8 Md. App. 716 | Md. Ct. Spec. App. | 1970
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Douglas Dewey Obey and Colleen Evette Thompson
We had occasion to review the requirements of an effective acceptance of a plea of guilty in Holloway v. State, 8 Md. App. 618 (1970). We found that the record must show that the plea of guilty was entered by an accused:
(1) voluntarily; and
(2) with an intelligent understanding:
(a) of the nature of the offense; and
(b) of the possible consequences of the plea; and
(3) unconditionally.
Here the court thoroughly canvassed the matter with each accused. See Boykin v. Alabama, 89 S. Ct. 1709;
Upon inquiry by the court Obey gave his version of the facts and circumstances surrounding the events leading to his arrest. He said that he and Miss Thompson had come directly from a night club in New York to Elk-ton to get married. “We had been out all night and we were sitting in a tavern around here, waiting for the bus to come and about 6:30 we left the tavern to go across the street where the bus was,” according to information they had received. It appeared that the bus usually stopped in front of the Colonial Jewelry Store. The door providing actual entrance to the store was set back from the street, so that there was a display window fronting on the street and also on the side approaching the entrance door. It was cold so they waited for the bus beside the window in the area leading to the entrance door. As they were awaiting the bus the side window got broken, although he did not remember how — “I know it got broken.” He did remember picking rings off the ground but did not remember whether or not he took rings out of the window; “I was slightly intoxicated.”
Colleen Thompson said they went to wait for the bus as Obey had recounted. Only the two of them were present when the window broke. At first she said Obey had not broken the window “intentionally,” but when asked, “How did he come to break it?”, she said that she did not know, “I don’t even remember.” She said that she picked the rings off the ground and they were in her hand when she was arrested; Obey had none in his pos
It appeared that the bus driver saw Obey with his hand in the window “shuffling around the glass” and saw Colleen Thompson run toward the bus trying to wave it down.
From a statement Obey gave the police
Eight rings of a total value of $166.50 were found in the possession of Colleen Thompson. She complained about “taking cheap rings,” interpreted by the State’s Attorney from the gist of her remarks that she was mad because he didn’t get a big haul and that they were in trouble about “something small.”
It was brought out by defense counsel that Obey had an I. Q. of 145, and that he was employed by the New York Life Insurance Company as a computer programmer. Colleen Thompson “is by birth from the West Indies” and was four months pregnant with “child of Obey.” The State entered a nolle prosequi of the remaining counts in each criminal information. The court then accepted each plea of guilty to grand larceny.
The contention that the court failed to inform the appellants fully of the right against self-incrimination and the right of cross-examination of witnesses is without merit. Its recitation of their rights included the right to trial, either by jury or the court “with the right to be confronted by the witnesses who would be here to accuse you;” of the presumption of innocence at trial; of the
We hold, as to each appellant, that there was no error in the acceptance of the plea of guilty. Compare Holloway v. State, supra.
Judgments affirmed.
. The briefs give the name as “Colette Evette Thompson.” It appears in the criminal information and throughout the record as “Colleen Evette Thompson.”
. Obey expressly stated that the fact a statement had been given by him to the police had nothing to do with his entering a plea of guilty. Each defendant specifically waived, in open court, any evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether the confession was freely and voluntarily made.
. The State’s Attorney’s impression was that after the original breaking and while the window was being looted, the glass remaining in the window shattered, setting off the alarm.
. Each appellant here said, “Yes,” in answer to the court’s question, “You are pleading guilty because in truth and in fact you are guilty and for no other reason, is that correct?”