Opinion ID: 2785665
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Murder and Bloody Pants Evidence

Text: On December 11, 2008, around 8:00 a.m., in the District of Columbia, Butler and Lewis forcefully entered the home of Franklin Johnson, a known drug 3 dealer, in an attempted robbery. The home, a short drive away from Prince George’s County Hospital, was occupied by Johnson; the sister of Johnson’s girlfriend, Donna Galloway; Johnson’s one-year-old child; and two other children, J.B. (age five), and L.B. (age six). Butler and Lewis, wearing black masks covering all but their eyes, forced their way into the home. Once inside, the men began shooting, killing Johnson and wounding J.B. Butler was also shot in his leg during the encounter. Forensic analysis revealed that Johnson was shot ten times at close range, and the bullets recovered were consistent with having been fired by two guns. Butler and Lewis fled the scene in a burgundy mini-van with Georgia tags. At 8:37 a.m., Butler was admitted to Prince George’s County Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to his leg. During the course of treatment, the Hospital staff removed his pants and placed them in a hospital biohazard bag by Butler’s bed. Pursuant to Maryland law, see Md. Code Ann., Health–Gen. § 20-703, the Hospital staff contacted the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD) to report the “walk-in shooting victim” and two PGPD detectives responded to the Hospital to investigate the shooting. During the investigation, Butler presented different accounts of how he had been shot, first claiming to be a victim of a robbery and then that he had been shot by his friend’s 4 boyfriend. As a result, the investigation was transferred back and forth between the first PGPD detectives to respond and the PGPD robbery suppression team. PGPD investigators ultimately asked Butler to join them in canvassing the area of the alleged crime. While Butler was in the process of being discharged, PGPD Detective Gurry retrieved the bag of clothes by Butler’s bed, walked to the car, and placed the bag in the trunk of the car. Detective Gurry then drove to the entrance of the Hospital and Detective Pettus came out pushing Butler in a wheelchair. Although Butler claims that he twice asked for his clothes back, the trial court did not credit this testimony.1 For over one and one-half hours the detectives canvassed the area of Butler’s alleged encounter, but Butler was not able to direct the detectives to the scene of the alleged shooting. Finally, the detectives drove Butler to the PGPD District III station, where he was picked up by Lavangela Smith, the woman who had rented the burgundy mini-van used in the get-away and with whom Butler lived and had an intimate relationship. PGPD detectives logged Butler’s clothes into PGPD property, where they remained until the following day when they were released to the homicide detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) who were investigating the D.C. 1 The trial court’s finding regarding Butler’s testimony is important to our discussion, infra, of the detectives’ lawful access to Butler’s clothing with regard to the plain view doctrine. 5 murder. On December 14, 2008, Butler was arrested, pursuant to a warrant, in connection with the murder of Johnson. Later, in 2009, DNA testing of Butler’s pants revealed the presence of Butler’s blood and Johnson’s blood. On February 12, 2009, Lewis was also arrested. B. Obstruction of Justice and Perjury Convictions There was evidence that Butler had asked appellant Sheffield to provide an alibi. On December 11, at 12:45 a.m. there were two calls between Butler and Sheffield. Then, at 4:38 p.m. Sheffield texted appellant Butler’s cousin, Tarik Butler, “I guess use me but its ok I’m a soldier.” Later that night there was a third call between appellant Butler and Sheffield. Additionally, Damon White, a government jail house informant, testified that Butler told him that he had spoken with two sisters, appellant Sheffield and Keisha Sheffield, who were going to testify before the grand jury on his behalf. Keisha Sheffield later testified before the grand jury that Butler had asked her and her sister to provide an alibi by testifying that they all were at a club together at the time of the murder. On December 13, 2008, MPD detectives contacted appellant Sheffield and asked her to come to their headquarters for an interview. Sheffield voluntarily 6 provided a videotaped statement in which she asserted that the night before the murder she had driven Butler to her home in Riverdale, Maryland around 11:45 p.m., and that Butler had remained with her until he left the next morning, around 9:30 a.m. On October 15, 2009, Sheffield repeated this assertion before a grand jury, maintaining this account despite being presented with evidence establishing that at 8:37 a.m. on December 11, 2008, Butler was at Prince George’s County Hospital being treated for his gunshot wound. C. Brady Disclosures and Young Rebuttal At trial Butler introduced a stipulation explaining that on December 11, 2008, six-year-old L.B.—an eyewitness to Johnson’s shooting—told police that he recognized one of the assailants as “Gangsta,” whom he had previously seen with the decedent in the Parkwood area, but that this information was not disclosed to the defense until April 8, 2011. The stipulation also stated that L.B.’s description of Gangsta was disclosed on April 21, 2011, and that L.B.’s videotaped statement was disclosed on April 28, 2011. On June 3, 2011, after trial had begun, the government notified the defense that police had discovered a man named Gary Young, Jr., who went by the nickname “Gangsta” and was an associate of Johnson at the time of his death. The government called Young and, with the court’s 7 permission, asked him to put on the black ski mask recovered from Lewis and stand next to a redacted photo of Lewis wearing the black mask, to show that the two men looked similar and that L.B. could easily have confused one man for the other.