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Lovell v. State11/12/1997
Opinion by Rodowsky, J.
This is an automatic review of a death sentence in a case removed from Somerset County to Talbot County. On an agreed statement of facts the defendant pled guilty to murder. A jury imposed the death sentence.
On the night of October 16-17, 1995, the petitioner, Ivan Fitzherbert Lovell (Lovell), a drug dealer, was returning to North Carolina after having been resupplied by a source in New York City. Lovell was driving a red 1992 Plymouth Sundance that he had borrowed for the trip, and he was accompanied by one William Smith Lynch who was seated in the front passenger seat. Lovell was transporting two packages of crack cocaine weighing 159.5 grams and 173.9 grams, and a package of powder cocaine weighing 162.9 grams. The street value of this illicit cargo was $63,480. Lovell was armed with a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun. Shortly before 1:00 a.m., while southbound on U.S. Route 13, one or two miles south of Princess Anne in Somerset County, Maryland, the vehicle's speed was seventy-four miles per hour in a fifty-five mile-per-hour zone.
At that time and place Trooper First Class Edward A. Plank (Tfc. Plank) and one of his road partners, Trooper Dennis Allan Lord (Trooper Lord), of the Maryland State Police were on road patrol duty on the 11:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m. shift out of the Princess Anne Barrack. Each wore a Maryland State Police uniform and each was using an unmarked State Police automobile equipped with flashing lights and sirens. Tfc. Plank, who was operating a stationary radar, measured the speed of the red Sundance and gave pursuit. Almost immediately thereafter Trooper Lord pursued a pickup truck for a headlight violation, and Trooper Lord stopped that truck approximately 300 yards north of the place where Tfc. Plank had stopped the Sundance.
The driver of the Sundance did not produce a motor vehicle operator's license, but he did produce an employee identification card in the name of Charles E. Billups, Jr. from an auto body repair shop in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Tfc. Plank requested the Berlin Barrack to run a license and registration check, and he wrote two traffic citations for "Charles Edward Billups, Jr.," one for speeding and the other for failure to display a driver's license on demand. Tfc. Plank had the driver sign the citations, but the officer did not furnish the driver copies at that time, apparently awaiting the report from the Berlin Barrack. The parties stipulated that "Tfc. Plank then noticed what appeared to be the name of Ivan F. Lovell written on the two citations--the name had been overwritten with the name of Charles Billups." At that point Tfc. Plank radioed for backup by Trooper Lord who then drove south on Route 13 and parked behind Tfc. Plank's vehicle.
After having conversed with Tfc. Plank in the latter's vehicle, Trooper Lord returned to his car to get his handheld radio. As Trooper Lord was walking back toward Tfc. Plank's car, Tfc. Plank walked to the driver's side of the Sundance. Trooper Lord heard a conversation, saw a flash of light, heard a gunshot, and saw Tfc. Plank fall to the ground. Trooper Lord immediately fired two shots at the driver's side of the Sundance. The driver fired at least two shots at Trooper Lord who completely discharged his weapon in returning fire before the Sundance sped away. Trooper Lord radioed for assistance, but Tfc. Plank was dead.
The bullet had entered one-quarter of an inch to the left of the tip of Tfc. Plank's nose and proceeded on a slightly downward angle to the base of the skull where it severed the brain stem. The shot had been fired from a distance of twelve to eighteen inches from Tfc. Plank's face where it left a three
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