Opinion ID: 2102311
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: State v. Evans

Text: In June of 1994, Officer Kenneth Rowell was involved with other members of the Baltimore City Police Department Violent Crimes Task Force in an undercover operation known as Operation Mid-East. The goal of Operation Mid-East was to identify and combat street-level drug transactions. In accordance with that goal, once the police had probable cause to believe a suspect had engaged in an illegal drug transaction, that suspect was not taken to the police station and processed. Instead, the police detained the suspect, ascertained the suspect's identity and address, performed an outstanding warrant check, conducted a search of the suspect's person, seized any drugs or currency, and, finally, released the suspect. The Baltimore City Police employed this procedure to protect the integrity of the ongoing undercover operation, later conducting a mass sweep of arrests of the suspects once the operation had concluded. [1] At 7:45 p.m. on June 9, 1994, Officer Rowell was involved in Operation Mid-East in the vicinity of Monument and Port Streets in Baltimore City. Officer Rowell had been outfitted with a Kel Set, or body wire. Although the record is not clear as to who approached whom, at that time a conversation took place between Officer Rowell and Respondent Dwight Evans. Rowell testified that he asked Evans if he was working and, if so, what Evans had. According to Officer Rowell, Evans responded that he had dimes of coke. Rowell requested a dime. Officer Rowell then accompanied Evans as the pair walked east on Monument Street. At that point, Rowell testified that Evans reached into his rear end, down inside his pants, removed the cocaine, [and] handed me one. In exchange, Officer Rowell handed Evans a ten dollar bill. The serial number of the currency had previously been photocopied by the police for the purpose of subsequent identification. After this transaction, the pair separated. Officer Rowell continued along Monument Street toward Milton Avenue. After Officer Rowell assured himself that no one was in the vicinity, he transmitted a description of Evans to a nearby identification team composed of task force members. Approximately five to ten minutes later, the team stopped Evans. Officer Rowell, who had entered his automobile and repeated his description of the suspect, drove by the area where Evans had been detained. Rowell confirmed that the person detained by the identification team was in fact the same individual from whom he had purchased the cocaine. After the confirmation of Evans's identity as the suspected drug dealer, a member or members of the technical team searched Evans. Because the identification team had difficulty locating any suspected controlled substances, someone again contacted Officer Rowell. Rowell indicated that Evans had taken the cocaine from his rear area. Based on this information, the identification team searched Evans again. The two searches eventually produced $163.00 in United States currency, including the ten dollar bill that Officer Rowell had earlier handed Evans, as well as nine green-topped vials containing cocaine. Evans was given a receipt for the seized money and photographed by the technical team. Police procedure pursuant to Operation Mid-East required that a suspect verify his or her identity before being released. Accordingly, the police called Evans's father, who came to the area and confirmed his son's identity. At that time, the police did not transport Evans to the police station, nor did they formally charge him, nor did they take Evans before a District Court Commissioner. Rather, the officers apparently followed an internal procedure whereby one of them completed a document entitled Investigated and Released. [2] Evans was then released. On July 5, 1994, the Grand Jury for Baltimore City indicted Evans on three counts: distribution of cocaine, in violation of Maryland Code (1957, 1996 Repl.Vol., 1998 Supp.) Article 27, § 286; [3] possession of cocaine with an intent to distribute, in violation of § 286; and possession of cocaine, in violation of § 287. Evans filed a motion to suppress all the evidence seized by the police. The suppression motion, heard in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City by Judge John N. Prevas, was based primarily on the ground that the nine vials of cocaine were not lawfully seized because Evans had not been arrested. The trial court denied the motion: I think that your use and the officer's use of the word arrest is a word of art at this point because basically it was a detention and [Evans] was not free to go until they secured his identification. So, it really was, in fact, an arrest for Fourth Amendment purposes. For Fourth Amendment purposes, it's not necessary that [Evans] be taken to the District Court Commissioner, given a statement of charges, and sent to a Commissioner for processing ... for bail in order for it to be an arrest. At trial, Evans was convicted of distribution of cocaine and possession of cocaine with an intent to distribute. Evans was sentenced to a term of incarceration of fourteen years, ten years without the possibility of parole, for distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and to a consecutive term of incarceration of five years for possession with an intent to distribute. Evans noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals.