State v. Angelo D. Gray

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedOctober 20, 2020
Docket2019AP001078-CR
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Angelo D. Gray (State v. Angelo D. Gray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Angelo D. Gray, (Wis. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. October 20, 2020 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Sheila T. Reiff petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2019AP1078-CR Cir. Ct. No. 2016CF837

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT I

STATE OF WISCONSIN,

PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT,

V.

ANGELO D. GRAY,

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

APPEAL from a judgment and an order of the circuit court for Milwaukee County: PEDRO COLON, Judge. Affirmed.

Before Brash, P.J., Dugan and White, JJ.

Per curiam opinions may not be cited in any court of this state as precedent

or authority, except for the limited purposes specified in WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(3).

¶1 PER CURIAM. Angelo D. Gray appeals his judgment of conviction for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, fleeing or eluding an officer, and first- No. 2019AP1078-CR

degree recklessly endangering safety. He also appeals the order denying his postconviction motion without a hearing. Gray asserts that certain statements by the prosecutor during closing arguments were improper, which constitutes plain error. Gray also contends that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to those comments.

¶2 Additionally, Gray asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a jury instruction addressing the absence of a recording of his police interview. He further claims counsel was ineffective for failing to inform the trial court1 at the time of sentencing about the length of his revocation sentence that had been imposed in a different case.

¶3 The trial court held that the prosecutor’s statements were reasonable; thus, there was no error, nor was trial counsel ineffective for failing to object. The court further found that Gray had not demonstrated that he was prejudiced by either the absence of the jury instruction or by the court’s lack of knowledge regarding the length of his revocation sentence. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶4 The charges against Gray stem from incidents that occurred in August 2015. Between August 25 and August 30, 2015, three vehicles were stolen at gunpoint from their owners at different locations in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa. On August 31, 2015, Milwaukee Police Officers spotted the second car that had been stolen—a white Nissan Rogue. The vehicle had a large dent on the driver’s side,

1 The Honorable Pedro Colon presided over Gray’s jury trial, imposed his sentence, and reviewed his postconviction motion. We refer to him generally as the trial court.

2 No. 2019AP1078-CR

which had been described by the victim, and the license plates on the vehicle did not match its make and model.

¶5 The officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver did not comply. Instead, the driver accelerated to sixty-five miles per hour on a street where the speed limit was thirty miles per hour. The vehicle veered in and out of oncoming traffic, then ran a red light, nearly colliding with another vehicle that had the right of way. The vehicle continued at a high rate of speed, disregarding stop signs and running several vehicles off the road. The vehicle was ultimately abandoned in a parking lot on Oakland Avenue.

¶6 Other responding officers conducted an interview of a man and a woman who were walking on the sidewalk not far from where the Nissan Rogue was abandoned. The man, later identified as Gray, was sweating and breathing heavily. The woman, Terrianna Carter, stated that Gray was her boyfriend. Carter told police that she was a passenger in the Nissan Rogue, and that Gray had picked her up to give her a ride to a friend’s house. She stated that when the police attempted to stop the vehicle, Gray began to drive fast to get away from them. At that point, she stated that she assumed the vehicle was stolen. Both Gray and Carter were taken into custody.

¶7 Gray made a custodial statement to police. He stated that he paid twenty dollars to an unknown drug user for the Nissan Rogue. He admitted to driving the Nissan during the high-speed chase, describing in “great detail” how he tried to elude the police and almost crashed into other vehicles.

¶8 Additionally, Gray admitted that a cell phone recovered from the Nissan Rogue was his. In examining the phone, police found several text message exchanges between Gray and Deonta Glover on August 25, 26, 27, and 28 that

3 No. 2019AP1078-CR

police believed referred to the theft of motor vehicles. Furthermore, their phone records indicated numerous communications between Gray and Glover around the times of all three armed robberies. Moreover, cell phone tower records reflected that both Gray’s and Glover’s phones were in the areas where the armed robberies took place at the times the vehicles were stolen, and both phones left those areas soon after the robberies.

¶9 Gray moved to suppress his statement to police on the ground that he had not been advised of his Miranda2 rights. At a hearing on the motion, Detective Michael Romeis of the Wauwatosa Police Department, who interviewed Gray while he was in custody, testified that he had advised Gray of his Miranda rights, and that Gray had agreed to waive his rights and talk about the case.

¶10 However, Detective Romeis also testified that the interview with Gray had inadvertently not been recorded. The detective explained that he had brought a recorder with him and intended to record the interview, but after the interview realized nothing had been recorded. He admitted that the failure to record the interview was likely due to “operator error[.]”

¶11 The trial court denied Gray’s motion, finding the detective’s testimony credible. The prosecutor broached the topic of whether WIS JI— CRIMINAL 180, which instructs the jury that it may “consider the absence of an audio or audio and visual recording of the interrogation in evaluating the evidence relating to the interrogation and the [defendant’s] statement in this case,” should be included in the jury instructions for the trial. The court declined to rule on that issue, stating that it did not “have to cross that bridge” at that time.

2 See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).

4 No. 2019AP1078-CR

¶12 The matter proceeded to trial at the end of October 2016. Glover testified on behalf of the State, specifically about the theft of the Nissan Rogue. Glover explained that Gray had contacted Glover, and told Glover that he needed a car. Gray and two other people picked up Glover and proceeded to drive past multiple gas stations until they found a car Gray wanted—the Nissan Rogue. Glover then got out of the car, stole the Nissan from its owner at gunpoint, and gave the Nissan to Gray, for which Gray paid Glover about $300.

¶13 Glover stated that during the robbery he wore a red and black jacket that Gray had given him. Glover further testified that he and Gray communicated on their cell phones by call and text before and during the robbery.

¶14 The owner of the Nissan Rogue, C.T., also testified. She stated that she had parked her car at a gas station at 68th Street and North Avenue in Wauwatosa. Prior to entering the gas station, she noticed an African American male pacing back and forth on a sidewalk nearby, talking on his cell phone. When she walked out of the gas station that male approached her, and as she tried to get into her vehicle, he “put a gun to [her] head” and ordered her to get out of the car.

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Angelo D. Gray, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-angelo-d-gray-wisctapp-2020.