Opinion
[No. 50, September Term, 1964.]
Decided October 16, 1964.
ARREST — Held Legal Where Entry Was Authorized — Police Admitted To Apartment By Tenant Who Complained That Persons Were Using Narcotics Therein. p. 617
SEARCHES AND SEIZURES — Evidence Obtained Properly Admitted — Narcotics Paraphernalia In Plain View, Justifying Search Of Persons Present And Inspection Of Their Arms. p. 617
S.K.S.
Decided October 16, 1964.
Appeal from the Criminal Court of Baltimore (HARRIS, J.).
Spencer J. Crosland and Melvin Kenard were convicted of possession of narcotics, and from the judgments entered thereon, they appealed.
Affirmed.
The cause was argued before HENDERSON, C.J., and PRESCOTT, MARBURY, SYBERT and OPPENHEIMER, JJ.
Moses Davis for the appellants.
John W. Sause, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, with whom were Thomas B. Finan, Attorney General, William J. O'Donnell and Edward G. Wyatt, State's Attorney and Assistant State's Attorney, respectively, for Baltimore City, on the brief, for the appellee.
The appellants, convicted of possession of narcotics, claim that their arrest was illegal, and that the evidence obtained in an ensuing search was improperly admitted. We find no error. The police were admitted to the apartment by the tenant who had complained to the police that a non-paying guest and her invitees were using narcotics therein. The entry was authorized. Cf. McCray v. State, 236 Md. 9, and Bellam v. State, 233 Md. 368. Upon entry, narcotics paraphernalia were in plain view. This justified a search of the persons present and an inspection of their arms. Cf. Cannon v. State, 235 Md. 133. Kenard's oral admission came in without objection, and the objection to his written admission was not on the ground that it was involuntary.
Judgments affirmed.