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168 Md. App. 22

895 A.2d 339

Fields v. State

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Decided March 30, 2006

This page is marked noindex.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland · decided 2006-03-30

Cited by 14 later decisions — most recently April 2017

14 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“The State called Detective Canales and questioned him about what he found at the bowling alley when he responded to the call of a shooting and what evidence he collected at the scene. Detective Canales testified that he saw names on the screens at the bowling lanes and wrote all of them down on a piece of paper. The prosecutor argued that the appellant’s nickname, “Sat Dogg,” on the screen at lane 22 was one of several items of evidence at the crime scene that linked the appellant to the scene — including a sweater with his DNA on it, casings from a gun that was under his bed, and a car that looked like his car. The prosecutor did not attempt to use the evidence of the words “Sat Dogg” on the screen at the bowling alley to show that a known declarant believed the appellant was present there, had reason to accurately hold that belief, and therefore was impliedly asserting that factual proposition by entering his nickname on the screen. Unlike the probative value of the medical bill in Berna, dyn, supra, the probative value of the evidence that the appellant’s name was on the television screen did not depend upon the belief of the person who typed the name on the screen, or upon the accuracy of that person’s belief. The prosecutor did not argue that the person who entered the name “Sat Dogg” on the screen only would have done so if he or she believed that the appellant was present in the bowling alley. Indeed, there was no evidence about that person’s belief, because the person”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 198 Md. App. 1 - Fair v. State

“The prosecutor did not attempt to use the evidence of the words “Sat Dogg” on the screen at the bowling alley to show that a known declarant believed [Fields] was present there, had reason to accurately hold that belief, and therefore was impliedly asserting that factual proposition by entering his nickname on the screen. [T]he probative value of the evidence that [Fields’s] name was on the television screen did not depend upon the belief of the person who typed the name on the screen, or upon the accuracy of that person’s belief. The prosecutor did not argue that the person who entered the name “Sat Dogg” on the screen only would have done so if he or she believed that [Fields] was present in the bowling alley. Indeed, there was no evidence about that person’s belief, because the person was not identified. The prosecutor argued only that the crime scene included a bowling lane with the name “Sat Dogg” written above it. [Fields’s] name on the television screen in the bowling alley was not an implied assertion of the factual proposition that [Fields] was present at the bowling alley[.] Because the evidence was not an “assertion,” under Rule 5-801(a), it was not a “statement” under that subsection and hence was not hearsay under Rule 5-801(c). It was admissible non-hearsay evidence. Accordingly, the trial court’s evidentiary ruling was not in error.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 196 Md. App. 212 - Carpenter v. State

Relies on Bernadyn v. State · Stoddard v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2006-03-30

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

KENNEY, J.

¶1Having reconsidered the hearsay issue in this case in light of the Court of Appeals decision in Bernadyn v. State, 390 Md. 1, 887 A.2d 602 (2005), the majority has concluded that Detective Canales’s handwritten list showing that the name “Sat Dogg” appeared on the television screen at bowling lane 22 is not hearsay. That conclusion is reached by treating the evidence as an item of circumstantial crime evidence from which reasonable jurors could infer that the appellant was present in the bowling alley on the night of the shooting. In other words, the evidence is merely “non-assertive circumstantial crime scene evidence” like the “sweater with [appellant’s] DNA on it, casings from a gun that were under [appellant’s] bed, and a car that looked like [appellant’s] car.” Maj. op. at 37, 895 A.2d at 348. In light of Bernadyn, I am persuaded that the evidence is hearsay and, therefore, I must respectfully dissent.

¶2Evidence must be evaluated in the context of what is sought to be proved. Here, the State seeks to prove that appellant was the person who shot Bussey, Davis, and Eborn at a bowling alley on the night in question. Appellant denies that he did and that he was even present at the bowling alley on that night. In its determination, the majority relies heavily on the prosecutor’s response to appellant’s objection that “this evidence is being offered to show what names were on the screens as observed by Detective Canales when on the scene.” Clearly, the only name on any of the screens that is of any *49consequence in the context of this trial is the name “Sat Dogg,” appellant’s somewhat unusual nickname. Its presence on the lane 22 screen has little, if any, relevance except as an implied assertion that someone known as “Sat Dogg” was bowling on lane 22 on the night in question. But, even assuming that the evidence might be properly introduced for the limited purpose of demonstrating what names Detective Canales observed on the screen, there is no indication that the admission was limited to that purpose or that the trial court saw any need to do so. Bernadyn, 390 Md. at 15, 887 A.2d 602. The trial court admitted the evidence based on its understanding that the evidence did not constitute hearsay because it was not intended as an assertion. That understanding, which was not necessarily limited to the trial court, was rendered incorrect by Stoddard v. State, 389 Md. 681, 887 A.2d 564 (2005).

¶3That the “prosecutor argued only that the crime scene included a bowling lane with the name ‘Sat Dogg’ written above it,” Majority Opinion at 37, 895 A.2d at 348, is belied by the prosecutor’s argument. The purpose of the evidence, and I would suggest only relevance, is apparent in the State’s closing argument. After acknowledging that, when Detective Canales arrived at the scene he did not know anything about “who Saturio Fields was, who Sat Dogg was,” the prosecutor argued: “What about the name on the television monitor? Connection to the crime scene. There was testimony about how it got there, how the names got up there. And we know that the Defendant has a nickname Sat Dogg. We know it. How do we know it? [a witness] said so. We have the tattoo on [the appellant’s] arm to show it. Where was the name Sat Dogg? Lane 22.”

¶4Stoddardand Bernadynlead me to conclude that the evidence at issue cannot be treated merely as circumstantial evidence from which a fact finder might conclude that appellant was present at the bowling alley on the night of the incident, a fact that appellant denies. The shell casings, the sweater, and the vehicle, which point to appellant (but possibly could have been present at the scene as a result of the actions *50of a third person), are evidentiary dots that were connected by other evidence. On the other hand, the name “Sat Dogg” on the television monitor, standing alone, has no purpose except to assert that appellant was obviously present and bowling on Lane 22 on the night in question. Its probative value is dependent on an unknown scribe’s belief that one of the bowlers on lane 22 was “Sat Dogg,” and the accuracy of that belief.

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