Opinion ID: 3162657
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Starling’s Trial

Text: The State’s primary witness was Gaines, who testified that he was with Starling and Richard Frink on the evening of the shooting. He testified that the three men were driving around Wilmington and that when they passed the barbershop, Frink saw Evans through the window. According to Gaines, Starling then exited the car, tucked a gun into his pants, and said he was going to “put in some work,” which Gaines interpreted to mean that Starling would shoot or fight 6 someone.5 Gaines testified that Starling was dressed in all dark clothing and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. According to Gaines, after fifteen minutes, Starling came back to the car where Gaines and Frink had remained and said, “I got him. I got him. I think I got a little boy, too.” 6 Gaines testified that Frink then drove Gaines home. Gaines also testified that Starling called him the evening of the shooting, because Starling was upset and wanted to talk. Gaines apparently took a taxi to meet Starling at the home of Vicki Miller, Starling’s girlfriend. Gaines testified that Starling “was a wreck” and mentioned shooting “a little boy.” 7 Starling’s brother Michael was present, and Gaines alleged that both he and Michael heard Starling say he was sorry for what he did to the boy. Michael drove Gaines home. At trial, the State introduced Michael’s statement to police detectives obtained during his interrogation on April 27, 2001.8 Several days earlier, Michael, who was twenty-three years old at the time, had been arrested and held in custody for six or seven hours before being released. 9 Then, on April 27, police came to Michael’s workplace and drove him to the station for questioning. The detectives took Michael’s cell phone, would not let him make phone calls, and 5 App. to Opening Br. at 532-33 (Trial Test. of A. Gaines, Oct. 16, 2003). 6 Id. at 535. 7 Id. at 536. 8 Id. at 582 (Trial Tr., Oct. 17, 2003). 9 Id. at 574-75 (Trial Test. of M. Starling, Oct. 17, 2003). 7 ignored his repeated requests for his mother. 10 Michael at first denied that his brother was involved in the shooting. The Detectives then threatened Michael with criminal charges and suggested that he could spend the rest of his life in jail for crimes he did not commit, 11 or in the alternative, obstruction of justice. 12 The police told Michael that his brother had confessed. They questioned Michael extensively, reiterating that everyone else’s story was the same, and told Michael repeatedly what they wanted him to say—that Starling said the night of the shooting he was sorry for what he did to the boy. 13 After being told he could see his mother and the questioning would end when he repeated the statement back, Michael finally told the detectives that Starling had said he was sorry for what he did to the boy. 14 The State introduced Michael’s statement at trial without 10 Id. at 574; id. at 313 (Interview of M. Starling, Apr. 27, 2001) (“Where’s my mom?”); id. at 326 (“Can I see my mom?”). 11 Id. at 284 (“[D]on’t get dragged into something [i.e. the barbershop shooting] that you weren’t there for [because] that’s what’s gonna happen.”); id. at 289, 291 (“The bottom line is don’t drag yourself down the sewer when you weren’t even there! Unless you want to get charged? I don’t think you’re that you know, you’re not that stupid are you? You don’t have to take a charge for something you didn’t do? Particularly when you don’t have to.”); id. at 294 (“Mike, you are a smart man, don’t throw your life away for something you weren’t involved in.”); id. at 1590 (Evidentiary Hr’g Tr., Test. of Det. Mullins, Nov. 29, 2012) (“Q. Did you or did Detective Sullivan threaten Michael with being criminally charged in connection with something he didn’t do? . . . A. Yeah I guess.”). 12 Id. at 285 (“You ever heard of obstruction of justice?”). 13 Id. at 289 (“I know what was said . . . but the bottom line is I need to hear it from you.”); id. at 294 (“It’s over with, . . . your brother made a very big mistake, he knows it, he’s sorry for it, no one intended for the little kid to get killed but it happened.”); id. at 302, 310, 317, 319, 320-21, 325, 326, 327, 332, 344. 14 App. to Opening Br. at 305, 332, 348-49. 8 objection and without a determination by the trial judge that the statement was voluntary. Shaylynn Flonnory, Evans’ girlfriend, made an in-court identification of Starling. She claimed that she was standing outside the barbershop right before the shooting and that she saw the shooter dressed in all black, including a black hooded sweatshirt, holding a gun. Flonnory testified that she saw the shooter’s eyes through the openings in the shooter’s mask. At trial, she identified Starling as the shooter based on his eyes. The jury convicted Starling on each count of the indictment on October 22, 2003. 15 On November 4, 2003, the jury concluded that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors and unanimously recommended the death penalty. The Superior Court agreed with this recommendation and sentenced Starling to death on June 10, 2004.16