Moore v. State

Per Curiam. On July 12, 1967, the appellant, Herbert Anderson Moore, was tried by a jury for storehouse breaking and larceny in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Judge Roscoe H. Parker presiding. Appellant was found guilty of storehouse breaking and not guilty of larceny, and sentenced to the jurisdiction of the Department of Correction for a term of four years. Appellant’s sole contention raised on appeal is that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the conviction.

The evidence adduced at trial established that on the morning of August 18, 1966, Officer Eugene G. Palmer of the Prince George’s County Police Department responded to an “alarm off” at 1450 62nd Avenue, Cedar Heights, Maryland. Upon arrival, he observed that the adjacent building had “a big bay door on it and that the handle on this door was turning.” Assistance was radioed for and the building remained under observation. Thereafter he observed that the front door had been “jimmied” and that “bars on a window had been pulled off, glass was broken and the window was open.” During the period of observation, no one left or entered the building. Additional officers arrived, and upon their arrival, accompanied by a police dog, entered the building and after calling out that the dog would be released if no one responded to the warning, released the dog.

The dog began to circle a particular truck in the building, which upon investigation was found to contain the appellant and his companion, one Arnett, who were hiding therein. Witness Edward E. Bealer testified that he and his wife were the owners of the building when this incident occurred and that he was an officer of the corporation whose equipment was located therein. He further testified that he had locked the building before leaving on the day preceding this incident and substantiated the testimony of the officers concerning the condition of the building subsequent to the breaking. He also set forth ⁶⁷⁸ in detail the contents and specified that upon his arrival the office was in a state of “disarrangement and dishevelment” and that the drawers were opened and their contents scattered about and that an “R. C. Allen typewriter,” replacement value $140.-00, an “Underwood calculator,” for which he had paid $150.00, a “portable transistor radio” valued at “$18 or $19,” a “Craftsman skill saw” valued at $40.00 and blank checks had all been removed.

Appellant testified that he had been drinking heavily the night before and the morning of the occurrence and that while journeying from his wife’s house to his father’s house he had met Jimmie Arnet on Sheriff Road. Subsequently, both observed some figures going in and out of the instant warehouse, and decided to “check it out.” After entering the warehouse, they gravitated to the back room wherein they were located when the door locked behind them. At that juncture, they decided to spend the night in the truck and await the owner’s arrival to examine this aforenoted occurrence. Appellant urged that he “didn’t go in there with any intent to steal anything.” Arnett’s testimony substantiated that of the appellant.

The appellant failed to make a motion for judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the entire case and, accordingly, this Court is precluded from reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence. Ledbetter v. State, 224 Md. 271, 273 , 167 A. 2d 596 (1961); Hall v. State, 1 Md.