Stokes v. State
Decision Date | 18 February 2004 |
Docket Number | No. 47,47 |
Citation | 379 Md. 618,843 A.2d 64 |
Parties | Dontee STOKES v. STATE of Maryland. |
Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Lisa J. Sansone (Law Office of Lisa Sansone of the Law Office of Lisa J. Sansone, Warren A Brown of Warren A. Brown, P.A. of Baltimore), on brief for appellant.
Diane E. Keller, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, on brief), Baltimore, for appellee.
Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, and JOHN C. ELDRIDGE (Retired, specially assigned), JJ. RAKER, Judge.
This criminal case presents issues relating to a defendant's right to a trial by a jury of twelve jurors and the treatment of alternate jurors in a case in which the defendant has entered a plea of not criminally responsible and requests a bifurcated trial. In the guilt/innocence stage of the trial, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City retained the four alternate jurors and permitted them to participate in the juror deliberations. Appellant's argument is that the trial court committed reversible error by permitting sixteen jurors to enter the jury room and deliberate on the guilt/innocence phase of his trial. We agree with appellant that it was reversible error to permit the four alternate jurors to be present in the jury room during deliberations and shall reverse the convictions and order a new trial.
Dontee Stokes, appellant, was indicted by the Grand Jury for Baltimore City with the offenses of attempted first degree murder; assault; reckless endangerment; use of a handgun in a crime of violence; wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun; carrying or knowingly transporting a handgun in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm within city limits. He entered a plea of not guilty and not criminally responsible pursuant to Maryland Rule 4-242(a). The State alleged that appellant shot and wounded Maurice Blackwell, appellant's priest when appellant was a young boy. In his statement to the police, appellant admitted shooting Blackwell. At trial, appellant maintained that from the time he was thirteen years old until he was seventeen years old, Blackwell had repeatedly sexually abused him and that as a result, in addition to lacking criminal responsibility, appellant lacked the ability to form specific intent at the time of the shooting.
The trial commenced before a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City on December 10, 2002. Pursuant to Maryland Rule of Procedure 4-314,1 appellant elected to proceed to trial in a bifurcated proceeding, and in accordance with the Rule, the court commenced with the guilt/innocence phase. In his opening statement to the jury, defense counsel stated that "we will plead guilty on possession of the handgun and we'll take whatever wrath the judge imposes on us." As to the remaining charges, counsel asked the jury to find appellant not guilty.
At the conclusion of all the evidence in the guilt/innocence phase of the trial, and following jury instructions and closing arguments, the court instructed the jurors as follows:
Appellant's counsel objected to the alternate jurors being permitted to deliberate. The trial court overruled the objection, responding that, according to Rule 4-314, a bifurcated trial is a single continuous trial, in two stages, and the Rule requires that the alternate jurors must be retained throughout the trial. The sixteen person jury deliberated for about one half-hour that day. Following a weekend recess, the jury continued deliberating. After about two hours of deliberations, the jury sent a note to the court with the question, "Do alternates count?"
The jury note regarding the role of alternate jurors, for the first time, sparked a discussion between the court and counsel of the role of alternate jurors in a bifurcated case under Rule 4-314. Focusing on the language of the Rule that "The court shall appoint at least four (sic) alternate jurors, who shall be retained throughout the trial," the court noted as follows:
The court considered two choices: Should the alternate jurors stay in the jury room as non-participants so that they are aware of the deliberations in case they are needed as jurors in the insanity phase, or do they function and participate as jurors in the guilt/innocence phase? After an extended discussion, the court decided to instruct the jury that the alternates were to be mere observers. The court responded to the jury inquiry as to whether alternate jurors vote as follows:
Defense counsel reiterated his objection to the presence of alternates in the jury room.
The jury returned a verdict of not guilty of attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and use of a handgun in a crime of violence. The jury convicted appellant of three counts: wearing, carrying or transporting a handgun; wearing, carrying or transporting a handgun in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm within the city limits.
The next day, appellant withdrew his plea of not criminally responsible in return for an agreement with the State that the State would recommend a sentence of three years incarceration, with all but eighteen months suspended, three years probation, and full credit against the sentence based on the time appellant spent in home detention pretrial. The court imposed a sentence in accord with the State's recommendation.
Appellant noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. Prior to consideration by that court, this Court issued a writ of certiorari to consider the issues presented in Stokes' appeal. 376 Md. 543, 831 A.2d 3 (2003).
The right to a trial by jury, of twelve persons, has been part of the common law for centuries, along with the requirement of unanimity. The right to trial by jury is guaranteed by the Maryland Declaration of Rights and the Maryland Rules, as well as the United States Constitution. See Kawamura v. State, 299 Md. 276, 473 A.2d 438 (1984)
. Article 5 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights provides, in pertinent part, "That the Inhabitants of Maryland are entitled to ... trial by Jury...." Article 21 of the Declaration of Rights provides, in pertinent part, "That in all criminal prosecutions, every man hath a right ... to a speedy trial by an impartial jury, without whose unanimous consent he ought not to be found guilty." Article 23 of the Declaration of Rights provides, in pertinent part, "In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be the Judges of Law, as well as of fact, except that the Court may pass upon the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction." Article 24 of the Declaration of Rights provides, "That no man ought to be taken or imprisoned or disseized of his freehold, liberties or privileges ... or, in any manner, destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty...
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