Mason v. State

PER Curiam. Jerome Mason, the appellant, was tried before Judge Carter in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, sitting without a jury, on charges of assault with intent to murder one Henry McCormick and of assaulting and beating one John Bethea. He was sentenced to imprisonment on these charges for terms of ten years and of two years, respectively, the sentences to run concurrently. On this appeal he contends that these convictions are unsupported by the evidence.

We find no merit whatever in his contentions. There was evidence to show that Mason attempted to stab Bethea in the back, that McCormick shoved Bethea out of the way of Mason’s knife and in so doing pushed Bethea over; that, nevertheless, Bethea’s coat was cut; that Mason struck Bethea after he was down; that Mason then turned on McCormick and stabbed him with an eight-inch knife at a point in McCormick’s chest within two inches of his heart; that Bethea was with the police officer and identified Mason when the officer arrested Mason within one hour after the stabbing; that Mason was later identified in a police line-up by Bethea and by Mrs. McCormick, who had been an eye witness of the attacks; and that McCormick had been at the hospital for some days because of the seriousness of his wound and had therefore been unable to be present at the police station line-up. Mason was again identified in court by Bethea and Mrs. McCormick as the assailant and was also there identified by McCormick. Against this was Mason’s denial of the charges; and there were some differences in recollection between the