first that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress the wire recording because the affidavit for the intercept order was legally insufficient. He contends also that the trial court erred in not granting him an evidentiary hearing pursuant to Franks v Delaware to consider...
To continue reading
Request your trial