Sturgill v. State

Marbury, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant was indicted by the grand jury of Cecil County for violation of Section 444A of article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The indictment charges that the appellant, on September 1, 1947, “did unlawfully erect and maintain billboards and other structures, signs, posters and display advertising, either as separate structures or otherwise, and information booths, intended to aid in the solicitation and performance of marriages.” Appellant demurred to this indictment. His demurrer was overruled, and after trial by the court he was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of $50 from which judgment and sentence he appeals here.

The basis of appellant’s demurrer is that the indictment does not embody a distinct accusation of a single crime, but charges the defendant with a half dozen different, separate and distinct crimes, and that the appellant is not protected from a second trial for the same offense, because no one crime of which he is charged is set out with such particularity that it can be determined with what he is being charged. In support of this proposition, the cases of State v. Lassotovitch, 162 Md. 147 , 159 A. 362 , 81 A. L. R. 69, and Imbraguglia v. State, 184 Md. 174 , 40 A. 2d 329 , are cited. These cases are authority for the general principle that the substantial components of the crime charged must be set out with such particularity that the accused knows with what he is ⁷⁸ charged and, if he is tried, the recitals may be sufficient to protect him from a second trial for the same offense. The indictment in the case before us is in the exact words of the statute, except that the conjunction “and” is used in the indictment in such places as the conjunction “or” is found in the statute.

The rule is that where an indictment is laid in the words of. the statute, it will ordinarily be sufficient. State v. Petrushansky, 188 Md. 67 , 36 A. 2d 533 and cases there cited and discussed. The insertion of “and” in place of “or” is