Gray v. State

PER Curiam. The appellant, Raymond J. A. Gray, and two others were tried and convicted by the Circuit Court for Allegany County on a charge of armed robbery. About a month before the trial, and very soon after the attack, a County investigator interviewed a sister of the appellant and obtained her signature to a statement relating a conversation pertaining to the robbery between the three defendants which was damaging to them all. The following day she visited the State’s Attorney and repudiated the statement.

At the trial she was called as a witness by the State and again repudiated her statement. Over objection, the trial court permitted the State’s Attorney to use the statement to contradict and impeach the witness, basing the ruling upon surprise. The statement was also admitted in evidence. There was no showing of surprise and the nature of the statement clearly shows that it was prejudicial to the appellant.

The rule concerning the State’s impeaching its own witness was stated and fully discussed in the recent case of Bruce v. State, 218 Md. 87 . Accordingly the judgment must be reversed. The appellant made a general objection to the admission of a statement made by one of his co-defendants, which statement was damaging to the appellant. In a joint trial, where a statement is admissible against a confessing co-defendant, ⁵⁵⁹ those not confessing are entitled only to have the