225 Md. 540 | Md. | 1961
On June 5, 1959, at approximately 2:20 A.M., Mrs. Bev
His contention is essentially that, but for the trial court’s erroneous belief that a cap, which was admittedly the defendant’s, had been found at the place where a suspect fleeing from the scene of the assault was last seen by pursuing witnesses, the judge, as the trier of the facts, would not or, at least, might well not have deemed the identification of the appellant sufficient to warrant his conviction. Actually the place where the cap was found was about four or five blocks from the point where the pursuers lost sight of the suspect, but it was on a direct route from that point (Eager Street and Kenwood Avenue) to the appellant’s home at 913 N. Chapel Street, which is less than one block south of the intersection of Eager and Chapel Streets. He was arrested at his home a little later that night (or early morning). The error as to the identity of locations seems trivial in the light of this fact and of the other evidence in the case. This included : identification of the defendant by the victim, testimony of the pursuing witnesses, who had been in a car less than a block away, that they heard the screams of the victim, and then drove to the scene of the attack and saw a man fitting the description of the appellant as to physical appearance and clothing come out of the areaway, hesitate, put something under his arm and then run, that they pursued him for about two and a half blocks (to Kenwood Avenue and Eager Street) and then lost sight of him; evidence that the car parked at the point of the attack with its door open and engine running belonged to the defendant’s father, that the
Questions of fact and credibility were, of course, primarily for determination by the trier of the facts, and we find no basis for holding his conclusion erroneous. It seems to us to make no real difference whether the cap of the fleeing appellant was found at the spot where he was last seen by the pursuing witnesses or at a place between that spot and his home where he was arrested a little later. The error as to the exact spot along the defendant’s route where the cap was found does not appear to have been raised in the trial court (cf. Bichell v. State, 222 Md. 418, 421, 161 A. 2d 116, cert. den., 364 U. S. 872); but even assuming the point to be properly before us, the error, we think, was of no real significance and did not render the judge’s ultimate conclusion “clearly erroneous.” The judgment must accordingly be affirmed. Maryland Rule 741 c. Cf. Ward v. State, 219 Md. 559, 563, 150 A. 2d 257.
Judgment affirmed.