Hadder v. State

• Decision Date: 14 April 1965
• Docket Number: No. 181,181
• Citation: 209 A.2d 70,238 Md. 341
• Parties: Thomas Asbury HADDER v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 341

238 Md. 341

209 A.2d 70

Thomas Asbury HADDER v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 181.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

April 14, 1965.

Joseph A. DePaul, Hyattsville (William A. Ehrmantraut, Takoma Park, and William H. Meserole, Jr., Hyattsville, on the brief), for appellant.

Fred Oken, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Thomas B. Finan, Atty. Gen., Baltimore, and Arthur A. Marshall, Jr., State's Atty. for Prince George's County, Upper Marlboro, on the brief), for appellee.

Before PRESCOTT, C. J., and HORNEY, SYBERT, OPPENHEIMER and BARNES, JJ.

PRESCOTT, Chief Judge.

After his conviction of murder in the first degree by a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, the appellant, Hadder, has appealed.

He contends that the trial court erred: (1) in not granting his motions for judgment of acquittal; (2) in not requiring the State's Attorney to furnish everything he requested in a bill of particulars; (3) in permitting a deputy sheriff to sit at the counsel table during the hearings on two pre-trial motions; (4) in admitting into evidence statements and confessions made by the accused; and (5) in several of its advisory instructions to the jury.

About 1:15 a. m. on May 2, 1963, the body of Officer Alfred Steinat of the Prince George's County police was found over an embankment flanking Route 3-301 a short distance south of the Anne Arundel County line. On the road 35 to 40 feet away, his police cruiser-motor running, headlights on, red light flashing--attracted the attention of two Anne Arundel County policemen and led to the discovery of the body. The cause of death was a perforating gunshot wound which entered the chest, and, ranging downward, emerged from the left side of the victim's back near the beltline.

According to an F.B.I. ballistics expert, the bullet was fired at a range of from 6 to 12 inches. A .45 slug dropped out of Officer Steinat's clothing during post mortem examination of the body.

Promptly after the discovery of the body the police roped off the area and, shortly after daybreak, began a search of the crime scene. Captain Rogato, in charge of the search, testified to the results. Steinat's .38 service revolver was found 18 feet from his body and 36 feet from the road. An automobile registration card was found 64 feet from the body and 17 feet from the edge of the road. Six .38 empty cartridge casings were recovered about 77 feet from the body and a .45 automatic pistol was found some 8 feet therefrom. A wallet was picked up 72 feet from the .45 gun, and 64 feet from the wallet a shoe was found.

The registration card and for the appellant's 1960 black Ford Falcon automobile. The wallet and shoe were identified as his. Ballistics testimony identified the .45 slug found inside the dead policeman's clothing as having been fired from the automatic pistol found at the crime scene, and a Virginia gun dealer identified the same pistol as the one he sold the appellant a few days earlier. The six .38 empty cartridge casings were identified as having been fired from Officer Steinat's service revolver.

Examination of the police car revealed the radio microphone off its hook and a bullet hole in the dashboard. A badly damaged .45 slug was found therein, and a corktipped cigarette butt was discovered on the floor near the right front seat. An empty .45 cartridge casing was found on the rear seat.

The appellant, disheveled and wearing one shoe, appeared at the home of John M. Wist near Odenton in the early evening of May 2nd. He said he was sick and asked Wist to call the Rescue Squad. Three of the four members of the ambulance crew, the fourth being at the time of the trial a patient in the hospital, testified that the appellant, upon entering the ambulance, said that he was the one who shot the policeman. The testimony was first taken out of the presence of the jury and later repeated to the jury. The witnesses were in agreement that the appellant had volunteered the statement without any inducement.

The appellant made a second statement, while being transported in a State Police car to a rendezvous with Prince George's County police, about the shooting of Officer Steinat. Trooper Reginald Gibson and other witnesses quoted the appellant as saying that the officer stopped him, and he intended to take the officer's gun and auto keys to make good his escape. The officer saw him take a gun from his belt, there was a struggle and the gun went off, and he knew the officer was shot. This testimony was also first taken out of the presence of the jury. All witnesses who heard the statement testified that it was made voluntarily. The appellant objected to the admission of the statements into evidence but declined to offer any testimony on the issue of voluntariness. The objection was overruled and the same testimony was taken before the jury.

