State v. White
| Decision Date | 25 April 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 87,017,87,017 |
| Citation | 275 Kan. 580,67 P.3d 138 |
| Parties | STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. MICHAEL WHITE, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Stephen B. Chapman, of Kansas City, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellant.
Jerome A. Gorman, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Nick A. Tomasic, district attorney, and Carla J. Stovall, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Michael White appeals from his convictions of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. White was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison. He does not raise any challenges to his sentences, but appeals his convictions, arguing the trial court erred in (1) denying his motion for a severance from the trial of codefendants, (2) admitting redacted statements of the codefendants, (3) admitting his redacted statement, (4) denying his motion to suppress his statement, and (5) denying his motion to dismiss for speedy trial violations. We affirm.
White's convictions stem from two separate drive-by shootings in January 2000. The first occurred on the night of January 24, 2000. According to the testimony of Marcus Quinn, he and Joseph Morton were drinking beer in a car parked in an empty lot located across the street from Quinn's home near 20th Street and Longwood in Kansas City, Kansas. While sitting there, Quinn saw a red truck followed by a white car. About 30 minutes later, Quinn saw the same red truck and white car. This time both vehicles stopped and the occupants of the truck shot multiple times at the Chevrolet Caprice in which Morton and Quinn were sitting. Quinn testified that the right side of his head was grazed, but he was not seriously injured. Morton walked away from the scene, but died at the hospital. Police investigating the incident found 22 spent shell casings at the intersection from three different calibers of weapons.
The second shooting occurred in the early afternoon of January 26, 2000. Christopher Union and Lee Brooks were driving a white pickup truck when as many as 50 gunshots were fired at the truck. Both Brooks and Union were hit by bullets; Union died from the injuries.
The police investigation of the two shooting incidents eventually led to the custodial interrogations of Michael White, Shawndell Mays, Keith Mays, Peter Davis, and Carvell England. All of them talked to the investigators, describing the events of the two shootings to various degrees, with Shawndell Mays and White admitting to firing shots during both incidents and all of them admitting to being a witness to one or both occurrences.
In the same information, the State charged White, Shawndell Mays, Davis, Keith Mays, and England with various charges relating to shootings on January 24, January 26, or both. The five codefendants' joint trial lasted nearly 3 weeks during which 39 witnesses testified. Generally, all of the defendants denied the allegations and, through cross-examination of the State's witnesses, sought to create reasonable doubt. They also generally relied upon a self-defense theory.
Before trial, the court conducted a lengthy hearing in which counsel reviewed each codefendant's statement and determined how the statements should be edited to remove any references to other defendants. At the trial, recordings of the edited statements of the five codefendants were played for the jury over objections by defense counsel. The versions played to the jury reflected the changes agreed upon by counsel and the trial court, including removal of most plural pronouns, direct references to other defendants, and questions or answers relating to the actions of other defendants. Through the use of compact disc and digital editing technologies the sound recordings were altered to reflect the changes. The resultant recordings had no pauses where material had been removed. The jury was not given written copies of the statements.
White's statement illustrates the editing that occurred and, since White did not testify, provided his version of events and his self-defense theory. At the beginning of the recording, the detectives stated there had been prior discussions in which they had introduced themselves and advised White of his Miranda rights. White had read the "Advice of Rights" form aloud, initialed the rights, and signed the waiver indicating a willingness to talk to detectives. A detective asked White to give some background about the ongoing conflict between White and the Quinns. During a conversation of some length, approximately five transcribed pages, there was dialogue in which White explained that he, the Mays family, and others were in an ongoing dispute with the Quinn family and their associates. White indicated that he used to "be cool" with the Quinns and sold drugs for them. He then had a falling out with the Quinns and, according to White, they had a person shoot him. In 1997, approximately 7 months after the falling out, a 10-year-old girl who was a friend of White's and a cousin of the Mayses was killed in a drive-by shooting which White blamed on the Quinns. White described the ongoing nature of the dispute, the violence involved, and identified locations, including businesses, where he could not go because the Quinns would shoot him. The next two questions and corresponding answers were deleted from the recording. They were:
The detectives then focused on the January 26th shooting of the occupants of the white pickup truck. White described the truck, indicated he was in a black Suburban, and stated he had a "nine Beretta." When asked where he was in the Suburban, he replied: "In the front seat." Many questions and answers were edited out of this portion of the statement. The edited material related to who else was in the Suburban, the presence of a second car, and who was in the second car. The following questions were asked about what happened. Any material edited out of the recording is underlined.
Answering questions about who was in the truck, White replied he believed it was Tommy Quinn and Stevie Ray Quinn and stated why he believed that. Nothing was edited from this portion of the statement.
The next seven questions and answers were deleted; these questions asked about the actions of White's codefendants during this time.
The questions then focused upon White's activities and the following exchange occurred, with the one word that was digitally removed from the recording underlined:
The questioning then turned to activities after the shooting in which White described how the Quinns had pursued the car White was in and fired shots at a busy intersection. Throughout this passage, references to other defendants and plural pronouns were digitally removed.
Detectives next focused upon the shooting of January 24. White stated that he was in a red Jeep or Blazer. He explained that he went by the Quinns' house that night because earlier that day the Quinns had fired shots near a business known as the "Snak Pak." The following transcript reflects what White said regarding the events near the Quinn home. Again, the underlining reflects the words which were deleted in the recording heard by the jury.
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