Jones v. State

Per Curiam. The appellant was found guilty at a court trial in the Criminal Court of Baltimore of two offenses of assault and battery and given consecutive sentences of imprisonment for three years on each offense. ⁴⁴⁶ About 8:00 P.M. on 1 February 1967 Edna N. Lindley had gone to the store and was walking on Hampden Avenue near 28th Street in Baltimore City to return home when the appellant approached her. As he walked by her he “made a turn and grabbed me by the back of my neck. When he grabbed me, I kicked him, I hit him in the stomach and I run and he was exposed and everything.” She fought herself free.

She said she meant by “exposed” that “his sexual organ was out, was exposed * * * and his fly was down.” She yelled and sought help in a “corner bar” but “by the time they came out looking for him he was gone.” The incident was reported to the police. About 9:00 P.M. the same night Mrs. William Blucher, nee Debra Sadler, had walked her father to the bus stop and on her way home passed a church at the corner of 30th and Harrington Streets. She saw a friend in the church and she stopped to talk to him, leaning over a small wall surrounding the church property. The appellant came up “and leaned himself * * * pushed himself against me * * * he was exposed * * * his pants were undone.” Her friend yelled and “the man started to walk away.” Her friend went after him but she called him back and they “got the police.” No evidence was presented on behalf of the appellant, although without taking the stand he stated to the court that after his arrest he heard police officers, in obscene terms, say that they would assure that “he won’t get out.” The appellant contends on appeal from the judgments that the court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal, alleging that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the convictions. “Any unlawful injury whatsoever, however slight, actually done to the person of another, directly or indirectly, in an angry, revengeful, rude or insolent manner, is a battery.

Every battery includes an assault, so on an