Bicknell v. State
| Decision Date | 16 May 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 209,209 |
| Parties | George S. BICKNELL v. STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
John E. Jacob, Jr., Salisbury, for appellant.
James H. Norris, Jr., Spec. Asst. Atty. Gen. (C. Ferdinand Sybert, Atty. Gen., and Daniel Prettyman, State's Atty. for Worcester County, Snow Hill, on the brief), for appellee.
Before BRUNE, C. J., and HENDERSON, HAMMOND, PRESCOTT and HORNEY, JJ.
This appeal is from the judgment and sentence of the appellant to six months in the House of Correction and a fine of $500, suspended on condition that he pay the fine.
The appellant was represented by counsel of his own selection, tried before the court without a jury, and convicted of unlawfully obstructing justice by interfering with the arrest of his wife, Sallie W. Bicknell, by Deputy Sheriff Tyler. It is stipulated that no court stenographer was present at the trial, no record made of the testimony of the witnesses, or objections thereto, if any, and that no notes were taken by anyone from which a record could be prepared and agreed upon. The State has moved to dismiss the appeal. Obviously, there is nothing for us to pass upon. There is not even a specification of error in the judgment or any other ruling of the trial court, if any. The appellant contends, however, that, since court stenographers are usually available, he had an absolute right to have the trial proceedings recorded so as to enable him to perfect an appeal, and the fact that he went to trial without a stenographer present did not constitute a waiver.
We find no merit in these contentions. In Banks v. State, 203 Md. 488, 494, 102 A.2d 267, we held that the right or privilege is one that may be waived in a criminal case. Cf. Newark Trust Co. v. Trimble, 215 Md. 502, 506, 138 A.2d 919, and Jefferson v. State, 218 Md. 397, 401, 147 A.2d 204. The appellant seeks to distinguish the Banks case on the ground that there the defendant's attorney, who was in fact the same attorney who represented the appellant in the instant case, was informed that no stenographer was available in court to take the testimony, and in the presence of his client stated that 'they were willing to proceed without a stenographer'. In the instant case, it is stipulated that there was no specific waiver, but also that prior to or during the trial there was no request for the services of a stenographer, or any request for a postponement to obtain one. The record makes it clear, we think,...
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