Opinion ID: 2317473
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: gilmore's motion for judgment of acquittal

Text: Gilmore says: Appellant made motion for judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the prosecution and the trial court denied the motion. In its ruling on the motion, the Court relied heavily on the presumption that the Appellant, in recent possession of items belonging to the deceased, was the robber. The Court further placed great weight on Appellant's admissions of his presence in the deceased's apartment during a critical period, when shown photographs following his arrest by the police. Appellant strongly urges that the court should not have considered any testimony of items seized by the police, or statements made to the police, after Appellant's unlawful arrest. The confused state of the record below does not permit, on appellate review, a clear understanding of what identification of recently possessed stolen goods the trial court relied upon, and whether these seized items were the product of illegal searches made in this case. By offering evidence, Gilmore withdrew his motion for judgment of acquittal. Maryland Rule 755 b. Accordingly, the propriety of the trial court's ruling is not before us. We comment only because of the seriousness of the sentence imposed. We find no confused state of the record. We have heretofore held the arrest to have been lawful. It is clear that the two items of recently possessed stolen goods upon which the trial court relied were the two rings we have heretofore discussed and that these rings had been identified by several individuals as being in the possession of Gilmore and fully identified by the victim's family as belonging to the victim. The ruling was proper.