Curreri v. State

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Joseph Curreri was tried and convicted of bookmaking in Baltimore City in the rear of 3057 West North Avenue, at its intersection with Rosedale Street. Sergeant Mcenna, with other officers, went there on April 6, 1951, armed with a search warrant which was subsequently ruled invalid by the trial court. He testified that on the Rosedale Street side there is an outdoor fruit stand covered by an awning; behind the stand is “one room that belongs to the fruit stand”, containing some produce.

There is no doorway from the room into any other part of the house. People enter the room to purchase produce. He entered the room behind the stand and saw the defendant sitting on a stool before a table on which a radio was giving race results. On the table were six bet slips and a scratch sheet.

The defendant attempted to stuff the slips into a slot in the radio, but McKenna grabbed them. On the slips were the names of horses running that day. These papers were offered in evidence over the defendant’s objection. We find no error in the court’s ruling.

The officers had as much right to enter the store as any other member of the public. Machen, Search and Seizure (1950) page 5; Silverstein v. State, 176 Md. 533, 542 , 6 A. 2d 465 . From what they saw, they might properly conclude that the accused was making book or operating ⁵⁶ a gambling establishment. Fischer v. State, 195 Md. 477, 480-481 , 74 A. 2d 34, 36 ; Silverstein v. State, supra.

This evidence came as a result of their observation and not as a result of a search. After arrest for the crime committed in their presence, they had a right to search such property as was within the immediate possession and control of the defendant. Fischer v. State, supra. Sergeant McKenna also testified that he saw a man in the rear of the room, writing on a slip of paper the names of two horses.

This man, William Thomas, then approached the defendant and tried to make a bet, but McKenna took it. Two other men in the store told McKenna, in the defendant’s presence, that they had made bets that day with Curreri. McKenna also testified that a woman entered the store with a bet slip and some money in her hand. Curreri admitted to McKenna that he was taking bets, but said his brother Samuel, who ran the fruit stand, had no interest in the bookmaking.

He said Sam had gone to the races