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Jeffries v. State1/29/1997
With respect to one of the convictions in this case, the appellant has a contention that, on its surface and in a purely technical sense, appears to have significant substance. As presented to us, however, it is a contention riddled with procedural flaws and inadequacies. The stakes on this issue are admittedly high. The conviction in question is for murder in the first degree. The sentence is one of life imprisonment. It must be remembered, however, that the stakes are correspondingly high for both sides of the trial table. In part because of the procedural inadequacies, the appellant will not be permitted to prevail on this issue. Although it is unlikely to soothe the appellant's sense of grievance, it nevertheless behooves a court occasionally to articulate the underlying philosophy that animates appellate review in situations such as this.
When due process demands, the law will reverse the conviction of an undisputed and cold-blooded killer even on a technicality, because it must. A critical component of that principle, however, is the qualifying clause "because it must." It is not with any sense of satisfaction that a court reverses on a technicality. When it does so, it does so reluctantly and with heavy heart, and only because it must. The philosophical converse is that when the procedural posture of an issue makes a reversal on a technicality a consequence that is not compelled but only gratuitously permitted, a court is frequently not motivated to be thus gratuitous.
There is a vast philosophical, as well as legal, distinction between due process and gratuitous process. There are procedural requirements that must be satisfied before process literally becomes due. For a reviewing court to overlook a precondition for review or to interpret loosely a procedural requirement, on the other hand, is an indulgence in favor of a defendant that is purely gratuitous. Even those who are indisputably factually guilty are entitled to due process. By contrast, only instances of truly outraged innocence call for the act of grace of extending gratuitous process. This appeal is not a case of outraged innocence qualifying for an act of grace.
The appellant, Deangelo Karlous Jeffries, was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Judge DeLawrence Beard presiding, of first-degree felony-murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of the use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, armed carjacking, and conspiracy to commit armed carjacking. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a total of two life terms plus one hundred years. On appeal, he raises the following issues:
1. Was the appellant improperly convicted of felony-murder when the underlying felony, armed carjacking, was not a specifically enumerated felony under section 410 of Article 27 at the time of the offense?
2. Did the trial court err in allowing the appellant's tee-shirt to be admitted into evidence?
3. Did the trial court err in permitting testimony about an unrelated gunshot wound of the appellant?
4. Did the trial court err in allowing the admission of hearsay testimony?
5. Did the trial court err in failing to suppress the appellant's statement as involuntary?
6. Did the trial court err in rejecting the appellant's Batson challenge?
Factual Background
The incident giving rise to this appeal was an unsuccessful carjacking that occurred in the early morning hours of September 9, 1994. At the time of the incident, Corporal Diane McCarthy of the Montgomery County Police Department was on break, having coffee with a friend on the third floor of the Wheaton Metro parking garage. At app
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