Toomer v. State

Citations

• 76 A. 118
• 112 Md. 285
• 1910 Md. LEXIS 104

Syllabus

<p>Indictment for Sending Threatening Letter to Extort Money— Statement of Name of Person Threatened—Variation Between Counts of Indictment—Evidence—Confession Held to Be Voluntary—Remarles to Jury of Prosecuting Officer—Instruction to Jury—Cruel and Unusual Punishment.</p> <p>By Code, Art. 27, sec. 395, it is provided that any person who shall send or deliver, with or without signature, any letter threatening to accuse any person of an offense, or do injury to the person or property of anyone, with intent to extort money, etc., shall be guilty of a felony, etc. Held, that in an indictment under this statute, it is not necessary, that the name of the person to whom the threatening letter was sent should be set forth in it.</p> <p>When it appears that the several different counts of an indictment relate to the same transaction, and that the form in which the offense is charged was varied in order to meet the possible evidence, the indictment is not obnoxious to the objection that each count charges a distinct offense.</p> <p>Upon the trial of an indictment, a witness for the State cannot be asked whether anybody other than the defendant was under suspicion, since that is wholly irrelevant to the question of the guilt or innocence of the accused. -</p> <p>When a threatening letter sent to extort money is set out in the indictment and the letter as offered in evidence shows a variation as to the spelling of a word, that is not a variance, when the meaning of the word is not thereby changed.</p> <p>The deputy sheriff who arrested the accused did not inform him of the charge, but took him to the office of the State’s Attorney before taking him to jail or to a committing magistrate. The State’s Attorney said to the accused that he was not obliged to answer questions, and anything he might say would probably not be to his advantage, but might be used against him. Held, that a confession then made by the accused in reply to questions was voluntary and admissible in evidence