Michaels v. State

Per Curiam. Thomas Harrison Michaels appeals in this case from a judgment of conviction of armed robbery in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, and the sentence of six years in the Maryland Penitentiary, imposed as a result thereof. The facts giving rise to the conviction are as follows: Sometime after 1:00 a.m. on May 19, 1965, Officer Walter Gray of the Anne Arundel County Police was on routine patrol proceeding south on Crain Highway. In the 700 block of said highway, he noticed a 1960 Chevrolet convertible parked on the grass section of the parking lot in the rear of an establishment known as “The Barn.” The area was illuminated to a point, as he described it, of being “about like daylight.” He noticed a white male, with very blond hair, sitting somewhat in the middle of the front seat of the automobile, but over toward the right of the passenger side.

The Officer further observed that the car was in poor condition, as the roof top was tattered, the paint was chipped and it had other tell-tale marks of age and abusive use. This was the first time that Officer Gray had ob ⁴²⁶ served a car parked on the grass area of this parking lot, and it aroused his suspicion to the extent that he decided an immediate investigation should be made. Traffic conditions would not allow him to turn into the parking lot at this time, and he was compelled to follow the line of traffic to a point on the highway where he could turn and come back to the parking lot, this maneuver taking approximately five to ten minutes in its operation. At the same time as the above event was taking place, a young man entered Debbie’s Restaurant at 714 Crain Highway in Glen Burnie, diagonally across the highway from “The Barn.” He went over to the cash register, brandished a revolver, and forced the waitress, Emogene Thacker, to empty the cash register into a bag.

The hold-up netted several five dollar bills, a number of one dollar bills, and some nickels. Miss Thacker described the robber as a white male, with brown hair, wearing a blue-quilted jacket, and having a handkerchief over his face. He had come from the direction of Wagner’s service station, the establishment next door to the restaurant, approximately 125 to 175 feet away. After the robbery, Miss Thacker saw him retreat in the direction from which he had come.

She immediately called the Ferndale Police Station and notified them of the robbery as well as giving the police a description of the man who committed the offense. Specifically, she informed the police that the robber was white, had brown hair, and wore a blue-quilted jacket. Several police officers responded to the telephone call and she gave them the same description and added that her assailant was taller than she. By this time, Officer Gray had turned his car around and was returning in a northerly direction to the location of the parked car which had aroused his suspicion.

At this time he heard over the police radio about the robbery at the restaurant. When he was in close proximity to the parking lot he communicated by radio the observation he had made about the Chevrolet car with its blond haired occupant and suggested that he might be involved. The Ferndale station had reported that the suspect was ⁴²⁷ a white male with dark hair, wearing a blue-quilted jacket, and Officer Gray responded that this person may also be in the car. As these events were occurring at approximately 1:42 a.m., Officer Vaughn Shinaberry, another member of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, was on patrol on Mountain Road, in the Lake Shore area, ten to twelve miles from the restaurant.

This Officer heard the transmissions from the Ferndale station, as well as from Officer Gray’s car and, as a result, he proceeded in a general westerly direction to go to the scene of the robbery. He had made note of the police