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

Heading: State v. Sykes-Bey

Text: Several months before the incident that led to the arrest of Respondent Evans, Officer Rowell was teamed with Officer Denise Wilkes. The pair assisted other members of the Baltimore City Police Department Violent Crimes Task Force in executing Operation Midway, an undercover drug sting set up in much the same manner as that of Operation Mid-East. The remaining members of the police task force were divided into two groups: surveillance officers in a van who would videotape transactions involving Rowell and Wilkes, and an arrest team, or identification team, that identified and searched the suspects after the occurrence of a suspected drug transaction. On February 16, 1994, Officers Rowell and Wilkes went to the vicinity of Barclay and 24th Streets in Baltimore City to buy illegal drugs. Wilkes was told by the surveillance team to approach a man, later identified as Lorenzo Meeks, who was standing on the corner of Barclay and 24th Streets. Officer Wilkes asked Meeks if he was working, to which Meeks responded, What you want? Wilkes replied, I want some coke. Meeks declared that his inventory consisted only of readily smokeable rock or crack cocaine, as opposed to powder cocaine. [4] By this point, Respondent Charles Sykes-Bey had joined Meeks and Officer Wilkes. Meeks either stated to or inquired of Sykes-Bey, You got powder. Officer Wilkes was then asked how much powder cocaine she wanted; Wilkes answered that she wanted two dimes. Sykes-Bey retorted, Oh no, I thought she wanted some weight, I ain't going to go out and dig in no bag for no dime. [5] Officer Wilkes, now joined by Officer Rowell, indicated to Sykes-Bey that she couldn't afford to buy weight; hence, she decided instead to purchase two dimes of rock cocaine from Meeks. Apparently dissatisfied by this turn of events in the competitive marketplace, Sykes-Bey commented, Thanks a lot for nothing. After the purchase, Officers Wilkes and Rowell walked away from Meeks and Sykes-Bey. Officer Wilkes transmitted a description of both Meeks and Sykes-Bey to the surveillance team, describing the latter as the guy in the purple with black tennis shoes on and blue hoodieall he is dealing is weight. Based on this description, surveillance team Officer Thomas Marucci ordered identification team Officer David Brendel to stop and detain Sykes-Bey. Officer Brendel stopped Sykes-Bey as instructed, and ascertained his identity, address, and birth date. Officer Brendel then searched Sykes-Bey and seized $134.00 in United States currency. Officer Brendel photographed the suspect and wrote Sykes-Bey a receipt for the seized currency. The officer then released Sykes-Bey. In the meantime, another officer or officers had detained and searched Meeks and recovered the marked money Officer Wilkes had given Meeks in exchange for the two dimes of cocaine, as well as twenty-four baggies of cocaine. In addition, Officer Robert Maglia had recovered a plastic bag containing eleven vials of cocaine from behind a billboard that Sykes-Bey had located immediately before handing an unidentified object to an unidentified woman. [6] On March 14, 1994, the Grand Jury for Baltimore City returned a three count indictment against Sykes-Bey: attempted distribution of cocaine, in violation of § 286; possession of cocaine with an intent to distribute, in violation of § 286; and possession of cocaine, in violation of § 287. Claiming the currency seized by Officer Brendel was the product of an unlawful search, Sykes-Bey filed a motion to suppress that evidence. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City denied that motion. As in Evans, Judge Prevas rejected the argument that the search of Sykes-Bey was constitutionally infirm because it did not follow a lawful arrest. Sykes-Bey was tried by a jury. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on any of the three charges and Judge Prevas declared a mistrial. Subsequently, Sykes-Bey was charged by criminal information with three additional counts for the incident arising on February 16, 1994: conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to possess cocaine with an intent to distribute, and conspiracy to possess cocaine, all in violation of § 290. Sykes-Bey was convicted by a jury on all six counts. The trial court sentenced Sykes-Bey to an eighteen year term of imprisonment, ten years without the possibility of parole, for possession of cocaine with an intent to distribute and to two concurrent eighteen year terms of incarceration for attempted distribution of cocaine and for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. [7] Sykes-Bey noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals.