White v. State
| Docket Number | 1463-2022 |
| Decision Date | 09 November 2023 |
| Parties | DOMONIC DANTE WHITE v. STATE OF MARYLAND |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
1
DOMONIC DANTE WHITE
v.
STATE OF MARYLAND
No. 1463-2022
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
November 9, 2023
UNREPORTED IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF MARYLAND [*]
Circuit Court for Baltimore City Case No. 121152015
Arthur, Albright, Harrell, Glenn T., Jr. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.
OPINION
ALBRIGHT, J.
A jury sitting in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City found Domonic Dante White, Appellant, guilty of first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and related weapons offenses. The court sentenced Mr. White to an aggregate of 45 years' imprisonment. He then noted this appeal, raising two issues:
1. Whether the trial court erred [or abused its discretion] in admitting into evidence a jail call, to which Appellant was alleged to be a party, where the State did not authenticate the call; and
2. Whether the trial court erred [or abused its discretion] in admitting into evidence surveillance videos that were not authenticated by the State
We find neither error nor abuse of discretion. Accordingly, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
Shortly before 7:00 p.m. on April 29, 2021, Kaivon Stewart, then a patrol officer (now a detective) in the Baltimore City Police Department, was driving southbound in a marked vehicle on Belair Road in northeastern Baltimore City. As he approached the intersection with Eierman Avenue, he heard a gunshot. Officer Stewart "immediately" turned right onto Eierman Avenue and observed "an unidentified ... male wearing black clothing fully extended out with a handgun pointing towards" a man later identified as Christopher Clanton. Officer Stewart stopped his vehicle, got out, drew his service weapon, and pointed it "into the direction of the suspect."
The suspect fled down an alley. Officer Stewart turned his attention to Mr. Clanton, who was suffering from a gunshot wound to his ear. Officer Stewart called for additional units. He and his partner, Officer Franklin Phipps, then canvassed the area. At that time, no witnesses were located.
Officer Stewart did, however, notice a blue 2007 Pontiac G6 "that was left unattended and running." Police officers conducted an inventory search of the Pontiac. Among the items recovered was a cell phone "that had constant calls coming in." The lock screen of that phone displayed a photograph of a woman and a man; the woman was identified as the owner of the vehicle, Tinnesha Wilson, and the man was her fiance, Appellant.[1]
Mr. Clanton was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was treated for his injuries. He gave a statement to police detectives and identified Appellant[2] as the shooter.[3]
Several weeks later, an indictment was returned, by the Grand Jury for Baltimore City, charging Appellant with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, reckless endangerment, discharging a firearm within Baltimore City limits, possession of a regulated firearm by a person
previously convicted of a disqualifying offense, and wearing, carrying, and transporting a handgun on the person.
A four-day jury trial was held. The State called seven witnesses: Officer Stewart, evidence technicians Kanieka Neal and Emily Hopkins, Detectives Marcus Smothers and Anthony Forbes, Mr. Clanton,[4] and Lorraine Marcetti, an employee of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services ("DPSCS"). The defense called Bryan Pratt, Ms. Wilson's cousin and a long-time friend of Appellant. Appellant exercised his right not to testify.
Officer Stewart testified as summarized above. Technician Neal processed the crime scene and described what she observed. Under the direction of Detective Forbes, the primary detective in the case, Technician Neal collected physical evidence, including a sweatshirt, a pair of sunglasses, a blood-soaked washcloth, a fanny pack, and an "electronic device,"[5] and she took photographs of the crime scene. She testified that no fingerprints or firearm evidence were recovered.[6] Technician Hopkins, after consulting with Technician Neal and Detective Forbes, created sketches of the crime scene.
Detective Forbes testified that he reviewed "some video footage" that had been retrieved by Detective Smothers. The surveillance videos, State's Exhibits 3, 4, 5, and 6, were admitted into evidence over defense objection.[7] Detective Forbes testified that in several of those videos, he identified the blue 2007 Pontiac in a parking lot adjacent to Market 21, a convenience store, just minutes before the shooting.[8] Detective Forbes also testified that, later the same evening, he traveled to the emergency room at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he interviewed Mr. Clanton. Detective Forbes described how he created the photographic array from which Mr. Clanton selected Appellant as the shooter. He further described the cell phone that had been recovered from the blue Pontiac and identified the car's owner as Ms. Wilson, whom he subsequently interviewed. Detective Forbes acknowledged that "[n]o firearms were located or recovered," nor did police recover any shell casings from the crime scene.
