Laws v. State

• Decision Date: 10 March 1969
• Docket Number: No. 193,193
• Citation: 251 A.2d 237,6 Md.App. 243
• Parties: Clyde Edward LAWS and Thomas Franklin Dorman a/k/a Thomas Frank Dorman v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 243

6 Md.App. 243

251 A.2d 237

Clyde Edward LAWS and Thomas Franklin Dorman a/k/a Thomas Frank Dorman v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 193.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

March 10, 1969.

Joseph E. O'Brien, Jr., Rockville, for appellants.

Donald Needle, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom were Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen., William A. Linthicum, Jr. and Andrew Sonner, State's Atty. and Asst. State's Atty. for Montgomery County, respectively, and John C. North, II, State's Atty. for Talbot County, on brief, for appellee.

Before MURPHY, C. J., and ANDERSON, MORTON, ORTH, and THOMPSON, JJ.

THOMPSON, Judge.

Clyde E. Laws and Thomas F. Dorman, the appellants, were convicted of kidnapping in the Circuit Court for Talbot County Judges J. DeWeese Carter and Harry E. Clark presiding with a jury. The case had been removed from Montgomery County at the request of the appellants who were each sentenced to a term of twenty years. Questions on appeal wil be set out hereinafter.

The evidence can be summarized as follows:

Clement Lee Lanham, at the time in charge of the Kroeger Store located on Georgia Avenue, Montgomery County, Maryland, testified that both Laws and Dorman participated in an armed robbery in which over $1500 was taken. Laws displayed a snub nosed revolver during the incident which lasted between five and ten minutes. When the men left the premises the police were immediately notified, and a description of the felons was given.

Officer Ray Brown, of the Montgomery County Police Department testified that at 8:15 P.M. on February 8, 1967, he and his partner, Officer Theodore Chick, overheard a police radio broadcast concerning the robbery at the Kroeger Store including a lookout for two described males. Officer Brown related that while patrolling in a police car he observed two males of similar description to he wanted felons driving south on Georgia Avenue, at a point approximately one or one and one-half miles from the robbery scene, in a 1964 green Pontiac automobile with out-of-state license tags. The officers signaled the vehicle to a stop at approximately 8:20 P.M. The driver, identified as Laws, emerged from his vehicle as Officer Brown emerged from the police car, and when the two men were approximately an arm's length from each other, Laws pulled a revolver and shot Officer Brown in the side. The officer was able to draw his own pistol and return the fire, hitting Laws before Laws was able to re-enter his automobile and flee the scene. He also hit the rear window of the automobile with two shots. Officer Brown was unable to identify the other person in the vehicle.

Officer Chick testified that as he and Officer Brown were about to stop the vehicle he reported their activities over police radio and gave a full and detailed description of the vehicle. After the shooting, he again used the radio to report the event and related that the rear window of the wanted vehicle had been hit by bullets.

Garner Pozgay, employed at a pharmacy located at Knowles and Connecticut Avenues, testified that he left the pharmacy at about 8:30 P.M., walked to his automobile, and as he was inserting the key into the door lock of his car, Dorman approached claiming to have a gun in his pocket and ordered him into the car. As they entered the vehicle Laws entered from the passenger side. As Dorman drove the vehicle from the parking lot he asked instructions to the beltway-which Pozgay gave. As they were riding, an alarm was broadcast over the case radio concerning a robbery and also a shooting of a police officer. Laws referred to the officer as a 'son of a bitch' and said he had 'hoped he had gotten the son of a bitch good.' Pozgay turned off the car radio fearing an announcement about himself and his car. After a period of time the car left the beltway because, as Laws stated, there was a danger of being apprehended. Laws also stated that he had been shot and that he desired to make a telephone call. The car was stopped, and as Laws got out he passed a snub nosed pistol to Dorman telling Dorman to shoot Pozgay if he attempted to make a break. After Laws returned to the car he told Pozgay that the men were going to take his car and that it was better for Pozgay to give up his car than give up his life. Ultimately, Pozgay was released from the car on McArthur Boulevard. Subsequently he hailed a car and was taken to a police station where he reported the events. Pozgay was in the vehicle with Laws and Dorman for a period of approximately 35 minutes and had been transported approximately 12 1/2 miles-all within the confines of Montgomery County. Pozgay also related that he was scared and that he was led to believe that if he did not cooperate to the fullest with the men that he was going to be killed. He stated that he had full opportunity to observe both of the men, and that he was positive in his identification of them.

The next prosecution witness, Sergeant James Morrison, of the Montgomery County Police Department, related that he had received a police radio lookout for a 1964 green Pontiac automobile, bearing Indiana license 53 C 1604, with bullet holes in the rear window, which had been involved in a holdup and also a shooting of a police officer. He also had received information of the offense at Knowles and Connecticut Avenues. He related that at approximately 9:45 P.M. on February 8, 1967, while cruising in the Kensington, Maryland area he observed the automobile corresponding to the broadcast description, except that the vehicle and no license plates. The vehicle was discovered parked on a dead-end public street, St. Paul Street, adjacent to a building, approximately three blocks from Knowles and Connecticut Avenues. Sergeant Morrison immediately notified his supervisors, and did not disturb the vehicle in any manner.

Detective Richard Kitterman related that the vehicle was searched at a nearby police station and that, among other things, two hats, a trench coat and laundry slips were found therein. The laundry slips bore the name Dorman. The serial number plate usually located on the door frame of the vehicle had previously been removed; however, an F.B.I. agent was albe to locate another serial number secretly stamped elsewhere on the vehicle, thus enabling the police to trace the car's ownership.

Mr. Theodore Lalos, stated that he had sold the vehicle to Laws on January 14, 1967. The witness next observed the car at the police station on Februarty 9, 1967, at which time he was able to identify the vehicle. He especially noted that he was able to identify it by the presence of three holes in the rear window ledge, which he had drilled therein to accommodate a baby seat.

The final witness for the State, Agent Otto Handwerk, established that Laws was arrested in May, 1967 in Raytown, Missouri, on the basis of a federal warrant issued in connection with the kidnapping and other Maryland offenses. A search of Laws' motel room produced the serial number plate which had been removed from the 1964 Pontiac automobile.

No evidence was presented on behalf of the appellants.

Appellants contend that since they were tried under two indictments, one for robbery and one for kidnapping which had been consolidated for trial that under Maryland Rule 746 a (2) they were each entitled to forty challenges. We are not impressed with their argument but since neither of them used all of the twenty challenges they were each allowed by the court the matter is not before us for review because they were not, in any way, harmed by the ruling of the court. See Johns v. State, 55 Md. 350, 364; Dubs v. State, 2 Md.App. 524, 532, 235 A.2d 764.

Laws and Dorman both contend that the trial court...