McNeal v. Director of Patuxent Institution

Sybert, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The applicant, David Emanuel McNeal, pleaded guilty to a charge of storehouse breaking in 1963 and was sentenced to serve not more than two years in the Maryland Institution for ⁴⁰⁹ Men. Thereafter, upon the request of the Department of Correction he was transferred to Patuxent Institution for evaluation as a defective delinquent. At a non-jury trial held in October 1964 before Chief Judge Manley in the Criminal Court of Baltimore he was found to be a defective delinquent and was committed to Patuxent.

In this application for leave to appeal from the commitment order, the applicant’s counsel raises six contentions. He maintains, first, that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the finding of defective delinquency. This contention is without merit since the Patuxent staff report introduced in evidence through Dr. Boslow, Director of the Institution, was clearly sufficient, if believed by the court, to¡ support the court’s determination. Moreover, the report of an independent psychiatrist who examined the applicant at his request, which was filed in the proceedings, also concluded that McNeal was a defective delinquent.

Counsel’s second contention is that the only witness who testified for the State was Dr. Boslow and that he merely read from reports prepared by his staff without giving McNeal an opportunity to cross-examine the persons who' actually made the reports. This Court has held repeatedly that it is proper for Dr. Boslow to testify from his staff’s report (Silvestri v. Director, 234 Md. 641 , 199 A. 2d 784 (1964), and cases cited), and, as we said above, the report was legally sufficient to support the court’s determination. In regard to the applicant’s right to cross-examine the staff members, McNeal does not allege that he attempted to summon these persons into court and since he did not avail himself of his right to do so he cannot be heard to complain now. Brunson v. Director, 239 Md. 128 , 210 A. 2d 372 (1965).

Next, counsel contends that Dr. Boslow did not specifically testify why he considered McNeal to be a defective delinquent, but spoke in generalities. If true,