In addition, Detective Forbes, over defense objection, identified Appellant as one of the speakers in State's Exhibit 20, a jail call that was subsequently admitted into evidence. Detective Forbes testified that he spoke with Appellant "for about two minutes," on the morning that Appellant was arrested and placed in a holding cell.
Detective Forbes also testified that he listened to the entire jail call and described it as a conversation between Appellant and his son, Darien White, on the day after the shooting.
Mr. Clanton testified that he and Appellant had known each other since childhood and were once "best friends." Mr. Clanton and his five-year-old son had been in the neighborhood that evening to visit Mr. Clanton's mother,[9] who lived a few blocks away.[10] After leaving his mother's home, Mr. Clanton took his son to a nearby 7-Eleven to get him "something to drink" when a client called out to him and asked if he could make an appointment to "cut somebody's hair on a later date."[11] While approaching the client on foot, he saw Appellant stepping out of a blue car and was "genuinely happy to see him." Appellant, however, "gave [him] the cold shoulder" and turned to speak to someone else.[12]
Several minutes later, he "followed" Appellant, attempting to engage in a private conversation. Mr. Clanton asked Appellant, "what the [f--k] is up?" Appellant replied, "you know what's up" and pulled a handgun from his waistband. Mr. Clanton turned his head to avoid getting shot in the face, and Appellant fired one shot, striking Mr.
Clanton's ear and head. Immediately afterward, as Mr. Clanton "looked up at" Appellant, who was aiming his handgun "like he was about to finish" Mr. Clanton, "the sirens came." Mr. Clanton declared, "I ain't never been so happy to see police in my life."
Ms. Marcetti, DPSCS records custodian, testified that she "handle[s] all the subpoenas for jail calls." Ms. Marcetti confirmed that State's Exhibit 20 was a recording of the jail call placed by Darien White in the morning of April 30, 2021, the day after the shooting. Through her testimony, State's Exhibit 20 was admitted into evidence over defense objection.[13] That call then was published to the jury.[14]
Mr. Pratt, a long-time friend of Appellant and the cousin of Ms. Wilson, testified that, on the night of the shooting, he and Appellant were "going to link up" and go to Mr. Pratt's home to "watch the [NFL] draft." In preparation, they met at a nearby liquor store and bought "a fifth of liquor, some beers and some party mix and stuff." They then drove in separate cars to Eierman Avenue. According to Mr. Pratt, a crowd of approximately 40 people had congregated in the street. Then, according to Mr. Pratt, while he and Appellant were standing near Mr. Pratt's car and talking, "two [masked] guys" they did not know appeared from an alley. Mr. Pratt further testified that one of the masked
youths[15] grabbed Mr. Clanton by the shoulder and tried to rob him, shooting Mr. Clanton while doing so. Mr. Clanton "fell into" Mr. Pratt's car. The assailants, according to Mr. Pratt, then fled "[s]traight down the alley."
The jury deliberated over two days. The jury acquitted Appellant of attempted first- and second-degree murder but found him guilty of first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, reckless endangerment, discharging a firearm within Baltimore City limits, and possession of a regulated firearm by a person previously convicted of a disqualifying offense.[16] The court sentenced Appellant about five months later.[17]
Additional facts are included where pertinent to discussion of the issues.
DISCUSSION
Authentication of Evidence Generally
"The requirement of authentication or identification as a condition precedent to admissibility is satisfied by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what its proponent claims." Md. Rule 5-901(a). "This requirement is satisfied if sufficient proof has been introduced so that a reasonable juror could find in favor of authenticity or identification." Sublet v. State, 442 Md. 632, 666 (2015) (quotation marks and citations omitted) (cleaned up). In other words, a court "need not find that the evidence is necessarily what the proponent claims, but only that there is sufficient evidence that the jury ultimately might do so." Jackson v. State, 460 Md. 107, 116 (2018) (quoting United States v. Safavian, 435 F.Supp.2d 36, 38 (D.D.C. 2006)) (emphasis in original). "The threshold of admissibility is, therefore, slight." Id. (citation omitted).
Part (b) of the rule lists, "[b]y way of illustration only, and not by way of limitation," examples of "authentication or identification conforming with the...
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