Preview:

State of Maryland v. Edward Charles Stouffer No. 28, Sept. Term, 1998

Kidnapping -- separate conviction permissible when asportation is not merely incidental to commission of another crime.

Circuit Court for Washington County Criminal Trials No. 18744

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND

No. 28 September Term, 1998 ______________________________________

STATE OF MARYLAND

v.

EDWARD CHARLES STOUFFER

______________________________________ Bell, C.J. Eldridge Rodowsky Chasanow Raker Wilner Cathell, JJ. ______________________________________ Opinion by Wilner, J. ______________________________________ Filed: December 9, 1998

This case arises out of the killing of Jeffrey Fiddler on February 26-27, 1989. Respondent Edward Stouffer was convicted of felony murder and kidnapping, the kidnapping being the underlying felony for the felony murder. A co-defendant, William Burral, who was tried separately and whose appeal is currently pending in this Court, was convicted of second degree murder. The Court of Special Appeals concluded that, although there was legally sufficient evidence to sustain Stouffer's conviction for kidnapping, there was insufficient evidence to establish that the killing was committed in the perpetration or course of the kidnapping. It thus affirmed the kidnapping judgment but reversed the judgment for felony murder. Stouffer v. State, 118 Md. App. 590, 703 A.2d 861 (1997). We granted the State's petition for certiorari to review the reversal of the felony murder judgment and Stouffer's cross-petition to review the affirmance of the kidnapping judgment. We shall affirm the Court of Special Appeals as to the kidnapping and reverse as to the felony murder, thereby sustaining the judgments entered by the circuit court.

BACKGROUND This was not an easy case for the police to put together. Six years elapsed between the time Fiddler was murdered and the time Stouffer and Burral were indicted. Most of the people interviewed by the police and most of the non-police witnesses who ultimately testified were, at the time of Fiddler's murder, part of a dysfunctional community of youngsters, in their twenties, who knew, lived for various periods with, were once married

to, or had children with each other and who socialized and frequently "partied" together. Some of them were associated with drugs, weapons, and other criminal activity conducted from an establishment known as Rocky's Pizza, and there was evidence that Fiddler's killing may have been connected with that activity -- that the participants were concerned that Fiddler was saying more than was prudent about the activity, that their intent was to frighten him or teach him a lesson, and that the endeavor to do so got out of hand. There was also some evidence that Stouffer and others were simply upset over attention Fiddler was paying to one "Becky." The direct evidence in this case of exactly what occurred is rather thin. No one claims to have witnessed the actual kidnapping, beating, or killing of Fiddler. No weapon was recovered. No fingerprints linking Stouffer or anyone else to the murder were recovered. No confession was obtained. The State's evidence as to where the beating or the killing occurred was in dispute. There was some evidence indicating that it may have occurred in or just outside of Robert Schell's apartment at 12 Elizabeth Street, in Hagerstown; other evidence suggested that it occurred in a field or parking lot. Ultimately, the State abandoned the notion that the beating or killing occurred at 12 Elizabeth Street. There was evidence that Schell was involved and evidence that he was not involved. The various witnesses, some of whom had consumed a great deal of alcohol on the night in question, gave different stories of who was involved, what happened, and where it happened. Some of those stories changed over time -- trial was held more than seven years after the murder -- and a good bit of the evidence was in the form of earlier written statements made to the police that were
-2-

inconsistent with the witnesses's trial testimony. Much of the evidence was in the form of inculpatory statements allegedly made by Stouffer after Fiddler's death that were overheard and, six years later, reported to the police. Some facts were not in substantial dispute. Fiddler's body was discovered early on the morning of February 27, 1989, in a ditch by the side of an entrance ramp to Interstate 81, just over the Pennsylvania-Maryland line. He was clad in pants, a sweatshirt, and unlaced shoes, but had on no socks or underwear. It was not Fiddler's common practice to go without socks or underwear or to wear his shoes unlaced. There were two stab wounds in the chest, one about eight inches deep, defensive wounds on the right hand, a bruise on the back of the neck, and abrasions on the buttocks and left leg. Based on his entire examination, including blood patterns on the body, the clothes, and the shoes, grass and leaves on the ball of Fiddler's left foot, and greasy and granular material on Fiddler's back, the medical examiner opined that (1) Fiddler died of the large stab wound to the chest, which punctured a lung; (2) that wound would have caused extensive bleeding; (3) the stabbing did not occur where the body was found; (4) Fiddler was probably wearing the sweatshirt, but not the pants or shoes, when stabbed; (5) the pants and shoes were placed back on the body after the stabbing; (6) before Fiddler died and without his pants on, his body had been dragged across a rough granular black surface; and (7) death was not instantaneous, but ensued from bleeding within a half hour after the stabbing. The conclusion that the stabbing occurred elsewhere was supported by the fact that there was very little blood found in the ditch where the body was discovered.
-3-

The State's theory was that Stouffer, Burral, and perhaps others in the group kidnapped Fiddler in Hagerstown, that they took him to a field where they forced him to partially disrobe, that they beat him and, possibly to avert his attempt to escape, stabbed him, that they then drove him, as he lay dying, to the Interstate ramp, where they dumped the body. It is not necessary for us to recount all of the evidence in support of that theory, much of which is marginal. We note, however, the following. Rebekah Kogar, who was Stouffer's girlfriend at the time, testified that, on the evening Fiddler was killed, she, Stouffer, Burral, and others were at James Russell's apartment in Hagerstown, that Stouffer, Burral, and Russell left in the late afternoon or evening (as late as between 10:30 and 11:00) and did not return until early the next morning. Upon his return, Burral had "some kind of red stuff all over him," and he changed his clothes. Ms. Kogar overheard a conversation between Stouffer and Burral -- "[s]omething that happened up at Elizabeth Street I think it was. Something got out of hand." They mentioned Fiddler. Barbara Kelly told the jury that, on the evening before she heard that Fiddler had been killed, she was in downtown Hagerstown, near Rocky's Pizza, when she saw four men, including Stouffer and someone she knew as Billy (inferentially Burral), chasing Fiddler and that she heard Stouffer warn Fiddler to stay away from "Becky." She recalled seeing Stouffer and some men get into a white car, although she could not be certain if that was the same night as the chase. In an earlier statement given to the police, she indicated that it was the same night as the chase. Evidence was presented that Stouffer then owned a white Volkswagen Rabbit. Although Stouffer had told Hagerstown Detective Johnson that Fiddler
-4-

