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Bowie v. Maryland9/11/1991
Damon Alejandro-Christopher Bowie, appellant, was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County of two counts each of: first degree murder; attempted murder; assault with intent to murder; malicious shooting; and robbery with a deadly weapon. He was also convicted of related counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a felony or crime of violence. The State having timely given notice of its intention to seek the death penalty and/or imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole, see Maryland Code Ann. art. 27, § 412(b) (1957, 1987 Repl.Vol.1990 Cum.Supp.), appellant elected to be sentenced by the jury. Following a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury determined that a sentence of death should be imposed for each of the first degree murder convictions. Thereafter, the trial court imposed the death sentences and, in addition, sentenced appellant to additional terms of incarceration totaling 120 years.
On this appeal, appellant presented 12 issues, of which we need address only four, namely:
1. Did the trial court err in refusing to propound voir dire questions designed to identify jurors who would give more weight to the testimony of police officers than civilians or to State's witnesses and defense witnesses?
2. Did the trial court err in refusing to propound a requested voir dire question relating to the possible racial bias of the prospective jurors?
3. Did the trial court conduct an inadequate jury selection procedure with respect to the views of the prospective jurors on the death penalty?
4. Did the trial court err in its sentencing-phase instructions to the jury?
We will reverse and remand to the Circuit Court for Prince George's County for a new trial.
The issues we find dispositive of this appeal do not require a detailed recitation of the facts as developed in the trial below. It is, for our purposes, sufficient to note that appellant and James Edmonds, his accomplice, both armed with handguns, entered Stoney's Restaurant located on Old Branch Avenue in Prince George's County, Maryland and announced a robbery. Another accomplice, Darrell Thomas, acted as a lookout, remaining outside the restaurant on the parking lot. Yet another of appellant's companions, Shaun Harris, who testified on behalf of the State in return for use and derivative use immunity, was a short distance away,
with Christian Bowie, appellant's sister, in the truck in which appellant was travelling. During the robbery, a bartender was forced into a back room and turned money over to Edmonds. Two other restaurant employees, Kevin Shelley, who was white, and Arnold Batson, who was African-American, were forced to lay face down on the floor. Each was fatally shot in the back of the head. The owner of the restaurant was shot in the arm and an off-duty Prince George's County police officer, Robert McDaniels, was shot in the face. Appellant was identified by McDaniels as the person who shot him in the face and held the gun to the back of Batson's head.
Additional facts will be supplied as they become relevant to the discussion of the issues.
1.
Among the questions that appellant submitted to the trial court for inclusion in its voir dire examination were the following:
1. Many of the State's witnesses will be police officers. Do you believe that a police officer will tell the truth merely because he or she is a police officer?
2. Would any of you be more or less likely to believe a police officer than a civilian witness, solely because he or she is a police officer?
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