Graham v. State

Morton, J.,, delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant, Paul McAndrew Graham, was convicted of murder in the first degree and of robbery with a deadly ¹⁷³ weapon by a jury in the Criminal Court of Baltimore. Respective sentences of life imprisonment and 20 years, concurrent, were imposed. The record indicates that on April 12, 1970, at approximately 11:45 p.m., a Baltimore City police officer was directed to the body of Leon Ford, Jr., lying in an embankment on the Carroll Park Golf Course.

The officer testified that the body was covered with debris; blood stained napkins were found in the deceased’s pockets; and a blue hospital pad was found on top of the body and another one 50 feet away. A member of the Chief Medical Examiner’s office testified that he performed an autopsy and it revealed that the body contained 10 gunshot wounds, three of which were sufficient to cause death. One of the bullets pierced the deceased’s left wrist and, according to the doctor, he was able to match the hole in the band of a wristwatch, owned by the deceased, with the bullet wound in the deceased’s wrist. He further testified that death had occurred some three to four days prior to discovery of the body but stated, additionally, “that a body with this much decomposition could have been killed two weeks prior to discovery of the body * * It was stipulated by the defense and the State that bullets recovered at the scene of the crime and from the body were fired from a .38 caliber revolver.

The murder weapon was never found. Over objection, Graham’s brother-in-law, a police officer, testified that Graham lived with him from March 1970 until a Thursday early in April 1970 and that a week after Graham left, he discovered that his .38 caliber revolver was missing. He stated that Graham knew he owned the gun and had access to the bedroom where it was kept. The 11 year old sister of the deceased testified that Graham came to their home in the early evening of April 3, 1970, and asked the deceased to drive him to Belvedere Avenue; that they then left in the deceased’s car; and she never again saw her brother alive. ¹⁷⁴ A brother of the deceased testified that about 7:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. on April 3, 1970, he saw his brother and Graham drive away in the deceased’s 1970 blue Mustang.

He made an in-court identification of a wristwatch, with what appeared to be a bullet hole in the band, as having been worn by the deceased that evening and identified two rings, one with a U.S.N. insignia and one with a red stone, as having been on a key chain worn by the deceased that evening. This was the last time he saw his brother alive. Edward Turner testified that about 1:30 a.m. on April 4, 1970, he saw Graham in South Baltimore driving alone in a 1970 blue Mustang. Graham told him he was test driving the car for the purpose of buying it.

Graham said .he was about to drive to North Carolina to see his wife and asked Turner to accompany him but Turner refused. They then met some girls with whom they stayed until about 2:30 a.m. He last saw Graham driving the blue Mustang in the direction of the Baltimore-Washington Expressway at about 2:45 a.m. He further stated that although Graham did not seem upset that night, he did appear to be in a hurry.

An officer of the Fayetteville, North Carolina, Police Department testified that at a police assembly in the early afternoon of April 13, 1970, he was advised “to be on the lookout for a 1970 blue Mustang with Maryland registration unknown, occupied by Paul Graham and a description followed which was a Negro male, approximately six foot two, 190 pounds”; and that Graham was “wanted for murder.” The officer stated that about 4:30 the same afternoon, while driving a marked police car, he observed a 1970 blue Mustang with Maryland plates being operated by a negro male with a white passenger; that he observed the car stop and discharge the passenger and then drive off. The officer radioed for assistance and a short time later he and officers in another police car stopped the Mustang. According to the officer, he stood on the left hand side of the Mustang while a fellow ¹⁷⁵ officer stood on the right. He asked the driver, whom he identified in court as the appellant, Graham, for his operator’s license and his vehicle registration.

According to the officer, appellant hesitated whereupon the officers “pulled out” their service revolvers and appellant then produced a billfold. As appellant was going through the billfold, the officer standing at the right of the vehicle stated “this is Graham. There’s some identification with his name on it.” The billfold contained identification cards of the appellant. It also contained a social security-card, driver’s license and registration card in the name of the deceased, Leon Ford, Jr., and a pawn ticket issued to Graham for a wristwatch owned by the deceased.

The officer also testified that they took two rings from Graham which were later identified as those of the deceased. A Baltimore City police officer testified that he went to Fayetteville, North Carolina, searched the Mustang and observed blood on the floor and arm rest and recovered a blue hospital pad similar to those found at the murder scene. Graham took the stand and conceded that the deceased drove him to Belvedere Avenue on the evening of April 3, 1970, but stated that they spent the early evening drinking with two girls, whose last names he did not know, during which time the deceased offered to lend him his car to drive to North Carolina to see his wife. At 10:45 p.m. one of the girls and the deceased left to get some marijuana with $10 he had given to the girl.

According to Graham, the girl returned in about 45 minutes alone and gave him the keys to the deceased’s car. 1 According to Graham, he left in the deceased’s car and drove to the Westport area where he met Turner, drank with some girls for several hours and thereafter drove to North Carolina. He visited his wife and mother for several days and, according to him, was planning to return ¹⁷⁶ to Baltimore on April 7 since he had promised the deceased to return the car on the Monday following his Thursday departure from Baltimore. He testified that on April 6 he was arrested at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and held overnight for investigation of being AWOL and then released.

He intended to return to Baltimore immediately but was then arrested for being drunk and again turned over to the authorities at Ft. Bragg and again subsequently released. He denied ever owning or having in his possession a .38 caliber revolver; said he tried to telephone the deceased to inform him he would be late getting the car back to Baltimore but could not reach him; admitted pawning the deceased’s watch but asserted he found it between the seats of the car; and stated that he found the deceased’s driver’s license and registration card in the glove compartment of the car. He denied having “any argument, fight or anything” with the deceased during the time he was with him on April 3, 1970.

In this appeal, the first contention relates to the testimony of Graham’s brother-in-law, a police officer, that his .38 caliber revolver was discovered to be missing a week after Graham left his home and that Graham knew of the gun and had access to it. It is contended that the admission of this testimony was highly prejudicial and that the prejudice far outweighed any probative relevancy it may have possessed. We do not agree. As was stated in Nichols v. State, 5 Md. App. 340 , 350: “Circumstantial evidence consists of proof of collateral facts and circumstances from which the existence of the main fact may be inferred according to reason and common experience.

It is admissible whenever relevant to the determination of guilt or innocence and great latitude is allowed, the court being given a wide discretion in admitting any fact or circumstance which may throw some light upon or serve as a link in a chain of evidence bearing upon the issues at trial.” ¹⁷⁷ It was stipulated that the victim was killed by bullets fired from a .38 caliber revolver. The testimony of Graham’s brother-in-law established that Graham had access to his .38 caliber revolver and that the revolver was missing at the time of the murder. We cannot say that the circumstance of Graham’s access to the missing gun was so remote or irrelevant as to compel a finding that the lower court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence the testimony relating thereto. Appellant next contends that his arrest in North Carolina was unlawful and, thus, the articles seized incident to that arrest were improperly admitted into evidence.

The legality of appellant’s arrest must be determined by the law of the jurisdiction in which he was arrested. Boddie and Brooks v. State, 6 Md. App. 523, 531 . See Miller v. United States, 357 U. S. 301, 305 . The applicable North Carolina law is found in Section 15-41 (2) of the General Statutes of North Carolina (1965 Repl.

Vol.) which provides: 2 “A peace officer may without warrant arrest a person: * * * (2) [w]hen the officer has