Logan v. State

Per Curiam. The Appellant, Thomas S. Logan, with two co-defendants, was convicted in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, without a jury, of robbery and carrying a concealed weapon. Pie was sentenced to ten years in the Maryland Institution for Males for the robbery, and one year for carrying the concealed weapon, the sentences to run consecutively. In this appeal, the Appellant poses eleven questions relating to his conviction.

In substance, however, he questions whether: 1. The evidence of his identity was sufficient to justify his convictions; 2. The Court erred in imposing such a long sentence on the basis of the Appellant’s prior criminal record, and 3. The lower Court erred in not believing the testimony of the alibi witnesses. ²¹⁵ The testimony showed that the victim of the robbery, while walking toward his home about 6:20 p.m., on October 23, 1965, noticed three Negro boys loitering on a street corner.

As he started crossing the street, they “swung in behind” him. Upon reaching an alley in the middle of the next block, he heard one of them say “Now.” At the same time, one of them grabbed him around the neck, he slumped to the ground and was dragged some ten feet into the alley. While still being held around the neck, the other two boys struck him, kicked him in the ribs, put a knee in his eye and aimed a blow between his thighs which landed on his hip. At this point, one of them extracted from the victim’s pocket his wallet and said “I have it,” whereupon they all started to flee.

The boy with the wallet, however, fumbled and dropped it momentarily, at which time the victim unsuccessfully attempted to retrieve it from the boy. The wallet, according to the victim, contained two twenty dollar bills, four ten dollars bills, two five dollar bills and four one dollar bills. Detective Gantt of the Baltimore City Police Department, who was slowly cruising the area, saw the robbery taking place but because of traffic conditions could not stop immediately. Pie rapidly circled the block and started looking for the three boys.

Within a matter of minutes, he saw them walking about two and a half blocks from the scene of the robbery, jumped out of his cruiser and arrested them. They were searched and two twenty dollar bills, four tens, two five and four ones were found in the Appellant’s pocket as well as a “straight razor.” The robbery was also witnessed by a woman across the street who identified one of the three boys but could not identify the Appellant.

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