Briscoe v. State

Per Curiam. Appellant, Robert Briscoe, who was an admitted user of narcotics before 1958, was tried by the court sitting without ¹²² a jury, and convicted on two counts of possession and control of narcotics. He was sentenced to five years in the Maryland House of Correction and on this appeal from the judgment and sentence presents only the question of the sufficiency of the evidence. The record discloses that on September 7, 1961, at about 6:30 p. m.

Officer Buchanan and an unidentified undercover agent went to the vicinity of Pennsylvania Avenue and Hoffman Street in Baltimore City. Here they met one Wilbur Carter. Several telephone calls were made, after which officer Buchanan gave a sum of money to the undercover man, who in turn passed that money to Carter. Another man then appeared and sold a quantity of heroin to Carter, in the presence of the other two.

At the trial the State’s witness, Officer Buchana'n, made a positive identification of the appellant Briscoe as the person who had sold the narcotic to Wilbur Carter. However, Briscoe was not arrested at the time, nor did Officer Buchanan identify himself to Carter as a police officer. Briscoe was arrested on November 6, 1961, some two months after the above transaction. Appellant denied every aspect of the State’s case and stated that there was another Briscoe living in his neighborhood who sold narcotic drugs, and that it was all a case of “mistaken identity.” However, he offered no evidence as to’ the other Briscoe’s first name, his place of employment, address, nor gave any other information which would have been