Stebbing v. State

Decision Date16 April 1984
Docket NumberNos. 35,s. 35
Citation473 A.2d 903,299 Md. 331
PartiesAnnette Louise STEBBING v. STATE of Maryland. Sept. Term 1981 and 103 Sept. Term 1981.
CourtMaryland Court of Appeals

George E. Burns, Jr., Asst. Public Defender, Baltimore (Alan H. Murrell, Public Defender and Gary W. Christopher, Asst. Public Defender, Baltimore, on brief), for appellant.

Patricia E. McDonald and Deborah K. Chasanow, Asst. Attys. Gen., Baltimore (Stephen H. Sachs, Atty. Gen., Baltimore, on brief), for appellee.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and SMITH, ELDRIDGE, COLE, DAVIDSON, RODOWSKY and COUCH, JJ.

RODOWSKY, Judge.

Appellant, Annette Louise Stebbing (Annette), was found guilty at a jury trial of murder in the first degree, rape in the first degree, robbery and first degree sexual offense. She elected to be sentenced by the court. A death sentence was imposed. The crimes occurred on April 9, 1980 in the back of a van parked in an isolated area of Harford County. Only Annette, her husband, Bernard Lee Stebbing (Bernard or Lee), and the victim, Dena Marie Polis (Dena), were present. Bernard did not testify at trial. The State's case was based upon statements by Annette and on physical facts. On this appeal and mandatory review, Annette raises points which go to the guilty verdicts and to the death sentence.

Annette at age 18 had married Bernard in August of 1979. Bernard is 19 years her senior. He is a self-confessed alcoholic who was then on probation for a sex crime involving a female minor. Dena, who was 19 years old at her death, was the stepdaughter of Bernard's brother and the daughter of Edna Stebbing (Edna). Edna was separated from her husband. Edna and Dena lived on South Marlyn Avenue in the Essex section of Baltimore County. Bernard and Annette visited from time to time at Edna's home. Annette was friendly with Dena, and Bernard lusted for Dena. About one week before the murder, Bernard told Annette that he wanted to "screw" Dena. On Saturday, April 5, 1980, while Bernard and Annette were visiting at Edna's home, Bernard "grabbed [Dena] from the front." Dena started hitting Bernard, kicking him on the shins and gouging him in the shoulders with her nails. She told him " 'don't you ever touch me like that again.' "

On Wednesday, April 9, at about 4:40 p.m., Edna came home from work and found Bernard, Annette and Dena there. Dena was planning to visit her boyfriend in Glen Burnie. Bernard and Annette were to drive Dena into downtown Baltimore City where Dena was to get public transportation to Glen Burnie. At Edna's home Bernard told Annette, when no one else was present, that "he was going to screw [Dena] that night." The trio left in Bernard's employer's van. There were only two seats in the van. Bernard was driving, and Dena, who was five feet two inches tall and weighed 104 pounds, was in the passenger seat. Annette, who was five feet five inches tall and weighed 155 pounds, was behind them.

What thereafter transpired is described in Annette's statement to the Baltimore City police given on April 19, 1980:

[W]e started out for Harford County. We went to Phil. Rd. and went North. Lee pulled over about eight miles. Lee said that the oil was low. He checked the engine and keep [sic] saying to me, "Do it" "Do it." So I put my arm around [Dena's] neck and pulled her to the back of the Van. Lee got into the Van, and Dena was yelling, "Lee stop her." Lee pulled her clothes off and Lee had sex with her. Then I started strangling her, she was fighting with me and [scratched] me on the left hand. I strangled her until there was no life in her....

Q. What kind of sex did Lee have with Dena?

A. Everything, intercourse and rectum.

....

Q. What were you doing when Lee was have [sic] sex with Dena?

A. I was sitting on her chest, between my legs. I had my legs over her arms, pinned down and I had my hands around her neck. Dena started screaming and I pressed down on her throat and she stopped breathing, and blood came out of her nose and she choked on her blood.

Q. How was Lee able to screw Dena up the rectum while you were on her chest?

A. Lee told me to turn her over that he wanted to fuck her up the ass. I lefted [sic] up and turned her over, with Lee's help and I was still strangling her around her neck. After she was turned over Lee fucked her up the ass. During the time Lee was screwing her Lee got his rocks off two times.

Annette later told the police that Lee " 'thought it was funny when he was having sex with [Dena].' "

Bernard did not want to take the time to dress Dena's partially unclothed body. With the corpse covered by a blanket in the back of the van, they returned to Bernard's mother's one-bedroom apartment in Essex where they had been occupying the living room as their residence.

