Smith v. State

Powers, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On April 9, 1970, William Randolph Smith was indicted in Prince George’s County in a nine count indictment charging the commission of burglary, robbery, larceny and other crimes on July 28, 1965 at a residence on Anne Street in Takoma Park. He promptly filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, asserting that the delay in indictment prejudiced him and deprived him of his right to due process of law under the Fifth Amendment and his right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment; that because of the delay he is not able to recall his actions on the day of the alleged crime nor to gather witnesses to account for his actions on that day; and that the police had adequate time to investigate the case and make charges when he would have been able to remember his actions on the day in question. He prayed for a hearing on the motion “so that evidence can be produced which shows the prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the inordinate delay”.

The motion was heard on May 7, 1970 before Judge James H. Taylor in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, and evidence was taken. Judge Taylor denied the motion, and Smith filed an appeal. His appeal from this seemingly interlocutory order is properly taken, and will be reviewed. Pearlman v. State, 226 Md. 67 , Greathouse v. State, 5 Md. App. 675 , Harris v. State, 6 Md. App. 7 , and Raimondi v. State, 8 Md. App. 468 . ⁶³³ At the hearing on the motion, appellant produced no evidence showing any specific prejudice suffered by him as a result of delay in indictment, other than his own testimony that he had no knowledge of this alleged burglary, and had no idea where he was on the date alleged, or even whether he was in the State of Maryland on that date.

It was brought out that appellant had been convicted in February 1967 on an unrelated charge, referred to as the Barbera robbery, and in December 1969 in a post conviction proceeding had been given a new trial in that case. It was asserted that the State was wilful and arbitrary in not proceeding sooner in the Anne Street robbery, and finally did so as punishment because appellant obtained a new trial on the other charge. The sequence of events lends considerable persuasive force to this argument, but the evidence given at the hearing on the motion shows its invalidity. Detective Lt.

Ross of the Prince