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Card v. United States6/28/2001
Appeals from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Hon. Herbert B. Dixon, Jr., Trial Judge
Argued January 11, 2000
During jury selection in a murder trial in 1993, one potential juror, a 33-year-old African-American male, had close cropped hair and was wearing a white shirt and bow tie. He was Juror 333. The prosecutor exercised one of his peremptory strikes against this juror out of expressed concern that the juror might be a follower of Louis Farrakhan. The principal issue on appeal is whether this exclusion was constitutionally discriminatory on the basis of religion in violation of the doctrine of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986).
We agree with the government that, because this potential reversible error was not fairly presented to the trial court, we can review only for "plain error." At the time, the Batson principle had been applied only to race discrimination, and indeed to this day the Supreme Court has not determined whether it extends to religion-related strikes. We can find no plain error here. In addition, although we do not condone the prosecutor's dilatory discovery compliance, we reject appellants' numerous assertions of reversible trial error and accordingly affirm the bulk of the convictions. We remand for the limited purpose of resentencing based on merged convictions.
I. Factual Summary
This appeal stems from one of the lengthiest criminal trials in the history of the District of Columbia Superior Court. It ended in the defendants' convictions on numerous counts of murder and other crimes. A detailed recitation of the facts, rather than elucidating the case, would serve only to obscure the issues on appeal. We therefore turn to a general description of the underlying events, and direct attention to the substantive discussions infra, wherein necessary particulars of the case and the trial are discussed.
The evidence adduced by the government at trial showed the following. Throughout the 1980's and 90's, appellant Card operated an illegal drug business with his partner, James Murray, in Southeast Washington. On October 28, 1990, Murray was murdered. The day after the murder, Card sought revenge, gathering loyal followers to avenge Murray's brutal demise. Convinced that Murray had been killed by a rival drug dealer named Billy Ray Tolbert, Card and his cohorts lured Tolbert to a Southeast apartment. Once there, Card and several of his followers -- including appellants Edwards and Rice -- participated in binding Tolbert's hands, feet, and mouth with duct tape, and repeatedly beating him. When Tolbert attempted to escape by jumping through the glass of a closed second story window, Card decided to kill Tolbert. Tolbert was shot several times at point blank range by Edwards and Card, among others. His body was then dropped out the window and eventually deposited in Tolbert's car, where it was later found. In the days following the murder, Card, Edwards, Rice, and others took pains to obstruct the investigation of Tolbert's murder, all the while continuing to seek revenge from other drug dealers who they suspected murdered Murray.
Forty-two witnesses testified on behalf of the government. Most important, for purposes of this appeal, were the following: Kalvin Bears, who testified that Card had admitted murdering Tolbert; Ida Stanford, who also testified that Card had acknowledged the details of the murder; Metropolitan Police Detective James Bradley, who testified regarding Edwards' inculpatory statements to police; Fred Johnson, who testified that he witnessed Card and others conspire to kill Tolbert, that on the night of the murder he heard Tolbert questioned repeatedly by Card,
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