Reeves v. State

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal is from a conviction of perjury, tried before a court and jury, and judgment and sentence of one year in the House of Correction. The only question presented is whether the court erred in overruling a motion for directed verdict at the close of the whole case. The alleged perjury was committed in the trial of State v. Kerling et al., in the Circuit Court for Allegany County in September, 1951.

Kerling and two other defendants were tried on a charge of wilfully and malicious ⁵¹² ly burning a powder house on December 28, 1950. An important issue of fact relating to the guilt of Kerling was whether or not a certain truck was in his possession on December 28, 1950. Kerling’s defense was that the truck had been repossessed on December 27, 1950 by Reeves, and that, therefore, the truck was not in Kerling’s possession on December 28. At the trial of the Kerling case, Reeves testified that he was in the automobile business in Westernport with his father, and in April, 1950 they had sold a Chevrolet pick-up truck to Kerling.

The truck was financed by a note, given to a local bank, on which the automobile company was responsible. Kerling failed to pay the installments due, and Reeves testified he personally repossessed the truck on December 27. He remembered the exact date because he made an entry in pencil in a ledger which read: “Truck repossessed 12-27-50”. This ledger was produced and offered .in evidence.

It contained no other entries of repossessions. Reeves also testified that upon repossession, the truck was placed in the the company garage, that it was kept there for about two weeks, when it was sold to one Fazenbaker, that he did not loan it to Kerling, and that Kerling could not have obtained it for use during that period. The ledger contained an entry that the truck was sold to Fazenbaker on February 5, -1951. At the trial of the instant case, the appellant gave similar testimony.

He produced no corroborating testimony except that of his brother, who had no personal knowledge as to the time of repossession except the entry in the ledger. The State produced five witnesses who testified they had seen Kerling in a Chevrolet pick-up truck at various times between December 28 and January 6. The appellant contends there was no sufficient identification of the truck. However, Lieutenant Chapman testified it was a green, Chevrolet pick-up, 1941-1942 model; that when Kerling was taken into custody on January 4 he “described the truck that he owned and told us where the truck was”; that they went to the ⁵¹³ place described, found and searched “the same kind of a truck” as Kerling had described.

Trooper Hart testified he saw Kerling in Westernport in a green, 1941, Chevrolet pick-up truck on January 4. Kerling was behind the wheel. He saw him again on January 6, in the same