Colie v. State

Collins, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal by Wyndol O. Colie from a judgment entered upon a verdict of “guilty” by a jury, under a warrant charging him with accepting bets and making a book on a running race of horses in Montgomery County. Code 1939, Article 27, Section 291. During the trial of the case, Officer Robert A. Popcke testified, over objection, that the accused on the 2nd day of November, 1948, in conversation with him, gave him the telephone number of a booking establishment where he could place “call-in bets.” He testified that this number, Michigan 6475, was written by the defendant on an envelope and handed to him.

This envelope was admitted in evidence over objection. The appellant ⁶¹¹ that this testimony of the police officer and the envelope should not have been admitted. This conversation took place only a day before the offense charged. This testimony was later followed up by evidence that Officer Popcke on November 2nd, 1948, called the telephone number given him by the accused and, after using Colie’s name as a reference, placed a bet on a horse.

On November 3rd, the officer paid to the defendant, at his request, five dollars for the bet he had lost the previous day. On November 5th, 1948, the appellant paid the officer the sum of $6.40 for winning a bet he had placed two days before at Michigan 6475. The evidence, objected to, was a part of a chain of testimony which proved the charge and it was relevant to the offense charged in the warrant. The telephone number was part of the general scheme of placing “call-in bets.” Hitzelberger v. State, 174 Md. 152, 161 , 197 A. 605 .

Even if error were committed in permitting the introduction of this evidence, which we do not find, the accused was not prejudiced by the Court’s ruling because when the accused took the stand in his own defense he was asked, by his own counsel, about his conversation with Officer Popcke and he admitted it, saying that he gave the telephone number to Officer Popcke and collected the loss of $5.00 and delivered the winnings of $6.40 as favors to the officer and to the bookmaker. He admitted in his own testimony the statements of the officer, to which he formerly objected. This Court has often ruled that when inadmissible evidence is admitted over objection, if the same evidence is later admitted without objection, the error is harmless. Damm v. State, 128 Md. 665, 669 , 97 A. 645 ; Smith v. State, 182 Md. 176, 184 , 32 A. 2d 863 ; Purviance v. State, 185 Md. 189, 200 , 44 A. 2d 474 ; Courtney v. State, 187 Md. 1, 17 , 48 A. 2d 430 ; Barber v. State, 191 Md. 555, 563-564 , 62 A. 2d 616, 620 .

During the trial Officer Popcke was asked what he meant by a “call-in bet,” and no objection was made to that question, and the officer explained the meaning of a “call-in bet.” The only objection was later to the officer ⁶¹² giving an example of a “call-in bet.” This example was not given. As no objection was made, the question is not properly before this Court. Without objection and without an opportunity for the trial court to pass upon the question, there is nothing for this Court to review. Courtney v. State, 187 Md. 1, 4, 5 , 48 A. 2d 430 ; Davis v. State, 189 Md. 269, 273 , 55 A. 2d 702, 704 .

The appellant claims that the officer should have first been qualified as an expert, and a proper foundation should have been laid to show that he had previous knowledge of the operation of such a system for receiving call-in bets. If this point were