Taylor v. State

• Decision Date: 22 November 1946
• Docket Number: 24.
• Citation: 49 A.2d 787,187 Md. 306
• Parties: TAYLOR et al. v. STATE.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

49 A.2d 787

187 Md. 306

TAYLOR et al. v. STATE.

No. 24.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

November 22, 1946

Two Appeals from Circuit Court, Prince George's County Charles C. Marbury and John B. Gray, Jr., Judges.

Willie Gray Taylor and James Clarence Raymond Washington were convicted of rape, and they appeal separately.

Affirmed.

Austin L. Fickling and Leon A. Ransom, both of Washington, D. C for appellant Taylor.

Robert W. McCullough, of Washington, D. C., for appellant Washington.

William Curran, Atty. Gen. (J. Edgar Harvey, Asst Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellee.

Before MARBURY, C.J., and DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, GRASON, HENDERSON, and MARKELL, JJ.

COLLINS, Judge.

Here considered are two appeals in one record, one by James Clarence Raymond Washington, a negro boy sixteen years of age at the time of the trial, and the other by Willie Gray Taylor, a negro boy fifteen years of age at the time of the trial, from verdicts of guilty and sentence of death on conviction of rape of a young white woman, hereinafter known as the prosecuting witness.

The case was tried before two judges sitting as a jury.

The evidence shows that on the night of March 16, 1946, these two appellants with two other negro youths, Charles and Walter Ross, were playing 'craps' behind a school house near their homes in Prince George's County. After the game, they all went to and sat in an abandoned automobile on the side of the road. While in this car they entered into a discussion and conceived the plan of surprising and robbing the occupants of any car they might find parked on Sheriff's Road known as 'Lover's Lane.' They left the car and went to the home of Charles and Walter Ross, where they secured a rifle and came back to Sheriff's Road with the intent to hold up and rob any persons they might find parked there. While walking up the road appellant Taylor claims that they met a car and thinking he might be recognized, he then left Washington and Charles Ross and returned to the abandoned car alongside the road and waited until the other boys returned. Taylor said Walter Ross also left and went home. He said Washington came back to the abandoned car and gave him ten dollars of the stolen money.

The State offered the evidence of the prosecuting witness and Beyer, in spite of what Taylor says, that all four boys proceeded up the road and Taylor stuck a rifle into the front door of the car, forced the man, Beyer, who was with the young woman in the car, out of the car and robbed him of his money and watch. Taylor then jumped in the car, grabbed the prosecuting witness by the arm, and by twisting her arm threw her to the ground. Taylor then raped the prosecuting witness while the other boys surrounded Beyer and kept a gun pointed toward him. After the prosecuting witness was raped by Taylor, Charles Ross and Washington then raped her. She then thought that the boys would leave but Taylor returned and raped her again and one of the other boys, whom she thought was Washington, raped her a second time. During this period of approximately two and one half hours they kept Beyer covered with a gun in the immediate vicinity and during this period Taylor used very vulgar language to the prosecuting witness. She 'hollered,' called several times to Beyer and begged these boys to let her go. Beyer could do nothing because he was covered with a gun. The four boys then ran into the woods. Beyer heard someone say 'they were going to shoot.' Beyer, with the prosecuting witness, jumped into the automobile, started it, and went immediately to Beyer's home. Witnesses there testified that the prosecuting witness was in a hysterical condition, her clothes disarranged, and twigs and leaves in her hair. She was examined by a physician who testified that he found stains on her undergarments, a bruise on her wrist, and his examination showed that she had recently engaged in sexual intercourse. This assault was immediately reported to the police.

The next morning the police showed pictures from their files to the prosecuting witness and she identified the picture of Washington. The police then went to Washington's home where they found a pair of shoes which made marks resembling those at the scene of the crime. The police say that Washington was advised by his father and mother to tell the truth and upon information furnished by Washington, Willie Taylor and the Ross boys were arrested.

