Harper v. State

Per Curiam. On February 26, 1968, an indictment was filed charging appellant, Wesley Leon Harper, with conspiracy to rob with a dangerous and deadly weapon, conspiracy to rob, and conspiracy to assault. Trial was held in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County before Judge John E. Raine, Jr., sitting without a jury. A verdict of guilty of conspiracy to rob was returned and a sentence of five years under the jurisdiction of the Department of Correction was imposed.

Appellant appeals from the conviction, presenting as the only question whether the evidence was sufficient to warrant conviction. The relevant evidence given at trial was the following: At approximately 3:00 a.m. on February 4, 1968, Miss Linda D. Chullin was driving her automobile, with appellant and one Joseph Heffler, Jr. as her front seat companions, in the Essex area of Baltimore. She removed her girdle and nylon stockings in the ladies’ room of a gasoline station because they were “bothering” her and placed them on the rear seat of her automobile under her coat. At the suggestion of one of her companions, she drove to the Towson area in the vicinity of the Park Towson Motel and parked in a dark area of the street, outside of the motel parking lot and approximately thirty-five yards from the motel entrance, with the car lights off and the engine running.

Appellant and Heffler left the automobile, instructing her to wait. One of the two men reached into the rear seat and took her nylon stockings; both men then walked to the motel. At this point Corporal Richard Bussey of the Baltimore County Police Department, while on routine patrol, drove into the motel driveway, observed exhaust fumes coming from the darkened automobile, and pulled up to this automobile. Miss Chullin told Corporal Bussey that her husband had gone to the ³ bathroom at the motel.

Corporal Bussey then observed the two men, both dressed in black, walking toward the automobile from the front door area of the motel. In response to the officer’s query, appellant and Heffler said they had gone to the motel for cigarettes. Noting the operator of the motel walking around in the office, Corporal Bussey concluded that he had no basis to detain the group, recorded their names, and dismissed them. The three thereupon left the area.

Miss Chullin testified: “* * * then one of them said that they almost got busted, so, then I said, what did the police want you for, and they said they thought the police thought that they were robbing the motel. I said, well, did you, and they said, no. Well, one of them said no, then the other one said he couldn’t find the office, so, then I asked them what they did with my nylons and they said they threw them.” After the three had left, Corporal Bussey walked to the motel entrance and found a pair of women’s nylon stockings by the doormat. These stockings were introduced at trial and identified by Miss Chullin as being the same color and looking like hers.

Corporal Bussey found also that the