Wright v. State

233 A.3d 302, 247 Md. App. 216
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJuly 31, 2020
Docket0733/19
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 233 A.3d 302 (Wright 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
Wright v. State, 233 A.3d 302, 247 Md. App. 216 (Md. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

D’Angelo Wright v. State of Maryland, No. 733, September Term, 2019, Opinion by Raker, J.

CRIMINAL LAW – FLIGHT OR SURRENDER

CRIMINAL LAW – FLIGHT OR REFUSAL TO FLEE

When the sole issue at trial is the identity of the criminal actor, a trial court may give a pattern jury instruction on flight provided that it does not imply that the identity issue is settled. Circuit Court for Baltimore City Case No. 117144002

REPORTED

IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS

OF MARYLAND

No. 733

September Term, 2019 ______________________________________

D’ANGELO WRIGHT

v.

STATE OF MARYLAND ______________________________________

Kehoe, Beachley, Raker, Irma S. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned),

JJ. ______________________________________

Opinion by Raker, J. ______________________________________

Filed: July 31, 2020

Pursuant to Maryland Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (§§ 10-1601 et seq. of the State Government Article) this document is authentic.

Suzanne Johnson 2020-12-21 15:53-05:00

Suzanne C. Johnson, Clerk Appellant D’Angelo Wright was convicted in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City

of attempted first-degree murder, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, and wear, carry,

and transport of a handgun. Appellant presents the following questions for our review:

“1. Did the trial court abuse its discretion by allowing Detective Greenfield to identify Mr. Wright in photographs and surveillance footage even though he was not substantially familiar with Mr. Wright?

2. Did the trial court err in giving a flight instruction where the sole contested issue was the identity of the person who committed the crime and fled the scene?

3. Did the trial court commit plain error by allowing the prosecutor to improperly argue highly prejudicial facts that were not in evidence during closing argument?”

Finding no error, we shall affirm.

I.

Appellant was indicted by the Grand Jury for Baltimore City for attempted first-

degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree

assault, reckless endangerment, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, wear, carry, and

transport of a handgun, and discharge of a firearm within city limits. A jury convicted him

of attempted first-degree murder, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, and wear, carry,

and transport of a handgun. The court sentenced him to a term of incarceration of forty

years, suspended all but twenty-five years, and three years probation for attempted first- degree murder and a consecutive term of fifteen years, the first five years without parole,

for use of a firearm in a crime of violence.1

The following facts were presented at trial. On April 11, 2017, Eric Tate, III was

playing a game of dice with some people. The surveillance video from a nearby Dollar

Shop showed an altercation between Mr. Tate and a man in a red hat, whom he claimed

was appellant, over a dispute about the game. The man lost his hat during the altercation

and ran away. The video showed two men approach Mr. Tate, one of whom shot him. Mr.

Tate testified initially that he did not know the identity of the assailant because he was shot

from behind, but later testified that it was appellant. The video showed the assailant flee

after the shooting. Police did not recover a weapon, gun residue, or fingerprints from the

scene.

Prior to trial, defense counsel moved in limine to exclude the testimony of Detective

Eric Greenfield. Detective Greenfield had identified appellant as the suspect in the

shooting after recognizing appellant’s face in the still images attached to an “attempt to

identify” (BOLO) email circulated by Detective Andre Parker. The State wanted Detective

Greenfield to testify because of concerns with Mr. Tate’s credibility.2 Defense counsel

argued that Detective Greenfield was not a witness to the crime and was not familiar

enough with appellant to identify him.

1 For sentencing purposes, the court merged the conviction for wear, carry, and transport of a handgun with the conviction for use of a firearm in a crime of violence. 2 The court found that Mr. Tate was feigning memory loss for certain details surrounding the shooting. Based on this finding, the court allowed the State to play Detective Parker’s videotaped interview with Mr. Tate. 2 In response, the State noted that Detective Greenfield worked as an intelligence

officer in the Office of the Chief Patrol for almost two years and tracked gang activity in

appellant’s neighborhood. He knew appellant from social media posts, including photos,

that he tracked as part of his job and from two in-person interactions with appellant lasting

“anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes” in the first half of 2016. The State argued that

Detective Greenfield was sufficiently familiar with appellant’s appearance to offer his

identification as a lay witness and that it was up to the jury to decide what weight to give

to the identification. The court denied appellant’s motion in limine, explaining as follows:

“The Court is satisfied that Mr. Greenfield’s knowledge of [appellant] is not just based on one interaction but in fact he does have the kind of knowledge that [Md.] Rule 5-701 was created for.

In Moreland v. State[, 207 Md. App. 563, 53 A.3d 449 (2012)], the Court of Special Appeals indicates that . . . Rule 5-701 . . . allow[s] lay witnesses to testify to things such as the appearance of persons or things, identity, the manner of conduct, competency of a person, degrees of light or darkness, sound, size, weight, distance, and an endless number of terms that can not be described factually in words apart from other inferences. That’s precisely what Mr. Greenfield is able to assist the jury with.

. . . [W]hat the Court will allow . . . Mr. Greenfield to testify to is that [appellant] is the person in the video. . . . He won’t be able to say that[] [appellant is] the person that did the shooting but he can say that’s the person on the video.”

During Detective Greenfield’s testimony at trial, the State sought to admit a still

photo of a man in a red hat, which was taken from the surveillance video footage of a

restaurant near the Dollar Shop about one hour before the shooting and used in the BOLO

poster that Detective Greenfield responded to. Defense counsel objected as follows:

3 “[THE STATE]: I’m going to show you what’s been marked as State’s Exhibit No. 22.

***

Take a moment and review that. Are you familiar with what’s been marked as State’s Exhibit No. 22?

[DETECTIVE GREENFIELD]: Yes, ma’am.

[THE STATE]: And what is that?

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, we would object to this. I’m just asking the Court to note our prior objection in the motions hearing in regards to this issue. Just put it in there for the record.”

A bench conference ensued as follows:

“THE COURT: What is it? I don’t know what she’s showing him?

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: The still photograph that was presented at the motions hearing.

THE COURT: . . . All right, your objection is noted for the record.”

The court admitted the photo into evidence, and defense counsel did not object to Detective

Greenfield’s testimony that the man in the photo was appellant.

The State subsequently sought to admit the surveillance video as a separate exhibit,

and defense counsel objected as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Wright v. State
255 A.3d 73 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2021)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
233 A.3d 302, 247 Md. App. 216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-state-mdctspecapp-2020.