Spurrier v. State

Pbr Curiam. Junior J. Spurrier, who was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon by the Criminal Court of Baltimore and was sentenced to serve the maximum term of imprisonment, has appealed. The defendant does not deny that he was carrying a deadly and dangerous weapon, but contends primarily that the indictment (not having negatived the exceptions to the offense) was defective in that it did not fully allege a violation of Code (1957), Art. 27, § 36; and that the State was required to prove that the defendant was not within the class of persons excepted from the relevant statutes. 1 With respect to the first contention, it is apparent that it was not necessary under the rule stated in Howes v. State, 141 Md. 532 , to negate the exceptions set forth in § 36 (b) of Art. 27 or in §§ 48 and 49 of Art. 24 (of the Baltimore City Code). Whether an indictment must negative the exceptions in a statute depends not on whether the exceptions are contained in the enacting clause, but on whether the exceptions are so incorporated with the definition or description of the offense as to constitute a part thereof.

Here, where it is clear that none of the exceptions is a constituent element of the offense charged in the indictment, the simple allegation that the accused was wearing and carrying a dangerous and deadly ¹¹² weapon concealed upon and about his person was sufficient to inform the