Hammond v. State

Per Curiam. James A. Hammond, Jr., the appellant, was found guilty of larceny of $114 in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, by Judge James K. Cullen, sitting without a jury. He was sentenced to ⁷³⁵ not more than three years in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Men, and has appealed. On July 10, 1964, Wayne Petty, an employee of an A. & P. Supermarket, located at 252 North Franklintown Road, was giving change to a customer when a man standing in the next checkout aisle reached into the cash register Petty was operating, grabbed a handful of bills, then ran out of the store and south down Franklintown Road.

Petty immediately called for the store manager, John L. Joseph, who was later to testify that Petty described the thief as wearing a “brownish red shirt and smoked glasses.” Upon receiving this description Mr. Joseph immediately ran out the front door and saw a man answering this description running south on Franklintown Road. He testified that he shouted for the man to stop and then proceeded to give chase. While the fleeing man was still in sight, Joseph hailed a passing motorcycle policeman, Officer Jerome Welsh of the Baltimore City police, who quickly apprehended the man (later identified as Hammond) after he had run into a dead-end alley across from 230 Franklintown Road. Officer Welsh testified that as he approached the appellant the latter reached into his pocket.

Anticipating that the suspect was going to draw a weapon, the police officer grabbed his hand. In the appellant’s hand were clutched a number of bills. Officer Welsh then counted these in the presence of the appellant and Mr. Joseph, and they totaled $114. After Joseph told the officer the circumstances under which the money was taken from the store, the appellant was placed under arrest.

According to Officer Welsh’s testimony, Hammond later gave an oral statement in which he admitted taking the money from the store, but refused to sign a written confession to that effect. At the trial William Petty testified that “he got a pretty good look from the side” when the thief