Annette's account of the balance of the night of April 9-10 is set forth in the report of her psychological expert which was placed in evidence at the sentencing stage.

Annette got out of the van and went into the house to get something to eat. As soon as she left the van Lee locked all the doors. Sometime later Annette returned to the van and apparently startled Lee who she states was in the back of the van with [Dena]. She states "I saw her uncovered from the blankets." According to Annette "I don't know what he did." Asked by the examiner what Lee might have been doing with [Dena's] body uncovered, she spontaneously replied "He could have screwed her when she was dead."

After giving Lee something to eat in the van she indicated that the two of them drank more beer. She states "he fell asleep in the back of the van with the girl" who was still uncovered. She herself remained sitting up in the passenger seat in the front of the van through the night.

On Thursday, April 10, Annette and Bernard went to work with the body in the van. His job was installing floor tile and Annette was his helper. In the course of the day they threw Dena's pocketbook and shoes into the dumpster at their employer's place of business. They left work early that day and drove around the waterfront of Baltimore City until dark. Then they stuffed Dena's body head first through a manhole into a sewer. At some point they threw Dena's dungarees, white sweater and panties into a dumpster behind a 7-Eleven in eastern Baltimore County.

In the evening of Thursday, April 10, Annette and Bernard went to Edna's home to pick up some money from the sale of a sword that Edna had sold for Bernard. They arrived around 8:00 p.m. and stayed until about 12:30 a.m. Edna had already notified the Baltimore County police that Dena was missing. Edna's sons, Gus and Dennis, his girlfriend, and Edna's daughter Vickie were there at various times during the evening. Conversation centered on where Annette and Bernard had last seen Dena and on what Dena had been wearing. When Gus said to Edna " 'Mom, why don't you face it, she is dead,' " Annette jumped up and said " 'Gus, you shouldn't talk to your mother like that. She is upset enough.' "

Dena's body was found in the sewer on Friday, April 11, at 7:00 a.m. The corpse was taken to the Medical Examiner's Office. There an attendant in the course of removing Dena's blouse and thermal undershirt noticed a brown button fall from within the clothing. The button was preserved as possible evidence. Identification of the body was made by 12:30 p.m. that day.

When Edna learned that Dena was dead, Edna became hysterical. She was taken to her daughter Vickie's house. Many friends of the family visited there that evening. Annette and Bernard came as well. Annette walked over to Edna and hugged and kissed her. Bernard walked over to Edna and hugged and kissed her. When Annette and Bernard were getting ready to leave, Edna walked out to the kitchen with them. They were consoling her. Annette hugged Edna and said, " 'You take it easy now, because everything is going to be all right.' "

The break in the murder investigation came on April 19, 1980. Annette and Bernard had gone to the Baltimore City Police Headquarters where they gave exculpatory written statements. Bernard then consented to a search of the van which was parked nearby. During that search Detective James Ozazewski noticed that a brown button was missing from the yellow shirt which Bernard was wearing and recalled the brown button found at the Medical Examiner's. With Bernard's permission, a laboratory examination of the shirt was immediately performed. Because the buttons on Bernard's shirt matched the button found with Dena's body, Bernard and Annette were taken to separate rooms, advised of their rights, and questioned further. Detective John Hess questioned Annette. Hess told her that Bernard's shirt was the same one that Bernard had been wearing on the night when Dena was murdered. Annette replied, " 'Well, he didn't kill her. I did.' " She said, " 'I was sitting on her chest and my hands felt like magnetic [vices] when they closed around her throat. And I was squeezing until blood came from her nose.' " Detective Hess testified that Annette

went on to explain about her and her husband planning this thing, so that her husband could have intercourse with Dena Polis. And that on a cue [Annette] was going to pull [Dena] from the front of the van, by the neck, and throw her in the back of the van, where this choking action took place.

The Baltimore City police turned the investigation over to the Maryland State Police. On Monday, April 21, Annette was in the custody of Trooper Michael Joseph Callanan in a jury room at the Harford County Court House awaiting a bond review hearing. Annette told Trooper Callanan that she had killed Dena because she did not want Dena telling people on the streets, or the police, that Bernard had raped Dena. Annette said that Dena was screaming and " 'that's when I cut her off.' " The last thing which Dena said to Annette was " ' "I have too much to live for." ' "

Annette testified at the guilt or innocence stage of her trial. Her testimony was...

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