The two appellants, together with Charles and Walter Ross, were jointly indicted. The Ross boys removed their cases to another jurisdiction. Willie Taylor entered a plea of not guilty and Washington entered a special plea of not guilty because of insanity. Taylor made a motion for severance and asked that he be tried separate and apart from the other defendants. The court refused this motion and he was tried with Washington.

After the trial, where both the appellants elected to be tried before the court sitting as a jury, and after the aforegoing evidence and other evidence was presented together with alleged confessions made by Washington and Taylor, the appellants were found guilty and sentenced to death.

The appellant Washington assigns as error the admission of the two alleged confessions in evidence, and that, because there was testimony that he had the mentality of a child between nine and ten years of age, he was not capable of forming a criminal intent such as to justify the court in sentencing him to death for the crime he committed.

As both Taylor and Washington contended that their alleged confessions should not have been admitted in evidence, we shall first discuss the admissibility of these alleged confessions. Both appellants claim that the police officers threatened them and committed physical violence upon their persons, as a result of which they were forced to sign and make these alleged statements. The appellant Taylor had a cut on the side of his face which he and James Washington claim was inflicted by one of the officers on the way to the police station. Taylor's mother, father, and grandfather all testified that Taylor had no marks on his face when he left home the morning of the arrest. The police officers, with the exception of two who said that they never saw any mark on Taylor's face, testified that this mark was there when he was arrested. The State accounts for this mark on Taylor's face by the testimony of the prosecuting witness who said that, while Taylor was raping her, Charles Ross hit him on the side of the head with a gun and told him to get off and give him a chance. James Washington could neither read nor write and his alleged written confession was signed by a mark, with his father, John T. Washington, signing as a witness. The officers testified that the statement was read to James Washington in the presence of his mother and father. Although the mother was on the stand, she did not say what occurred at the time this statement was taken. John T. Washington did not testify in the case. The officers vigorously deny that any threats were made against either of the appellants and that physical violence was used against either of them. The admissibility of a confession is usually contested in every serious criminal case. Of course the burden of proof is upon the State to prove that a confession is fairly and voluntarily made and not obtained by force, threats, or inducements. Every care should be taken not to force or persuade one accused of crime to make statements incriminating one. If he, however, voluntarily makes statements incriminating himself, they are properly admissible in evidence. The trial court in this case, as in others, heard testimony both from the accused and the State as to the admissibility of these statements. They saw the witnesses. They observed their demeanor while on the stand and were able to judge of their credibility. This Court is convinced that the trial judges did not err in admitting these statements in evidence. Markley v. State, 173 Md. 309, 317, 196 A. 95; McCleary v. State, 122 Md. 394, 404, 89 A. 1100; Rasin v. State, 153 Md. 431, 441, 138 A. 338; Demby and Peters v. State, Md., 48 A.2d 586. It was said by this Court in the recent case of Lubinski v. State, 180 Md. 1, at pages 7 and 8, 22 A.2d 455, 459: 'The Court, which passed on the admissibility of the evidence in this case, while sitting as a Court, also had to pass on its weight while sitting as a jury, and it must be presumed that he considered the latter in reaching his verdict. Both while sitting as a Court, and while sitting as a jury, he had the opportunity of observing the witnesses, and hearing the testimony, and we are unwilling to disturb his conclusion that the State had sustained the necessary burden of proof and that the confession should be admitted. Each case has to be considered upon its own facts and circumstances. While the rights of the accused should be carefully protected, we cannot adopt the view that the trial Court erred in admitting a confession merely because the accused claimed that certain words were spoken to him, and that claim is entirely unsupported by any other evidence, and is flatly denied by the officer. The decision of such a question, when it arises, must be left largely to the discretion of the trial Court. We find no error in the ruling of the court * * *.'

As to the contention that because Washington was deemed by two members of the State Board of Mental Hygiene to have the mentality of a child between nine and ten years of age he was not capable of forming a criminal intent, the case of Spencer v. State, 69 Md. 28, 13 A. 809, has long been a corner stone in the law of this State on the question of criminal responsibility of one claiming to be insane and has been frequently referred to by this Court,...