had never been in his car, FBI agent Wayne Oakes, a forensic scientist, testified that three hairs found in that car were microscopically indistinguishable from sample hairs taken from Fiddler's hairbrush.1 There was some evidence of a blood trace on the inside of the door of the car, but the sample was not taken until 1995, and it was not suitable for testing. Kathy Argo recalled a conversation in 1989 in which Stouffer told her that the police were trying to connect him to Fiddler's murder, but "they can't prove anything." He added that there had been blood in his car, "but it's been cleaned out." Much of the evidence against Stouffer came from his own mouth, through statements made to or overheard by others. Richard Ford recalled a conversation with Stouffer in 1990, in which Stouffer mentioned beating a person, for "sticking his nose where it didn't belong." Stouffer added that the beating took place in an alleyway around the corner from Rocky's, that three other men, including Burral, were with him, and that "they beat the heck out of him and he didn't give a damn if he lived or died and said that he . . . that they put him in the van and dropped him off at the interstate right there at State Line." In an earlier written statement to the police, which was admitted as substantive evidence, Ford recounted that Stouffer had said that "I killed the fucking guy." Fiddler's name, in particular, was not mentioned. Brian Burchett recalled overhearing a conversation between his former girlfriend, Annette Bowman, Stouffer, and Russell in July, 1990, in which Stouffer remarked that "Jeff Fiddler

Agent Oakes made clear that the microscopic similarity could not be taken as a basis for absolute personal identification and that it was possible, though extremely rare, for someone else to have hair that would be indistinguishable from that of Fiddler. -5-

1

was running his mouth too much and that he deserve[d] what he got." Patricia Moore, who was part of the operation at Rocky's and was a friend of Stouffer, gave a statement in June, 1995 to Detective Sterner -- a statement that she disavowed at trial but which was admitted into evidence -- recounting a conversation with Stouffer in which he admitted that he helped to beat Fiddler and that he rode around in a car with him. She recited in her statement Stouffer's admission that "there was a struggle and [Fiddler] was trying to get away a couple of times" and "[t]hat's where they stabbed him there at the field." Stouffer boasted, according to her statement, that he "got a rush and a thrill," that the police would never find out, that "he had gotten away with it," that Fiddler had been in the trunk of the car, and that there were blood stains in the back of the trunk. Connie Minnick said she overheard a conversation between Stouffer and her sister in which Stouffer said that "he didn't want it to go that far." In an earlier statement to the police, she noted Stouffer's further comments that "he just freaked out" and that "he didn't know if [Fiddler] was dead or not. And they were just scared." Ginger Eavey, a friend of Stouffer, recalled hearing him say that Fiddler had been stabbed, put in a vehicle, and dumped "along the State line." Robert Schell testified to a number of altercations with Stouffer. On the night Fiddler was killed, Schell returned downtown after a good bit of drinking and two previous altercations and encountered Stouffer, who threatened him to the point that he ran for safety into a hotel. Later that evening, he saw Stouffer again. Stouffer accused him of "narking" and warned him that "if I didn't get out of his face I could be taken care of too." At that
-6-

point, a police officer came by and separated the two. In March, 1989, according to Schell, he encountered Stouffer in downtown Hagerstown. They had an argument, following which Stouffer began chasing Schell and allegedly pushed him into an oncoming truck. Angela Tobery saw Stouffer and others chasing Schell on that occasion, but she did not see the push. Stouffer was initially charged with premeditated first degree murder, a variety of first and second degree sexual offenses committed against Fiddler, kidnapping, and felony murder based on the sexual offenses and kidnapping. The only counts submitted to the jury were first degree premeditated murder, of which appellant was acquitted, kidnapping, of which he was convicted, felony murder based on the kidnapping, of which he was convicted, and second degree murder, as to which no verdict was returned. As noted, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the kidnapping judgment but reversed the felony murder judgment.

DISCUSSION Evidence of Kidnapping As we indicated, the State contended that Stouffer and others abducted Fiddler in Hagerstown, forced him into Stouffer's car, drove him somewhere where they beat and stabbed him, and then drove him into Pennsylvania, where they dumped his body. On the theory that the intent of this enterprise was to beat Fiddler in order to teach him a lesson, Stouffer urges that the asportation of Fiddler from where he was seized was simply to remove him to a place where he could be beaten, and that an asportation for that purpose does not constitute kidnapping. Nor, he contends, would it constitute kidnapping to transport
-7-

Fiddler's dead body from the place of stabbing to the ditch in Pennsylvania. The evidentiary challenge, in other words, is not with respect to the proof of his criminal agency, but as to whether (1) the asportation of Fiddler, while still alive, was simply to facilitate the assault, or murder, and did not, therefore, constitute the separate crime of kidnapping, and (2) the asportation of his dead body, following the stabbing, can constitute kidnapping. Kidnapping is a statutory crime in Maryland. With an exception not relevant here, Maryland Code (1957 and 1996 Repl. Vol.), Article 27,

Download State v. Stouffer.pdf

Maryland Law