There was testimony that the appellant made a third statement after his custody had been transferred from Trooper Gibson to Inspector Purdy, Captain Huber and Detective Flynn, all of the Prince George's County police, and Special Agent Sibert of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Enroute to Police Headquarters at Seat Pleasant, according to Agent Sibert, the appellant started to volunteer a statement. Detective Flynn interrupted and said, 'Now wait a minute. You don't have to ay anything. You know that anything you say can be held against you.'

Agent Sibert testified that the appellant described the shooting of Officer Steinat and said that before leaving his car on a nearby military reservation he had tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrists. When he surrendered he asked that the Rescue Squad be called because he was afraid to notify the police. He feared that he would be shot because he had killed a police officer.

Captain Huber testified that the appellant made a statement after Detective Flynn advised him that he need not say anything and that any statement he made could be used against him. According to Captain Huber, the appellant said the policeman stopped him and asked for his driver's license and registration card. He had no driver's license. The officer asked him if he had purchased a tire without paying for it, and the appellant admitted he had.

When the officer asked him if he wanted to straighten the matter out, the appellant replied in the affirmative, and they went to the police car which was parked in front of the appellant's automobile. Captain Huber testified that the appellant said he was armed with a .45 automatic, which he had bought in Virginia, and had made up his mind that he was not going to be locked up. The appellant said he had guns and illicit whiskey in the trunk and did not want them found. According to Captain Huber, the appellant said his intention was to take the officer's keys, pistol and car and escape, and when he pulled out his gun the officer grabbed for it, there was a struggle, and the gun went off. He jumped out and ran. The officer fired several shots.

Detective Flynn's testimony agreed with Captain Huber's. He quoted the appellant as saying further that he had the .45 pistol in the left side of his 'pants' when he walked to Officer Steinat's car, that he sat on the right front seat, lit a cigarette and took several puffs; and when Steinat reached for the radio he felt that was his opportunity and pulled the gun. After the gun discharged, Steinat wreste it from him and he fled. On returning to the scene, continued Detective Flynn's testimony, the appellant said he got into his own car and drove north several miles, turned around, and decided to try to find his gun, drove past the scene, made a U-turn, came back and parked behind the police car. He was unable to find the officer and so was unable to get his gun. He saw a briefcase in the police car, took it, and drove away.

All witnesses who heard the appellant's statement made to Prince George's County police enroute to Seat Pleasant testified that it was voluntarily made. The appellant declined to offer any evidence on the admissibility of the statement and objected to it on the ground that the State had not met the burden of proof of voluntariness. He argued that any statement he made could not pass the legal test of voluntariness because of his physical and mental condition at the time. Witnesses had variously described the appellant's condition as that he 'looked sick,' 'looked awfully pale,' 'didn't look too well,' 'looked scared,' thought he was drunk,' 'appeared exhausted', 'wobbled or swayed.' Dr. John Kehoe, who saw the appellant about 10:00 p. m., shortly after his arrival at Seat Pleasant Police Headquarters, testified that he gave him a physical examination and that he appeared to be in good health and not fatigued. The cuts on his wrist and arm were superficial. The appellant's objection was overruled, the statement was ordered received in evidence and it was then testified to in the prescence of the jury.

A Maryland State Trooper testified that in the early morning of May 3, 1963, while on routine patrol, he discovered a black Ford Falcon automobile with Virginia license plates abandoned on a side road in a wooded area in the vicinity of Fort Meade. In the car were a briefcase and scattered police report forms. The Falcon was identified as the appellant's automobile.

Two witnesses, the Richelson brothers, testified that they encountered the appellant about 11:00 p. m. not far from the scene of the shooting of Officer Steinat. They said that he flagged them down on Route 50 near its intersection with Route 301 and solicited their help to get a flat tire fixed on his small black sedan. They went to a nearby Esso station on his behalf.

The State then produced the gas-station attendant who testified that shortly after 11:00 p. m., he responded to the relayed call for assistance. He identified the appellant and told how he supplied a new tire for the black Falcon with Virginia license tags. He testified that the appellant offered to pay the...