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Bell v. State

Nelson L. Bell v. State of Maryland

Bell v. State, 235 A.2d 307 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1967)
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Court
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland · State Appellate Courts
Decided
November 27, 1967
Docket
Nos. 21, September Term, 1967
Judges
Pjír, Murphy, Anderson, Morton, Orth, Thompson
Citations
235 A.2d 3072 Md. App. 4711967 Md. App. LEXIS 283

Opinion

Pjír Curiam.

Nelson Bell, the appellant, complains of a conviction for murder in the second degree after a trial in the Criminal Court of Baltimore Judge James A. Perrott presiding. He alleges a number of errors which will be discussed separately and such facts as are necessary for the opinion will be stated hereinafter.

The first error alleged is that the record before this court included testimony which the trial judge had ordered stricken. The second alleged error is that counsel was not provided at the preliminary hearing and thirdly that illegally seized evidence was introduced at the trial. These questions were not raised below and therefore they are not properly before this court. See Maryland Rule 1085;

Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U. S. 643 , 81 S. Ct. 1684 , 6 L. Ed. 2d 1081, n. 9 ;

Gaudio and Bucci v. State, 1 Md. App, 455, 230 A. 2d 700 .

Bell alleges that his rights were violated when the police officer did not advise him of his rights as prescribed by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 , 86 S. Ct. 1602 , 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 . The record shows that there was an objection to the introduction of his statement which was sustained by the trial court. Inasmuch as the trial judge ruled favorably on Bell’s objection, there is nothing before us to review.

Bell also complains that the testimony of Barbara Montgomery was so inconsistent that it should not have been accepted by the trial judge.

Kucharczyk v. State, 235 Md. 334 , 201 A. 2d 683 held that where the sole witness’ testimony was so contradictory that it had no probative force, the trier of facts could not speculate about it and select one or another contradictory statement as the basis of the verdict. That principle has no application here. Barbara Montgomery’s testimony was inconsistent only on some minor details; in addition there was testimony of other witnesses which was sufficient to support the verdict. Bell’s last contention is equally frivolous. He was permitted to testify that he had visited the deceased, his wife, in the hospital *473 prior to her death, that she kissed him and was glad to see him and had no malice or hatred in her mind about him because “she definitely knew * * At this point the State’s objection to the testimony was sustained by the trial judge. Bell’s opinion as to what the victim knew was irrelevant to the issues to be decided and therefore the objection should have been sustained.

Judg~ment affirmed.

How later courts describe this case

No later court has written an explanatory parenthetical about this case yet.

Cited by 13 cases

View all citing references →
1968: 91972: 11974: 12000: 12019: 119682026peak 1968 · 9

Relies on it most ⓘ

  1. Pittman v. Atlantic Realty Co.754 A.2d 1030 (Md. 2000)
  2. Tillery v. State238 A.2d 125 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1968)
  3. Eley v. State242 A.2d 175 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1968)
  4. Johnson v. State238 A.2d 295 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1968)
  5. Alexander v. State242 A.2d 180 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1968)
  6. Rothe v. State213 A.3d 843 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2019)

Most recent

  1. Rothe v. State213 A.3d 843 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2019)
  2. Pittman v. Atlantic Realty Co.754 A.2d 1030 (Md. 2000)
  3. Grady v. State329 A.2d 726 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1974)
  4. Bailey v. State294 A.2d 123 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1972)
  5. Edmonds v. State245 A.2d 618 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1968)
  6. Eley v. State242 A.2d 175 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1968)

Citing references are not a citator: they show that a later opinion cites this case, not whether it followed, distinguished, or overruled it. Check negative history before relying on this case.

Authorities cited 4

DepthCaseCited by
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) 50,292
Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961) 7,228
Kucharczyk v. State, 201 A.2d 683 (Md. 1964) 63
Gaudio v. State, 230 A.2d 700 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1967) 72

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