Green v. State

Decision Date06 June 1966
Docket NumberNo. 185,185
Citation220 A.2d 131,243 Md. 75
PartiesVernon L. GREEN v. STATE of Maryland.
CourtMaryland Court of Appeals

Jack E. Richards, Baltimore, for appellant.

Davis T. Mason, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore (Thomas B. Finan, Atty. Gen., Charles E. Moylan, Jr., and Edward J. Angeletti, State's Atty. and Asst. State's Atty., respectively, for Baltimore City, Baltimore, on the brief), for appellee.

Before HAMMOND, HORNEY, MARBURY, OPPENHEIMER and BARNES, JJ.

MARBURY, Judge.

Appellant Vernon L. Green was brought to trial under an indictment which charged him in the first count with rape of one Beverly Alston and in the third count, based on the facts set forth in the first count, with common law assault on the same victim. The case was heard before Judge Dulany Foster, sitting without a jury, in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, and the defendant-appellant was found guilty on both the first and third counts. Judge Foster imposed a sentence of five years in the Maryland Correctional Institution under the first count, and two years in the same institution under the third count, both sentences to run concurrently.

On this appeal the appellant raises two questions: (1) Was the evidence legally sufficient to support the verdict of the trial court on the first (rape) count, and (2) did the offense of assault become merged into that of rape.

On March 1, 1965, at about 6:30 in the evening, Vernon Green was visited at his home by a male friend, one Carlton Jones, the latter being accompanied by the eighteen year old prosecuting witness, Beverly Alston, whom Green had never met before, and Beberly's girl friend, Paticia Thomas. Green was then joined by another male friend, and the five youths proceeded to talk and listen to phonograph records. The group disbaned at about 9:00 p.m., but they all agreed to meet soon thereafter at a downtown Baltimore restaurant.

After the party had regrouped at he designated retaurant, apparently at about 10:00 p.m., Carlton Jones recruited a male by the name of Bell who drove them out to an Elks Home. The defendant-appellant went into the Home while the others remained in the car and he emerged some time later in the company of several male companions, who, along with Green squeezed into Bell's vehicle-the total occupants of which then numbered nine boys and the two girls.

After driving around for about an hour, it was decided, pursuant to Bell's suggestion, that the group should all repair to Bell's residence at 2122 Herbert Street. After arriving at the Bell home, at about 12:30 a.m. (March 2, 1965), a records were played and some of the group sang songs.

According to the testimony of Beverly Alston the following events then transpired: After Beverly observed her girl friend and Carlton Jones depart for one of the upstairs bedrooms, she decided to go upstairs to use the bathroom facilities. Unaccompanied, she ascended the stairs and located the bathroom which was within a back bedroom. When she came out of the bathroom into the bedroom Green stood before her with his penis in his hand; he grabbed her and forced her onto the bed; she screamed; the defendant pulled her hair, then choked her and threatened to kill her if she screamed again; a long struggle then ensued and the defendant forced her legs apart and against her will enserted his penis into her vagina. She testified that while the defendant was on top of her Bell came into the bedroom and talked to Green but she did not ask for Bell's assistance in repelling the attacker because (1) she did not feel that Bell would be likely to come to her aid if she had so requested, and (2) she was afraid of the defendant Green. Green asked Bell to leave the room and when he refused, the defendant got up and left the bedroom.

Beverly Alston further testified that she then went downstairs but that no one was there except Bell, who had followed her; she asked Bell to unlock the front door so that she could go outside to vomit, and when the door was opened she fled to the nearby abode of her friend, one Bernice Mason. Miss Mason testified that the prosecutrix immediately reported to her that the 'boy that I was with tonight * * * almost choked me to death' and that he had 'tried' to rape her. Police were immediately summoned and the defendant was placed under arrest.

Dr. Boggio, a medical doctor employed by the Baltimore City Police Department, who examined the prosecutrix four hours after the alleged rape occurred, testified that his examination disclosed a faint bruise forming on the girl's neck, that her hymen was 'relatively intact' but he observed a small area of fresh bleeding from a small break in the hymenal ring. He testified that there had not been a complete penetration of the hymen but there 'could possibly have been a partial penetration,' inasmuch as the 'hymen was dilated to admit one finger.'

At his trial, Green's defense was that he had the consent and full cooperation of the prosecutrix when they were engaged in the act of sexual intercourse. He testified that he had become friendly with Beverly Alston during the hours he had been with her before his arrest, and that when they arrived at Bell's residence she had consented to go up to the bedroom with him. In a written statement taken immediately after his arrest, which was introduced into evidence by the State without objection, and in his oral testimony before the court, Green admitted inserting the head of his penis into the prosecutrix's vagina, but he specifically denied that he had choked, threatened or forced her in any way to have such relations with him. He testified that he and the prosecutrix were interrupted 'three or four times' by Bell while in the bedroom, and that after the last interruption he (Green) left and went over to the adjoining bedroom to talk to Carlton Jones and Patricia Thomas. Green testified that after about fifteen minutes in the other bedroom, he heard Beverly Alston ...

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34 cases
  • Dillsworth v. State, 36
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of Maryland
    • 1 Septiembre 1986
    ...383, 354 A.2d 825, cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1027, 97 S.Ct. 652, 50 L.Ed.2d 631 (1976); and that assault merges into rape, Green v. State, 243 Md. 75, 220 A.2d 131 (1966). We turn to the question of whether the two offenses involved here each requires proof of an element which the other does n......
  • Boone v. State
    • United States
    • Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
    • 28 Septiembre 1967
    ......1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977, does not control, and if the confession is voluntary it may be admitted into evidence. Johnson v. State, 238 Md. 140, 207 A.2d 643; Swartz v. State, 237 Md. 263, 265, 205 A.2d 803; Anderson v. State, 237 Md. 45, 205 A.2d 281; Mefford & Blackburn v. State, supra; Green v. State, 236 Md. 334, 203 A.2d 870.' .         See also Ferrell v. Warden, 241 Md. 432, 216 A.2d 740 (1965). .         For the holdings in Escobedo to be applicable to this case it was necessary for the trial judge to be persuaded from the credible evidence that Boone had in fact ......
  • State v. Allewalt, 63
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of Maryland
    • 25 Noviembre 1986
    ...correctly argues that, under the facts of this case, the assault merges into the second-degree rape conviction. See Green v. State, 243 Md. 75, 220 A.2d 131 (1966). Although these issues were not raised in the trial court, they may be considered on appeal. Walczak v. State, 302 Md. 422, 488......
  • Fisher and Utley v. State, 113
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of Maryland
    • 17 Diciembre 2001
    ...attempted robbery merged into felony murder, Newton v. State, supra; common law assault merged into common law rape, Green v. State, 243 Md. 75, 220 A.2d 131 (1966); common law larceny merged into the statutory offense of breaking and stealing, Tucker v. State, 237 Md. 422, 206 A.2d 691 As ......
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