Commonwealth v. Jordan

4 Mass. L. Rptr. 197
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedAugust 4, 1995
DocketNo. 94416
StatusPublished

This text of 4 Mass. L. Rptr. 197 (Commonwealth v. Jordan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Jordan, 4 Mass. L. Rptr. 197 (Mass. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

Cowin, J.

The defendant, Dennis Jordan, is charged with murder (G.L.c. 265, s.l) and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, class B, cocaine (G.L.c. 94C, s.32A(c)). He has moved to suppress in-person and photographic identifications of him as well as statements that he made to the police after the murder. He claims that the police acted improperly in detaining him for the original show-up; that the show-up and subsequent photo identification of him were suggestive and that his statements were the product of an unlawful arrest and illegal detention.

A hearing was held on May 3 and May 4, 1995 at which Brockton Officers Clifford Hunt, Stephen Pierce and Walter Callahan; State Trooper William Barrett and the identifying witness Melinda Robinson testified.1 Further hearings were held on May 31, June 1 and July 11, 1995. After the hearings, receipt of further memoranda from the parties and evaluation of the credibility of the witnesses, the Court allows the motions to suppress the in-person and photographic identifications and denies the motion to suppress the statements.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Melinda Robinson is an eighteen-year old senior in high school who lives at home with her mother. At the time of the events in this case, she and her mother lived on Ellsworth Street, near the corner of Arlington Street in Brockton. The homes on the street are triple-deckers and Ms. Robinson’s home on Ellsworth Street is just one house-length from Arlington Street. Ms. Robinson’s porch faces the comer of Arlington Street and there is a clear view of the Arlington Street corner from Ms. Robinson’s porch.

On May 29, 1993, at 3:45 p.m., when she was on the second-floor porch of her home, Ms. Robinson observed a red station wagon drive up Ellsworth Street past her house. She saw the car turn left at the corner onto Arlington Street and park, clearly in her view. She could see that there were three people in the car, two in front and one in back. She saw one young man get out of the car from the driver’s seat and run down Ellsworth Street away from her. This person was the victim in this case, Errol (“J.R.”) Grinion. Ms. Robinson then saw a person she knew, Jeffrey Williams, get out of the back of the car. A third person, later identified as the defendant, Jordan, emerged from the front passenger seat.

Ms. Robinson heard the victim, Grinion, say: “No,” and she saw him start to run. She also heard Jeffrey Williams say: “Get him, nigger” to Jordan. She watched as Jordan pulled a silver gun from his pants with his right hand and shoot Grinion. Grinion moaned: “A-ah” and Jordan and Williams ran behind a house.

Both Jordan and Williams were dressed in black “hoodies” (hooded sweatshirts) and black pants. The strings at the necks of the hoodies were pulled tight. Jordan was also wearing sunglasses, so that only his nose and mouth were visible. His hair and his chin were covered by his “hoodie.”

Ms. Robinson knew Williams from school and from seeing him in the neighborhood. She never spoke to him because he “gets in a lot of trouble.” Williams does not know her.

After the events above-described, the police were at the scene within approximately five minutes. Ms. Robinson spoke with them and told them what she had witnessed and that she knew that one of the men was Jeffrey Williams. She said that she had never before seen the man who was the shooter. She described both Jeffrey Williams and the unknown assailant as black males about fifteen to sixteen years old2 and said that Williams was about 5’ 6" tall and that the other young man was about 5’ 7" tall. She also described the men’s clothing to the police.

Officer Stephen Pierce of the Brockton Police responded to the area of the shooting at about 4:20 p.m. He was told that the police were seeking two black males, one of whom was Jeffrey Williams. Officer [198]*198Pierce recalled that the gang unit had previously arrested Williams and had a picture of him at the police station. Pierce left the scene at about 4:30 p.m. to return to the station and obtain the picture. When Officer Pierce was about two blocks from the shooting scene, he saw two black males riding a bicycle. He recognized them from prior arrests. One was Jeffrey Williams whom Ms. Robinson had stated was involved in the murder. The other young man was Dennis Jordan, the defendant. One of the men was on the handlebars of the bicycle, although the officer does not recall which one. Neither of the men was wearing a black hoodie. Williams was fifteen years old and Jordan was seventeen. Although there was no evidence introduced regarding Jordan’s height,3 the Court observed that he is approximately the height that Ms. Robinson described. Officer Pierce pulled up next to the two men and they stopped. The officer radioed to his Sergeant that he had stopped Jeffrey Williams and a second parly about two blocks from the scene. He was told to hold the two men there.

A second officer, Officer Ken Gaughan, then pulled up and he and Officer Pierce patted the two men down for the safety of the officers. Officer Pierce told the men that he had information that Williams was possibly involved in a shooting. When Officer Pierce patted Williams down he felt a large bulge in his front pants pocket and pulled out a clear plastic bag of a white rock substance packaged in individual clear plastic packages. The officer believed the substance to be crack cocaine. There was one large rock which sells for about fifty dollars and nineteen bags that sell for about twenty dollars each. Forty-nine dollars was also found on Williams. The amount of drugs on Wiliams is consistent with drug distribution. Nothing of any significance was found on the defendant Jordan during the patdown. Officer Pierce recognized Jordan from prior arrests for stolen vehicles and drugs. Jordan had been using bikes in some of the earlier arrests and had been working with an accomplice at those times. Officer Pierce also knew that it was common practice for adult drug distributors to use juveniles to help sell because the penalties for juveniles are less severe and he was aware that Williams was only fifteen years old. In addition, the area in which Williams and Jordan were stopped is one known for drug distribution. The men were arrested, advised of their Miranda rights from a card which Officer Pierce carries with him and placed in a cruiser. Jordan’s arrest was for conspiracy to violate the controlled substances law.

It had taken Officer Pierce about twenty seconds to drive from the crime scene to the area where he saw the two men. Two or three minutes elapsed from the time that Officer Pierce first saw the defendant and Williams until the time they were placed in the cruiser.

The two suspects were immediately brought back to the scene in a cruiser for purposes of a show-up before Melinda Robinson. This show-up occurred within ten or fifteen minutes of the time that Officer Pierce first stopped the defendant and Williams, less than an hour after the crime was committed, shortly before 4:45 p.m.

Prior to the show-up, Officer Walter Callahan told Ms. Robinson that a cruiser would be coming by with two people and that she should go onto her porch and see if she recognized anyone who got out of the cruiser. If so, she was to rub her head. Officer Callahan did not know who the two men were whom Officer Gaughan was bringing and he did not relay any specific information to Ms. Robinson other than the above directions. No other officer gave Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
4 Mass. L. Rptr. 197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-jordan-masssuperct-1995.