Summary
In Cottrell v. State, 1 Md. App. 520, we found that assault and battery did not merge into robbery with a deadly weapon where evidence showed that the victim was physically beaten by the perpetrator, the beating not being a direct incident of the robbery.
Summary of this case from Jenkins v. StateOpinion
No. 224, Initial Term, 1967.
Decided July 24, 1967.
ARREST — Probable Cause Shown. There was probable cause for appellant's arrest, where arresting officers, after obtaining the descriptions of two holdup men from the victim and from a witness who observed the holdup, cruised in the vicinity of where the crime occurred, observed two men who fitted such descriptions running from the area, and saw one of them discard an object later found to be a gun. pp. 521-522
MERGER OF OFFENSES — Assault Count Held Not Merged Into Count Charging Robbery With Deadly Weapon. Where appellant was convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon and common-law assault and it was shown that the robbery victim had been physically beaten by the perpetrators of the robbery, it was held that there was no merger of the assault count into the robbery count. p. 522 Decided July 24, 1967.
Appeal from the Criminal Court of Baltimore (PRENDERGAST, J.).
Ronald Cottrell was convicted in a non-jury trial of robbery with a deadly weapon and common-law assault, and, from the judgments entered thereon, he appeals.
Affirmed.
The cause was submitted to ANDERSON, MORTON, ORTH, and THOMPSON, JJ., and O'DONNELL, J., Associate Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, specially assigned.
Charles P. Howard, Jr., for appellant.
Dickee M. Howard, Assistant Attorney General, with whom were Francis B. Burch, Attorney General, Charles E. Moylan, Jr., State's Attorney for Baltimore City, and James McAllister, Assistant State's Attorney for Baltimore City, on the brief, for appellee.
Appellant was convicted by the court sitting without a jury of robbery with a deadly weapon and common law assault. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. He contends on this appeal that his arrest was illegal and that the evidence seized as a result of such illegal arrest was inadmissible at the trial.
The evidence adduced at the trial showed that a citizen observed an armed holdup taking place in a store; that he flagged down a police car and told the police of his observations; and that he gave a brief description of the two holdup men involved in the crime to the police. The police immediately went to the scene of the crime and found the store clerk, who had been beaten, lying near the cash register. Nothing had been taken other than a cigarette lighter. The clerk told the police of the robbery and described his assailants. The officers immediately cruised in the vicinity of where the crime occurred, and observed the appellant and another man, who fit the descriptions of the criminals running from the area. As the police approached, the appellant's confederate discarded an object, later found to be a gun. Knowing that a felony had been committed, the officers had probable cause, under the circumstances of this case, to believe that the appellant was one of the criminals. See Jones v. State, 242 Md. 95; Edwardsen v. State, 231 Md. 332; Crumb v. State, 1 Md. App. 98; Nadolski v. State, 1 Md. App. 304. Appellant's contention urging the illegality of his arrest is thus wholly devoid of merit.
We note that appellant was convicted both of robbery with a deadly weapon and common law assault. As the store clerk was physically beaten by the perpetrators of the robbery, there is no merger of the assault count into the robbery count. Compare Burks v. State, 1 Md. App. 81.
Judgment affirmed.