Martin v. State

922 A.2d 598, 174 Md. App. 510, 2007 Md. App. LEXIS 70
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMay 3, 2007
Docket2146, September Term, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 922 A.2d 598 (Martin v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martin v. State, 922 A.2d 598, 174 Md. App. 510, 2007 Md. App. LEXIS 70 (Md. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

DAVIS, J.

Appellant, Quinnel Martin, was tried and convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (Dugan, J.) of robbery. On November 17, 2005, the court sentenced appellant to eight years imprisonment, suspending all but eighteen months, accompanied with three years of supervised probation. Appellant noted a timely appeal, presenting the following questions for our review: 1

1. Was the evidence legally sufficient to sustain a conviction for robbery where the prosecution failed to show that appellant used threat of force to obtain property?

2. Did the trial court err when it refused to clarify and supplement a jury instruction upon a critical issue?

3. Did the trial court err in its jury instructions that excluded a defense at issue?

4. Did the trial court err when it substituted an erroneous statement of the law in the jury instructions?

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

During the course of the trial, the alleged victim, Eric Turner, testified that, on May 1, 2005, he left his home at 422 Ritchie Parkway, Rockville, Maryland, to walk his pit bull dog. Pausing to speak to one of his neighbors, Alfred Smith, Turner stated that appellant jumped out from behind a parked car wielding a baseball bat. Appellant accused Turner of *514 stealing $150 from him in a botched drug buy and demanded that his money be returned. Turner informed appellant and Smith that they had the wrong person. Appellant told Turner that he would strike him with the bat if he did not give him the money. This exchange continued for approximately ten minutes until Turner eventually relented, surrendering all of the approximately $100 he had in his pocket.

Turner testified that appellant, not satisfied with the amount taken, demanded to be paid the balance of the alleged $150 debt. Turner thereupon told appellant that he had more money at his house that he could give him. Accompanied by appellant and Smith, Turner returned to his home, where he instructed his wife, Gail Turner, to “[s]end me down some money! Send me down some money!” According to Turner, while he waited for his wife to have his son bring the money to him, appellant stood in the front yard of the home and Smith stood on the porch with him.

Gail Turner testified that she was bringing dishes in from their barbecue dinner when her husband yelled to her that he needed the money. She was not made aware of the seriousness of the situation until her husband indicated that there were two men with him, one with a bat and the other with a knife. At her husband’s direction, she called 911 and told them that two men were trying to beat up her husband. 2 Appellant and Smith left the residence after receiving the additional $50.

Appellant’s version of the events differed sharply from that of Turner. He testified that Turner had stolen $150 from him in a sham drug transaction. He attempted unsuccessfully' to recover the money from Turner. Consequently, appellant and Smith walked to Turner’s house to retrieve the money. En route, they saw Turner walking his dog in the neighborhood. Frightened by the dog, appellant broke off a branch from a nearby tree to protect himself from the dog. He stated that he requested that Turner return the “stolen money.” Appel *515 lant testified that he stated, “If you don’t give me my money, I’m going to hit you with this stick.” 3 Turner gave appellant approximately $100 and all three men returned to Turner’s home, where Turner gave appellant an additional $50.

Appellant’s counsel had contemplated raising as a defense to the charges that appellant lacked the intent to steal from Turner because he was recovering his own money, ie., the claim of right defense. Appellant’s counsel proposed jury instructions to support this claim, which were summarily rejected by the court.

During deliberations, the jury sent several notes to the court. One note asked, “Does it matter whether the victim felt threatened for there to be a threat of force?” The court declined to answer the question, instead instructing the jury to rely on the instructions previously given.

LEGAL ANALYSIS

I

SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE

Appellant contends that the State failed to satisfy the burden of proof necessary to establish a robbery conviction. Specifically, appellant contends that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to intimidate or intimidated Turner, which is a prerequisite of a robbery conviction. In his brief, appellant attempts to rationalize the jury verdict and any implications arising therefrom by commenting on what testimony the jury found more credible. We disagree and explain.

“Generally, if there are evidentiary facts sufficiently supporting the inference made by the trial court, the appellate court defers to the fact-finder instead of examining the record *516 for additional facts upon which a conflicting inference could have been made, and then conducting its own weighing of the conflicting inferences to resolve independently any conflicts it perceives to exist. The resolving of the conflicting evidentiary inferences is for the fact-finder.” State v. Smith, 374 Md. 527, 547-48, 823 A.2d 664 (2003). We must observe three important principles in our analysis:

(1) we must give great deference to the trier of facts’ opportunity to assess the credibility of witnesses, weigh the evidence, and resolve conflicts in the evidence, (2) circumstantial evidence alone can provide a sufficient basis upon which a trier of fact can rest its determination of guilt, even for first degree murder, and (3) we do not re-weigh the evidence or substitute our own judgment, but only determine whether the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence to convince the trier of fact of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Pinkney v. State, 151 Md.App. 311, 329, 827 A.2d 124 (2003).

Robbery has been defined “as the felonious taking and carrying away of the personal property of another, from his person or in his presence, by violence or putting in fear ... or, more succinctly, as larceny from the person, accompanied by violence or putting in fear....” West v. State, 312 Md. 197, 202, 539 A.2d 231 (1988) (internal citations omitted). The “putting in fear” aspect of that definition is of particular relevance to the instant case. The Court of Appeals explained the requisite level of fear in Coles v. State, 374 Md. 114, 821 A.2d 389 (2003).

In Coles, the Court was tasked with determining if there was sufficient evidence to affirm a robbery conviction of an appellant accused of robbing the same bank three different times.

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Bluebook (online)
922 A.2d 598, 174 Md. App. 510, 2007 Md. App. LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-state-mdctspecapp-2007.