Thomas v. State

• Decision Date: 16 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 59, September Term, 2006.,59, September Term, 2006.
• Citation: 919 A.2d 49,397 Md. 557
• Parties: Garrison THOMAS v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

919 A.2d 49

397 Md. 557

Garrison THOMAS v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 59, September Term, 2006.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

March 16, 2007.

Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, Baltimore, for petitioner.

Diane E. Keller, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), for respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER^*, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA and GREENE, JJ.

RAKER, J.

In this murder and robbery case, we revisit the question of whether petitioner's refusal to provide a blood sample demanded by police pursuant to a search warrant was admissible in evidence as consciousness of guilt. See Thomas v. State, 372 Md. 342, 812 A.2d 1050 (2002) (Thomas I). We must also decide whether the Circuit Court for Charles County erred in admitting into evidence a statement petitioner made to an F.B.I. agent which was not disclosed to petitioner until one week before trial. We shall affirm.

I.

Petitioner's convictions stem from the March 1995 murder of Beverly Renee Mitchell. In June 1999, petitioner was tried and convicted in the Circuit Court for Charles County of felony murder, second degree murder, and robbery. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed the judgment in an unreported opinion. We granted Thomas' petition for a writ of certiorari and reversed, finding that, based on the evidence before the Circuit Court, it was reversible error to admit testimony regarding petitioner's refusal to submit to blood testing to show consciousness of guilt where the State failed to lay the proper evidentiary foundation for the admission of such evidence. Id. at 349, 812 A.2d at 1054. In a new trial, the State offered the evidence of petitioner's refusal to provide a blood sample to the police as evidence of consciousness of guilt, and he was convicted again of felony murder, second degree murder, and robbery.

On March 23, 1995, a passerby discovered Beverly Mitchell's body in an area of Charles County known as Locust Hill. The police collected physical evidence from the location where the body was found. The medical examiner ruled that the cause of death was homicide, and the manner was strangulation and blunt force injuries to the head.

Beverly Mitchell was last seen at the home of James and Ann Porter on the evening of March 22, 1995. She had gone there because her mother, Marva Mitchell, had asked her to deliver some money to her brother-in-law, Mr. Porter. Beverly Mitchell left her mother's house around 9:00 p.m. that evening and arrived at the Porter home shortly thereafter. She gave Mr. Porter ten dollars and left. Earlier in the day, Marva Mitchell had stopped at the Porter residence and informed Mr. Porter that her daughter would be dropping off the money. Petitioner, who lived in the basement of the Porter home, was present during the conversation between Marva Mitchell and Mr. Porter.

On March 24, 1995, the police discovered Beverly Mitchell's white Mitsubishi Eclipse on the 1100 block of 10th Street in Southeast Washington, D.C. That same day, police located a witness, Novella Lee Harris. Ms. Harris told police that around 3:00 a.m. on March 23, 1995, petitioner knocked on her door. At the time, he was dressed as a woman, wearing a wig, high heels, and make-up. He identified himself as "Cookie." Ms. Harris later identified petitioner as "Cookie" from a set of seven photographs provided by the police. Ms. Harris told police that petitioner arrived in Ms. Mitchell's white Mitsubishi Eclipse, and that after his arrival, she, petitioner, and another individual purchased and smoked crack cocaine.

At trial, Ms. Harris testified that while at her home, petitioner appeared to be nervous about the car and told her various stories explaining how he had obtained the vehicle. She stated that, subsequent to his arrival, petitioner had attempted to wipe any fingerprints off the vehicle and later moved the car to the location where it was discovered by police. Ms. Harris testified that she saw petitioner purchase gasoline and attempt to set the vehicle on fire, and that petitioner discarded the car keys in two different locations. When police discovered the car, it was partially burned inside. They found the keys to the car in the locations described by Ms. Harris.

Despite Ms. Harris' statements to police, the investigation of Ms. Mitchell's murder stalled until 1998. It was then that Detective Shane Knowlan of the Charles County Sheriff's Department contacted the Washington, D.C. "Cold Case Homicide Unit." The police secured a search and seizure warrant to search petitioner's home and take samples of his hair, blood, and saliva.

