Walker v. State
| Decision Date | 01 September 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 317,317 |
| Citation | 668 A.2d 990,107 Md.App. 502 |
| Parties | Lawrence Joseph WALKER v. STATE of Maryland. , |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Olga M. Bruning, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General, both of Annapolis, and Andrew L. Sonner, State's Attorney for Montgomery County of Rockville, on the brief), for appellee.
Argued Before DAVIS, HARRELL, and SALMON, JJ.
On 13 January 1995, appellant, Lawrence Joseph Walker, was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery
County of robbery with a dangerous and deadly weapon. He was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. In this timely appeal, appellant presents the following question for our consideration: Did the trial court err in admitting hearsay evidence?
At trial on 12 January 1995, the State called Robin Hammond Walker ("Mrs. Walker") as a witness. Mrs. Walker testified that she was appellant's wife, having been married to him on 1 September 1994. She indicated that although she was subpoenaed by the State to testify in this case, she was invoking her spousal privilege not to testify against her husband. 1
At this point, the State, in a motion in limine, requested the circuit court to admit into evidence several written, signed statements that Mrs. Walker gave to police officers concerning a series of robberies committed by appellant, her then boyfriend. The State argued that the statements should be admitted
into evidence as inherently reliable hearsay statements made by [Mrs.] Walker to the police at the time in the hopes of obtaining some help for [appellant].
In response, appellant's counsel indicated, and the State agreed, that
[i]t is my understanding that when the statements were made ... [Mrs.] Walker indicated at the time that she was doing this because she wanted [appellant] to get some help for his drug problem.
Appellant's counsel then asserted that these statements should not be admitted because they were hearsay that did not fall into an exception to the exclusionary rule. Specifically he argued as follows [N]ow, unless there is an exception, I think universally the rule is it does not come in. I think the State has to show the Court a basis, other than the fact that says I submit it because it is inherently reliable. They have to show you something other than that. They have to show you a basis for this to come in.
After implicitly recognizing that Mrs. Walker's statements did not fall within the "firmly rooted" hearsay exceptions, the trial judge noted that "if you want to look for an exception with the hearsay rule then turn to [Rule 5-804 since] she is unavailable." He explained that it was clear that Mrs. Walker was unavailable because she exercised her privilege not to testify against her husband. Then, on his own initiative, the trial judge ruled that Mrs. Walker's statements came in under Rule 5-804(b)(5), the residual exception, stating:
[U]nder exceptional circumstances the following are not excluded even though the declarant is unavailable as a witness: a) the statement is offered as evidence of a material fact--here it clearly is; b) the statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts.... [T]he victim in this case is more likely than not unable to identify his assailant in this case ... [; (c) ] the general purpose of these rules in the interest of justice will best be served by admission of these statements into evidence.
The trial judge explained further that he saw
no indicia that this statement would be unreliable. In fact, it would appear to me to be a reliable statement. For what possible purpose would this woman have made the statement to the police officers implicating her boyfriend, but for the fact to get him help, and that is not a reason to implicate someone, to get him help in a crime.
Thereafter, Jose Iraheta ("Iraheta") testified that on 10 June 1994 at approximately 4:00 a.m., while riding his bicycle to work on Twinbrook Parkway in Rockville, a man (the "assailant") approached him and pushed him to the ground.
The assailant then picked him up by the collar, put a knife to his stomach, and demanded his wallet. Iraheta indicated that he gave the assailant his wallet which contained $60. After taking the money, the assailant returned the wallet, and Iraheta was allowed to leave.
Iraheta explained that he subsequently called the police, who arrived approximately fifteen minutes after the robbery. He testified that he told the police that the assailant was an African-American male "about [his] height, kind of heavy ... [who] was using a type of sweater, a green sweater with a hood covering the head." On cross-examination, Iraheta acknowledged that he did not see his assailant's face.
