Wilkins v. State

PiiR Curiam. The appellant, found guilty by the court sitting without a jury of assault, robbery, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and larceny, after he had held up a grocery store owner at gun point and taken some four hundred seventy dollars from the cash register, argues on appeal that his arrest was illegal, he was not provided with a lawyer at the preliminary hearing before a magistrate, the State failed to prove the ownership of the money taken, his motion for a directed verdict on the larceny count of the indictment should have been granted, and the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction. There is no substance to any of the contentions. The arrest would appear to have been entirely legal (probable cause to believe that the appellant had committed a felony could reasonably have been believed by the arresting officer who was told by the victim of the details, including a description of the robber and his usual “hang-outs,” a description of the female who accompanied the robber, the apprehension of the female and then, after the receipt of information from her, the arrest of the appellant).

However, in any event, no evidence resulting from the arrest was received into evidence against the accused, except his statement to the police, to which, at the trial, he made no objection as evidence and which, indeed, he expressly conceded was voluntarily made (probably because it was to a large extent, exculpatory); so that the illegality of the arrest, if illegality there was, was immaterial. The appellant pleaded not guilty before the magistrate and therefore no constitutional right of his was violated because he was not then represented by counsel. Arrington v. Warden, 232 Md. 672 ; Simms v. Warden, 234 Md. 652 ; and DeToro v. ⁶¹⁹ Pepersack, 332 F. 2d 341 (4th Cir.).