United States v. Mosby
| Decision Date | 03 July 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-1694.,84-1694. |
| Citation | 495 A.2d 304 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES, Appellant, v. Donald G. MOSBY, Appellee. |
| Court | D.C. Court of Appeals |
Daniel S. Seikaly, Asst. U.S. Atty., Washington, D.C., with whom Joseph E. diGenova, U.S. Atty., Michael W. Farrell, Donald Allison, and Curtis E. Hall, Asst. U.S. Attys., Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellant.
James McComas, Public Defender Service, Washington, D.C., with whom James Klein, Public Defender Service, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellee.
Before NEBEKER, FERREN and TER-RY, Associate Judges.
Appellee Mosby was indicted on charges of second-degree burglary while armed, D.C.Code §§ 22-1801(b), -3202 (1981); armed robbery, id. §§ 22-2901, -3202 (1981); first-degree murder while armed, id. §§ 22-2401, -3202 (1981); and carrying a pistol without a license, id. § 22-3204 (1981). During the course of their investigation of the underlying crimes, Metropolitan Police officers lawfully seized clothing belonging to Mosby, including one tennis shoe with human blood on it and another with waterfowl feather fragments. Following hearings on, inter alia, Mosby's motion to suppress statements and physical evidence, Judge Pratt ruled on grounds of relevance that the government could not introduce the blood and feathers evidence at trial. The government appealed under D.C.Code § 23-104(a)(1) (1981). See District of Columbia v. McConnell, 464 A.2d 126, 130 (D.C. 1983).
On March 8, 1984, at approximately 11:00 a.m., police officers discovered the bodies of Bonnie and Bruce Glover in their apartment at 1645 13th Street, N.W. Mr. Glover was found on the living room floor with a single gunshot wound in his head. A trail of feathers led from there to the bedroom where Mrs. Glover was found face down on the bed, bound hand and foot, with a feather pillow over her head and a single gunshot wound in the back of her head. An autopsy revealed that the two had been killed at approximately 2:00 a.m. that morning by gunshots fired through pillows.
Several days later, the Director of Security for the First American Bank notified the police that a black male wearing a white knit cap had tried to use Mrs. Glover's automatic teller machine card at one of their branches on March 8 at 6:04 and 6:08 a.m. A videotape of the attempted transactions had been made by a surveillance camera.
The case did not develop further until April 25, 1984, when two deputy United States marshals became involved in an eviction at 3802 14th Street, N.W. During the course of the eviction, the movers discovered a bag containing several live rounds of ammunition, a hypodermic needle, and a holster for a small caliber pistol. Following questioning by the marshals, Denise McGrath, the tenant being evicted, volunteered information concerning the ammunition. She explained that on an earlier date, her boyfriend, appellee Mosby, and a friend had come to her apartment in an agitated state. Mosby was holding a pistol and credit cards and a driver's license bearing the name Glover. Miss McGrath recognized the name because of the extensive news coverage following the murders.
After speaking with Miss McGrath, the marshals contacted Detective Ann Fisher, who had been assigned to investigate the Glover murders. She responded to the scene and noticed that Miss McGrath was wearing a white knit cap. Miss McGrath indicated that the hat was hers but that Mosby had been wearing it during the preceding month. Later, she viewed the bank surveillance photographs and commented that the jacket worn by the individual resembled one owned by Mosby. She then gave Detective Fisher permission to search the bin where her belongings had been placed for storage following her eviction, and Detective Fisher seized several of Mosby's jackets and pairs of shoes. An FBI analysis revealed a trace of untypeable human blood on one shoe. On another nonmatching shoe were found fragments of feathers which could be typed only as those of waterfowl. At the close of subsequent suppression hearings, the trial court concluded that this evidence was "too speculative" and ruled that the government would not be permitted to introduce it even though it was not unconstitutionally seized.
We begin with the proposition that the determination of the relevance of proffered evidence...
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...upon a showing of "grave abuse." Mitchell v. United States, 408 A.2d 1213, 1215 (D.C. 1979) (citations omitted). See also Mosby, supra note 26, 495 A.2d at 305. However, even on the assumption that the relevancy ruling was in error in its application to the physical appearance of the genita......
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