Arrington v. State

Sybert, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant, Theodore Roosevelt Arrington, was convicted of murder in the first degree by the trial court, sitting without a jury and, after-being denied a new trial by the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, was sentenced to death. This appeal challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. The trial judge concluded at the close of the trial that every element required -in a first degree murder case had been “overwhelmingly established”.

There is ample evidence in the record upon which the trier of facts could base that conclusion. The following matters were testified to by various witnesses for the State. On December 23, 1960, between 11:00 A.M. and 12 noon> the appellant and the deceased were playing cards in a union hall along with three other men. At about noon, the appellant accused the deceased of cheating him in a hand of cards and rough language passed between -the two, one witness testifying that the appellant told the deceased he was going to kill him before 6:00 o’clock.

The game then continued until about 5:30 P.M., when the appellant left the room. By his own admission he went to another room where he re ¹⁴⁵ trieved a rifle which he had left there earlier, and loaded it with a cartridge. He returned to the other room in about five minutes with the rifle and fired one shot which fatally wounded the victim, who was seated at the card table. He then left the union hall and fled to Virginia, where he surrendered to the authorities several days later.

In a statement made to the police and received in evidence without objection, appellant admitted shooting the victim. He alleged that the deceased and another man had yoked and robbed him in the bathroom of the union hall and that he shot the deceased when he refused to return his money. In his testimony at the trial he reiterated this story, and in addition stated that he had