Opinion
[No. 143, September Term, 1961.]
Decided January 23, 1962.
DISTURBANCE OF THE PEACE AND ASSAULT — Question Not Leading — When Reframed, It Was Not Answered. In this appeal from a conviction of disturbing the peace and assault upon one Hutchins, the appellant contended that the question as to who was present when the appellant struck Hutchins was a leading one but it was held that it was not. The same witness whom was asked the question had just testified that the appellant struck Hutchins. The court in effect sustained the objection when it commented: "Ask him who was there." The question was reframed, and the original question, containing a reference to the striking was never answered. p. 392
Decided January 23, 1962.
Appeal from the Criminal Court of Baltimore (FOSTER, J.).
Hugh Gray MacDonald was convicted of disturbing the peace and assault upon one Hutchins and he appealed.
Judgment affirmed.
The cause was submitted to BRUNE, C.J., and HENDERSON, PRESCOTT, MARBURY and SYBERT, JJ.
Submitted on brief by Donald S. Hurwitz, for appellant.
Submitted on brief by Thomas B. Finan, Attorney General, Joseph D. Buscher, Special Assistant Attorney General, Edward B. Rybczynski, Special Attorney, Saul A. Harris and Julius A. Romano, State's Attorney and Assistant State's Attorney, respectively, for Baltimore City, for appellee.
Convicted of disturbing the peace and assault upon one Hutchins, the appellant contends that the court committed reversible error in failing to sustain an objection to a leading question propounded by the State to a State's witness. We find no merit in the contention for two reasons. In the first place, the question objected to, as to who was present when the appellant struck Hutchins, followed positive testimony by the witness that he saw the appellant strike Hutchins, which had come in without objection. The question objected to was not designed to supply an answer to the question propounded and hence was not leading. Harward v. Harward, 173 Md. 339, 350. In the second place, the court in effect sustained the objection when it commented: "Ask him who was there." The question was reframed, and the original question, containing the reference to a striking, was never answered.
Judgment affirmed.