39 A.2d 685 | Md. | 1944
On October 26, 1943, the appellant was found guilty by a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County of assault with intent to rape. The next day he was sentenced by the court to ten years in the penitentiary and *572 two days later (October 29) there was filed a "motion to set aside sentence and for new trial." This motion was argued and overruled on February 15, 1944, and on February 18 notice of appeal was filed.
It is to be noted at the outset that neither the motion itself nor the order for appeal appear in the record and that not a single exception was reserved at the trial. Besides the docket entries, all that the record does show is a transcript of testimony and even this is unauthenticated.
It is apparent, therefore, that on the very face of the proceedings there is no ground for this appeal. It was presumably taken from the adverse ruling on the motion "to set aside sentence and for new trial," but there is nothing in the record or before this Court, by way of argument or otherwise, to indicate that this paper was anything more than the formal motion for a new trial. It is elementary that the ruling of the trial court on such a motion is not appealable. Archer v. State,
It is likewise thoroughly settled that while a motion to strike out a judgment, as distinguished from a motion for a new trial, is appealable (Duker v. State,
In the case at bar no reasons or grounds whatever for the appeal are shown in the record, and the only argument presented was that contained in appellant's brief. There, it is pointed out, his case rests upon alleged insufficiency of evidence, and nothing more — his whole contention being summed up in these words: "The Appellant contends that the State did not establish by *573 proof beyond a reasonable doubt every fact material to the guilt of the defendant of the crime charged * * *."
That this is a matter addressed directly and solely to the discretion of the trial court on a motion for a new trial, following the determination by the jury of the sufficiency of the evidence, is too plain for comment. This Court has repeatedly ruled in so many words that the question of the legal sufficiency of evidence in a criminal case to sustain a conviction is exclusively for the jury to determine. Berger v. State,
It is equally plain that this is not a question reviewable on appeal. As stated by this Court in the Berger case, supra [
Even assuming that the motion filed by appellant in the case at bar was in the nature of one in arrest of judgment, and not merely the ordinary motion for a new trial, no reversible error is shown in this ruling of the trial court on the motion. The appeal must, therefore, be dismissed.
Appeal dismissed, with costs. *574