Charles Village Court Watch

James Cureton is charged with the first degree murder of Tanise Ervin and the attempted first degree murder of Darnell Barksdale and Rashad Jenkins in the 1100 block of Gorsuch Avenue in Better Waverly on March 12, 2011.  Cureton is also charged with use of a firearm in a violent felony and with lesser charges.

This morning, one juror was replaced by an alternate, and the jury was sworn in.

The opening statement for the state was given by Assistant State's Attorney Larai Everett.  She stated that on March 12, 2011, three lives were forever changed.  Tanise Ervin, age 19, was killed.  Jenkins and Barksdale saw a friend killed.  Tanise Ervin was meeting friends after work at about 6 p.m.  Jenkins observed Cureton pointing a gun.  There was no chance to warn the others, and there were multiple shots.  They ran from Cureton and were shot in the back.  Barksdale was shot twice, in the back and after he was down.

Why did this happen?  In November, 2006, Cureton was stabbed by Barksdale.  The feud carried over and unfortunately involved two others.  The desire for vengeance grows and grows, and on that date in 2011, Cureton had a chance and did not care about others.  Tanise Ervin died.  Cureton was not successful in attempting to kill Barksdale.  The detectives will say that 2G / BG was identified by Jenkins as the shooter.  Barksdale said that he did not know what had happened.  There are lots of lies in this case, and the state will try to answer those lies.  Put all the evidence together to see a pattern that will show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  The defense will say that it is a sad, sad story but his client did not do it.  The story is very different.  The state will present the case that Cureton did not care who surrounded Barksdale.  The state asks you to find the defendant guilty.

Defense attorney Jack Rubin now gave his opening statement.  His client has waited 794 days which equals 19,056 hours in the Baltimore City Detention Center for his day in court.  You have an obligation to set an innocent man free.  The state is not certain what Jenkins will say.  He told the police there were two shooters.  There were two weapons, and different casings were recovered by police.  Hear the case without window dressing.  Carrin Cunningham will tell you that she was with James Cureton, that he was not involved and that that is what she told police.  She took photos which the police got a month later.  Barksdale will not identify Cureton and knows that it is not Cureton.  The description by Jenkins does not fit.  It will say that the shooter was stocky, but Cureton [who definitely does not look stocky] looks as he looked when he was arrested on April 1, 2011.  There is no DNA, there are no fingerprints, and police cannot say whether the shooter left on foot or drove.  The case is woefully weak.  Judge the case objectively.  There is no motive in this case.  Mr. Cureton has a family too.  You will say not guilty.

At 10:53, the state called Officer Hemmerly of Northern District to the stand, and he was sworn.  He was examined by Assistant State's Attorney Richard Gibson.  On March 12, 2011, he responded to a call about a shooting about 3 blocks from Greenmount Avenue.  He observed three victims.  Ervin was face down in the street, had been shot in the back, and showed blood.  It was 6:01 p.m. and was still light outside.  The other victims were sitting on porches.  Jenkins had wounds in his left side and back.  Medics took him to Johns Hopkins Hospital.  Barksdale was shot once in the left leg and twice in the right hip, and he was also taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital.  Ervin was not responsive, not moving, and was also taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The crime scene was secured with crime tape, to be ready for additional units and the crime lab.  A crime log was set up to keep track of when officers entered and left the scene.  Detective Brummer from homicide arrived.  Six cartridge casings were recovered.  Ervin was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m.  Crime scene technician Sanders processed the scene.

On cross examination, Officer Hemmerly stated that there were about ten people there.

The second witness was crime scene technician Frank Sanders of the Baltimore City police crime lab mobile unit.  He responded to the scene at 6:48 p.m., having been summoned at 6:13, for a homicide and a shooting.  It was dusk and getting dark.  He took available light photos and a sketch of the scene to show what he had observed.  The casings were in plain envelopes, all labelled as 380 caliber.  He dusted for prints and found none.  The evidence was submitted to evidence control and sent to the firearms lab.  Also, splotches of blood were swabbed.  He learned later from an assistant state's attorney that one of the casings was 9 mm.

The final witness for the morning was Sandra Bohlen.  She is a firearms examiner.  She had received 6 casings and one bullet.  Five of the casings were 380 caliber auto from the same gun, and the sixth was 9 mm. Luger.  In size, there is not much difference.  The  bullet is 380 auto and had been recovered from the victim by the medical examiner.

Before the break for lunch, the 911 recording was played.  The calls are not in sequence since calls come in simultaneously, but each reported a shooting.  Finally, court broke for lunch at 12:30.

The afternoon session began before the jury was called in with arguments over whether eight jail phone calls would be admitted.  Defense attorney Rubin argued that the recordings violate Maryland wiretap laws and that there is no evidence that the defendant had consented to the interception of his phone calls.  Assistant State's Attorney Everett argued that the calls show that the defendant knew he was being recorded.  Kelvin Harris from the Department of Public Safety and Correction would testify as to how the calls had been obtained.  Judge Fletcher-Hill ruled that the recordings would be admissible as admissions (an exception to the hearsay rule).

The jury entered, and Kelvin Harris was called to the stand and sworn.  He stated that all phone calls except those to attorneys are recorded and that when the prison receives a subpoena for phone calls, it goes through the computer to find them.  With each batch of recordings, there is a statement of authenticity and a chain of custody form.  SID numbers (state identification numbers) are used to make calls and to buy items from the commissary.

Transcripts of calls were passed out to the jury, and seven of the calls were played.  The other will be redacted further.  Each call begins with the name of the caller (as stated by the caller) and with the recipient asked to accept or refuse a collect call, followed by a statement that the call may be recorded or monitored.  For someone like me sitting in the courtroom without a transcript, it is hard to follow, but one can sense that a couple of the calls show the caller asking the recipient to get a story straight.

On cross examination, it was noted that all the calls had been made legally.

Finally, Assistant State's Attorney Everett called Carrin Cunningham to the stand, and she was sworn.  Cureton is her boyfriend and has been since March 6, 2011 when she met him.  She is not sure of his nicknames, has never heard him called 2G or BG but knows him as James.  She recalls being interviewed by Detective Brummer in April, 2011 and thinks she was interviewed again in February, 2012

On March 12, 2011 which was a Saturday, Cureton came to her house about 1:30 p.m.  They went to a liquor store about 5 minutes away at Frankford [Avenue] and Sinclair Lane.  He took her home about 2:20  He met her again about 6:40 as it was just getting dark outside.

She went through the days after she had met him on March 6.  They were together a lot.

Phone calls were played, and she recognized her voice and that of Cureton on several.  He used various names to identify himself to the recipient of those calls.  One could sense that Cureton was trying to get her to get their story straight about a time line on March 12, 2011.

Cross examination will come Wednesday when court reconvenes at 9:30.

Some comments:  The victims appear to have had at most five bullet wounds possibly including exit wounds, and five 380 casings were recovered.  There is no way to know whether the 9 mm. casing was there before March 12, 2011.

Officer Hemmerly arrived at the scene at 6:01 p.m. that day, and Cureton met his girlfriend at her home between 6:30 and 6:40.  That would seem to leave ample time for Cureton to drive from the scene to Ms. Cunningham's house if that is what happened.  We will see whether other facts emerge to refute that there was ample time.


Tomorrow at 2 in room 420 Courthouse West is the first scheduled appearance in reception court for Tyrone Alston.  He is charged with shooting and killing his girlfriend Tashawna Jones last October 12 in the 2600 block of Guilford Avenue.