Officer Ivan Langford ("Langford") next testified that sometime after 10 June and before 15 June 1994 "a friend of [Mrs. Walker's] had her page [him] because ... [s]he was having problems, and she wanted to talk." In response, Langford indicated that he met Mrs. Walker 2 at a shelter in Rockville where he received "some information which [he] turned over to [Detective Klarko]." While giving this information to Detective Klarko, he received a page from Mrs. Walker. Langford testified that after calling Mrs. Walker, he gave the phone to Detective Klarko who then proceeded to speak with her.
Detective Richard Klarko ("Klarko") testified that, in the early part of June during a meeting with Officer Langford, he spoke with Mrs. Walker on the telephone. After this telephone conversation, he and Detective Bauers met with Mrs. Walker at her parents' residence for about an hour and a half on 15 June 1994 beginning at approximately 6:00 p.m. Mrs. Walker's father was also present during this meeting. Over a continuing objection, Klarko explained that Mrs. Walker had information concerning "an incident that had occurred ... the day before, in which [appellant] had indicated that he had committed a robbery" and that he had reduced what she had She indicated to me--[Mrs. Walker] indicated to me on June 11th she and [appellant] were walking on Twinbrook Parkway. At some point in time during this walking along Twinbrook Parkway a Montgomery County Police cruiser passed them.
said to writing. After refreshing his memory, Klarko testified as follows:
At such time [appellant] hung his head down low as if to hide his face. [Mrs. Walker] indicated why or questioned him as to why he was doing this, and he said well, I committed a robbery last night and they might see me.
He then went on to describe to [Mrs. Walker] ... an incident where he had approached a Hispanic male and robbed him of $60 cash. At that time he was wearing a green hooded sweatshirt, and the hooded sweatshirt was pulled over his face. [Appellant] indicated to [Mrs. Walker] that he didn't know if the person who he had robbed on Twinbrook Parkway would recognize him because his sweatshirt was pulled over his head.
At some point in time during the evening, shortly thereafter the robbery, after he had taken the $60 from this Hispanic male, [appellant] threw the sweatshirt which he was wearing and had used to conceal his face in the area off Twinbrook Parkway.
At that point, which was the next day when he was discussing this matter with [Mrs. Walker] he said wait a minute, I will be right back, and he went off behind some apartments, retrieved a green hooded sweatshirt and then proceeded to throw it into a dumpster along Twinbrook Parkway.
Klarko testified further that Mrs. Walker read over the statement and was given an opportunity to make any necessary corrections or additions to the statement. While doing so, she signed each page, put her initials at the bottom of each page, and signed the end of the statement. Over objection, the State introduced Mrs. Walker's statement to Klarko as State's Exhibit No. 1. In addition to repeating Klarko's known [appellant] since 1989. We've been living together off and on since then. About March 9th I moved out of the apartment he and I were living at. I moved down to the shelter ... I've stayed there since then. I still see [appellant] regularly. He had moved ... [to] his moms house down on Twinbrook Pkwy. I take the kids down to see him. It was the 11th [when appellant,] me and my daughter were walking along Twinbrook Pkwy. It was about 10:00 a.m. [The statement then described the robbery.].
testimony regarding what Mrs. Walker had told him about the robbery, this statement indicated that Mrs. Walker has
Because this statement contained some information that was ruled inadmissible at trial, certain portions were redacted. An uncensored copy was submitted by the State for identification only as Exhibit No. 3. This uncensored copy contained information that "[t]he last month or so [appellant has] been doing more crack cocaine than usual" and "I moved out of the apartment he and I were living at because I couldn't handle his drug use ... [i]t was a bad influence on the kids."
On cross-examination, Klarko acknowledged that Mrs. Walker told him that she and appellant lived together until Mrs. Walker moved out because she could not handle the situation with appellant. Klarko testified that he did not recall whether Mrs. Walker said that she wanted to get appellant some kind of help.
Detective Jane Bauers ("Bauers") testified that on 15 June 1994 at approximately 5:30 p.m. she accompanied Klarko to Mrs. Walker's parents' residence. Over a continuing objection, Bauers testified that Mrs. Walker told her that
on the 11th that [appellant] had robbed someone the previous night, which would have been June 10th of $60.
* * * * * *
[Appellant] told her that he pulled the victim's wallet out...
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