Hines v. State

Per Curiam. The appellant, Plollis Hines, was convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree for the shooting of his former sweetheart on a Baltimore street, late at night. He was represented by a lawyer who has had long and wide experience in the trial of criminal cases. When Hines, alleging and showing that he was indigent, appealed, another lawyer was ²⁵² appointed to represent him.

His counsel on appeal went over the transcript with Hines to determine what points should be made and what testimony printed, and after obtaining his agreement on these points, prepared a thorough brief in which it is ably contended that the evidence was insufficient to justify submitting the issue of murder in the first degree to the jury. At the argument, appellant’s counsel informed us that his client had written him that he was dissatisfied with the brief and wished him to withdraw from the case because he had not presented the point of the perjury of the State’s witnesses. We asked counsel to argue and heard him and the State. The appellant was then sent a copy of the transcript and advised by the Court as to what had occurred and told that decision would be deferred, pending the submission by him of any additional data and argument he wished to present.

Appellant, in due course, submitted a long memorandum, much of which is a reproduction of testimony in the transcript. He reiterates the argument that the evidence was insufficient on the question of first degree murder and argues at length that key witnesses, whose testimony was hurtful to him, were not telling the truth and that this was known to the State. Appellant seeks to support his allegations of perjury in three ways. Either he points out differences in accounts of witnesses on inconsequential or insignificant details, or he flatly says that what a witness has testified to is untrue or did not occur, or he argues that what a witness said was so incredible it must have been false.

We have carefully considered appellant’s memorandum and find nothing in it to indicate that perjury was committed, much less that the State knew