Crowe v. State
| Decision Date | 12 October 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 408,408 |
| Citation | 240 Md. 144,213 A.2d 558 |
| Parties | Lacey Wayne CROWE and James R. Williston v. STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Richard K. Jacobsen, Baltimore, for Lacey Wayne Crowe, one of appellants.
Alan M. Wolf, Baltimore, for James R. Williston, other appellant.
Franklin Goldstein, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore (Thomas B. Finan, Atty. Gen., Charles E. Moylan, Jr., and Richard O. Motsay, State's Atty., and Asst. State's Atty., respectively, for Baltimore City, on the brief), for appellee.
Before PRESCOTT, C. J., and HAMMOND, MARBURY, OPPENHEIMER and BARNES, JJ.
On May 29, 1964, both appellants were tried in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, before Judge J. Harold Grady, without a jury, under pleas of not guilty to various charges. The appellant Lacey Wayne Crowe, was found guilty of receiving stolen goods of the value of $72, and of escape from the Maryland House of Correction. The appellant James R. Williston, was found guilty of breaking the storehouse of Catherine Beard with intent to take goods of a value in excess of $100 (first count); breaking said storehouse and taking goods of a value in excess of $5 (third count); and larceny of $72 (fifth count). Crowe was sentenced to three years in the Maryland House of Correction for receiving stolen goods and was sentenced to one year in the Maryland House of Correction for escape, with both sentences to run concurrently after completion of the sentence he was then serving. Williston was sentenced to three years in the Maryland Correctional Institution on each count of breaking with intent to steal goods of a value in excess of $100 and the breaking and stealing goods of a value in excess of $5. He was also sentenced to eighteen months in the Maryland Correctional Institution for larceny. All three sentences were to be concurrent and to date from April 11, 1964. Crowe has appealed only from the judgment and sentence with respect to receiving stolen property, and Williston has appealed generally.
At about 3:00 a. m. on the morning of April 11, 1964, Sergeant Holland, accompanied by several other members of the Baltimore police force, proceeded to 1939 Hollins Street, which was the residence of a Mr. Taylor, step-father of Williston, where they had information Lacey Wayne Crowe, an escapee from the Maryland House of Correction, was hiding. The police officers, who had a warrant for the arrest of Crowe, were permitted by Mr. Taylor to enter the house. He told the police that he did not know whether Crowe was in the home but granted permission to the police to conduct a search. As the search of the house began, Sergeant Holland encountered the appellant Williston in the dining room. While Holland questioned Williston, the other officiers resumed their search of the premises for the escapee. Williston admitted that he knew Crowe and when asked if he had seen him or if he had been in the house Williston replied that he had not seen Crowe and that Crowe had not been there. Immediately thereafter one of the other officers announced the discovery of Crowe in the basement. Officer Holland and Williston went to the basement where, in the presence of Crowe, Williston stated that he had not known that Crowe was an escapee but thought he was out on parole. At this point the officers observed in plain view, and within approximately ten feet of the place where Crowe had been discovered, a brown paper bag beside which were two piles of coins. Inside the brown paper bag the police found a Catholic miraculous medal. Mr. Taylor told Sergeant Holland that neither the money nor the bag was in the basement when he went to bed at 11:30 p. m. the previous evening. Crowe and Williston both denied ownership or knowledge of whence the money etc. had come. Crowe and Williston were thereupon arrested and taken to a police station where they were placed in a cellblock.
After being in custody approximately three hours, according to the testimony of Sergeant Holland, Williston sent for him and indicated that he would like to tell exactly what happened, have it reduced to writing, and sign it. He then gave an oral statement to Sergeant Holland in which he indicated that he and Crowe went to Dubner's Restaurant (of which Catherine Beard was the proprietress) at approximately 2:30 a. m., and that he acted as a look-out while Crowe used a screwdriver to open a screen and enter the building. According to the statement, Crowe remained in the building approximately ten minutes and came out with pockets bulging. Crowe and Williston then went back to the Hollins Street address and went to the basement to divide the money, which they were doing when the officers came to the front door. At the trial, Williston testified that Sergeant Holland, during the questioning in the Sergeants' room of the police station, kicked him off his chair, as the result of which he cut his lip, threatened him, and also threatened to arrest his parents. Sergeant Holland testified that neither he nor anyone in his presence, had used any force, violence, threats, promises or inducements in order to obtain the statement. Upon cross-examination by counsel for Williston, Sergeant Holland denied that he had ever threatened to arrest Williston's parents, that anyone kicked Williston or his chair, that Williston had a bleeding lip, that anyone threatened to shove a flashlight down Williston's throat, or that any threats were made to Williston of any nature. Officer Leo Barclay testified that he was present during part of the time that Williston was interrogated and that no one threatened, kicked or used any force, threats or violence, or offered any immunities or inducements in order to obtain the statement. Officer Roland Campbell specifically denied that any of the occurrences as claimed by Williston occurred in his presence.
Sergeant Holland returned to the stand and testified that when Williston called for him and told him orally about the breaking into of Dubner's it was the first time that he knew Dubner's had been burglarized. He further testified that after Williston told him how they got in, he went to Dubner's and made an examination of the premises, and found out from the operator of the restaurant, Mrs. Beard, that the cigarette machine, the juke box, and the cash register had been broken into. After he came back from Dubner's he talked to Williston again briefly, and, since he had been up approximately forty-eight hours, he went home. The following evening, at 8:45 p.m., a written statement was taken and was thereafter signed by Williston. After hearing testimony on both sides as to the voluntariness of the oral statement, the trial judge ruled that it was voluntary and admitted it as to Williston only. The written statement was not introduced into evidence.
At the trial, the proprietress of Dubner's Restaurant, Mrs. Beard, testified that the restaurant had been broken into on the morning of April 11, and that a total of about $72 had been taken. In addition to the money, a miraculous medal which was kept in the juke box was missing. She identified the medal found in the Taylor basement as the one missing from the juke box. The attorney for Crowe (not his counsel on appeal) did not object to Sergeant Holland's testimony about the brown paper bag and the piles of coins, nor did he object to their introduction into evidence. He did object to the introduction into evidence of the miraculous medal, but only on the ground that Mrs. Beard did not at first mention the medal as one of the items having been taken. The attorney for Williston objected when Sergeant Holland started to testify about the brown paper bag and the pile of coins, but did not object when any of the items were offered into evidence.
The attorney for Crowe moved for a judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the State's case and at that point also moved to exclude the tangible evidence on the ground that it was illegally seized. The trial judge refused to exclude the evidence since he found that the officers had a warrant for the arrest of Crowe, and had permission from Mr. Taylor to enter the premises. The court further pointed out that at the time the police observed Crowe, for whom they had the warrant, they also observed the money in his immediate presence without any additional search. He did grant Crowe's motion for judgment of acquittal as to all counts of the indictment with regard to burglary and larceny, but denied it as to the count for receiving stolen property. The court denied Williston's motion for judgment of acquittal. Williston voluntarily chose to take the stand to testify in his own behalf. Crowe, after being advised of his rights, decided not to testify.
On these two separate appeals Williston contends that his oral...
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