In June 1998, F.B.I. agents and police officers from both Charles County and Washington, D.C. executed the search warrant. Pursuant to the warrant, petitioner was transported to a police station in the District of Columbia. Detective Knowlan explained the search warrant to petitioner and told him that it was "in reference to Beverly Mitchell's death." Detective Knowlan informed petitioner that the search warrant required him to give hair, blood, and saliva samples, and that "[v]oluntary would be my choice, but we would have to take them forcibly if not." Petitioner resisted the taking of his blood nonetheless, and police restrained him to enable a forensic nurse to draw blood. Following this initial restraint, petitioner cooperated with officers in providing hair and saliva samples. He also allowed police to draw a second sample of blood.¹

On December 16, 1998, F.B.I. Agent Bradley Purscell² and several other law enforcement officials arrested petitioner for the murder of Ms. Mitchell. In a search incident to arrest, the police seized from petitioner a Washington, D.C. Driver's License which identified petitioner's gender as female. Following his arrest, while petitioner and Agent Purscell were walking down the hall at police headquarters, petitioner asked Purscell if he had "found Jesus" and if he was a Christian. After Agent Purscell responded affirmatively, petitioner stated "God has forgiven me."³

At petitioner's second trial, the prosecutor advised the trial court that he learned of the existence of the "God has forgiven me" statement one week before trial, in a telephone conversation he had with Agent Purscell.⁴ The same day the prosecutor learned of the statement, he called defense counsel and informed her of the information. Defense counsel made no effort to interview Agent Purscell.

On the day of trial, prior to jury selection, petitioner moved in limine, asking the Circuit Court to exclude the "God has forgiven me" statement on the grounds that the State had violated the Maryland Rules of Discovery in that it disclosed Agent Purscell's statement in an untimely manner, in violation of Maryland Rule 4-263. The sole relief requested by petitioner was the exclusion of the evidence.

The Circuit Court found there was no discovery violation and denied the motion in limine. The judge stated as follows:

"Based on these circumstances and what I've heard, I do not find there's a discovery violation. There's no indication that this statement was known to the State prior to a week ago. There's no bad faith on the part of the State. So, as far as that goes, I find that the State promptly reported to defense counsel its intent to use the statement by the Defendant.

The statement certainly is relevant. As the Defendant's being taken down the hall upon being arrested for murder, he initiates a conversation with Agent Purscell and in that context, states that God has forgiven me. I believe that it is relevant and that statement will be allowed."

Petitioner asked the court to suppress Detective Knowlan's testimony regarding the drawing of the blood. He argued that Detective Knowlan's testimony was irrelevant and at best ambiguous, and not admissible as evidence of consciousness of guilt. In addition, he argued that, because the DNA test results of the blood excluded petitioner, the prejudicial effect substantially outweighed the probative value of the evidence. The court reserved ruling until trial to determine whether the State satisfied the evidentiary foundation for the admission of the evidence. At trial, after the detective testified that he told Thomas that "this was in reference to Beverly Mitchell's death," the court ruled that the evidence was admissible.

The jury found petitioner guilty of first degree felony murder, second degree specific intent murder, and robbery. The court imposed a life sentence.

Petitioner noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. The intermediate appellate court affirmed, holding that because Agent Purscell was an F.B.I. Agent who did not "regularly report" to the State's Attorney, petitioner's statement to him did not fall within the State's disclosure obligation. Thomas v. State, 168 Md.App. 682, 695, 899 A.2d 170, 178 (2006). The Court of Special Appeals also held that it was not error to allow the jury to consider petitioner's resistance to the drawing of his blood as evidence of consciousness of guilt. Id. at 713, 899 A.2d at 188-89.

We granted petitioner's request for a writ of certiorari to address the following questions:

"I. Did the Court of Special Appeals err in finding that the F.B.I. agent who arrested and booked Mr. Thomas was not a `state agent' for purposes of Maryland Rule 4-263 and, therefore, there was no discovery violation when, one week before the retrial in a nine year old murder case, the state revealed for the first time that Mr. Thomas had, as the prosecutor argued in closing, `confessed' to the F.B.I. agent at the time of his arrest?

II. Does the fact that Mr. Thomas initially resisted police efforts to obtain blood, the testing of which ultimately excluded Mr. Thomas, constitute evidence

of a consciousness of guilt when the initial resistance occurred three years after the victim's murder, while Mr. Thomas was handcuffed in a police interrogation room, was surrounded by four police officers, had no...