Dodson v. State

Powers, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. A jury in Prince George’s County found appellant guilty of murder in the first degree and" guilty of robbery. To its verdict finding appellant guilty of murder, the jury added the words “without capital punishment”. Sentences of life imprisonment and of ten years, consecutive to the life sentence, were imposed, and this appeal was taken.

The only contention made here is that appellant is deprived of the equal protection of the laws by an anomaly in the statutes in Maryland relating to sentencing. The pertinent statutes are Code, Art. 27, §§ 413 and 643. Section 413 prescribes the penalty for first degree murder. As last enacted by Chapter 214, Laws of Maryland, 1916, it provides that, “Every person convicted of murder in the first degree, his or her aiders, abettors and counsellors, shall suffer death, or undergo a confinement in the penitentiary of the State for the period of their natural life, in the discretion of the court * * The 1916 amendment added the provision that the jury, in rendering its verdict, “* * * may add thereto the words ‘without capital punishment’, in which case the sentence of the court shall be imprisonment for life * * 1 ⁴⁸⁵ Section 643, enacted by Chapter 536, 2 Laws of Maryland, 1906, and unchanged since that time, provides: “In all cases where the law prescribing a punishment for crime fixes a maximum and a minimum penalty therefor, the judge of the Criminal Court of Baltimore and the several judges of the circuit courts of the counties may, in lieu of the minimum penalty so prescribed, impose a less penalty of the same character; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as affecting any maximum penalty fixed by law, or the punishment for any crime where the law provides one and only one penalty.” Appellant argues that when a jury returns a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, without any qualifying words, the trial judge, under § 643, may impose a lesser sentence than that prescribed in § 413, such as a term of years.

But,