196 A.3d 480
Md. Ct. Spec. App.2018Background
- On Jan. 7, 2016 a drug-sale rendezvous in a Lower Gate Court parking lot ended in a shootout; Treshawn Johnson died and Mancino Carpentieri was wounded. Two firearms recovered at scene had been fired; ballistics showed both victims were shot by the same (unrecovered) gun.
- Carlos Nicholson was arrested; police found marijuana, scales, sandwich bags, and text messages linking participants; Nicholson gave a post-Miranda statement describing an armed robbery at gunpoint during a drug sale, a struggle, and that he may have grabbed/used the victim’s gun.
- Nicholson was charged with first-degree murder (short-form indictment), attempted first-degree murder, weapons offenses, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to distribute.
- At trial Nicholson requested a self-defense instruction; the court refused. The jury acquitted him of first- and second-degree murder but convicted him of second-degree felony murder, possession with intent to distribute, and conspiracy.
- Nicholson appealed, arguing (1) the court erred by refusing a self-defense instruction, (2) possession-with-intent conviction rested on an uncorroborated confession, and (3) the short-form indictment did not properly charge second-degree felony murder.
Issues
| Issue | Nicholson's Argument | State's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on self-defense | Nicholson produced "some evidence" (his statement that he was robbed, shot at, struggled, grabbed a gun, and may have fired) sufficient to generate the instruction | Forensic evidence and parts of Nicholson’s statement contradicted self-defense; jury instruction not generated | Court erred: Nicholson’s statement and other evidence generated some evidence of self-defense, so instruction should have been given |
| Whether error in refusing self-defense instruction was reversible | Error prejudiced verdict because it related to homicide charges | Self-defense is not a defense to felony murder; Nicholson was acquitted of non-felony-murder counts | Harmless error: any error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because self-defense does not apply to felony murder |
| Sufficiency of evidence for possession with intent to distribute (corroboration of confession) | Conviction rests on uncorroborated confession and must be reversed; reversal would affect felony-murder predicate | Confession corroborated by texts, eyewitnesses, physical evidence (scales, bags, marijuana), and circumstantial facts of the drug transaction | Held: Evidence (confession + corroboration) was sufficient to support possession-with-intent conviction |
| Sufficiency of short-form indictment to charge second-degree felony murder | Short-form indictment did not specifically charge second-degree felony murder; so submission to jury was improper | Short-form statutory indictment charges all varieties of murder/manslaughter; it sufficed to support felony-murder submission | Held: Short-form indictment under Crim. Law §2-208 is sufficient to charge second-degree felony murder |
Key Cases Cited
- Arthur v. State, 420 Md. 512 (defendant need only produce "some evidence" to generate self-defense instruction)
- State v. Faulkner, 301 Md. 482 (elements of perfect and imperfect self-defense)
- Dishman v. State, 352 Md. 279 (short-form indictment charges multiple varieties of homicide)
- Miller v. State, 380 Md. 1 (conviction cannot rest solely on uncorroborated confession)
- Sutton v. State, 139 Md. App. 412 (self-defense is not a defense to felony murder)
- Fisher v. State, 367 Md. 218 (felony-murder doctrine and inherently dangerous felony analysis)