Brock v. State

458 A.2d 915, 54 Md. App. 457, 1983 Md. App. LEXIS 268
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedApril 15, 1983
DocketNo. 1136
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 458 A.2d 915 (Brock v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brock v. State, 458 A.2d 915, 54 Md. App. 457, 1983 Md. App. LEXIS 268 (Md. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

Wilner, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In the late evening hours of March 30, 1980 (or the early morning hours of March 31) John Surderski was shot to death. Someone fired nine or ten bullets from a .22 caliber rifle into his trailer, two of which struck him in the head. On March 23,1982, a jury in the Circuit Court for Queen Anne’s County,1 by convicting appellant of second degree murder, concluded that she was the killer. From that verdict and the twenty-five year prison sentence imposed in consequence of it, appellant has brought this appeal complaining that:

"I. The court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress evidence seized from the Moulton property April 1 and August 13.
[and]
II. The evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict.”

We shall discuss these issues in inverse order. As we find no error, however, we shall affirm.

Evidentiary Suffíciency

The evidence against appellant consisted essentially of the following:

(1) Appellant and Surderski had at one time been friendly, but about two months before Surderski’s death — in January, 1980 — they had an altercation, during which Surderski pushed appellant into the mud and called her a pig. Scorned, and with wounded pride, appellant became angry and, on several occasions thereafter, said that "she was going to get even,” that "[s]he was going to have revenge.”

(2) Surderski was last seen alive at about 5:30 p.m. on March 30. Between 5:30 and 6:00 that afternoon, appellant borrowed Timothy Feehley’s automobile. She returned the [459]*459car about midnight. The next day, March 31, with Feehley’s permission, a deputy sheriff searched the car and found therein a number of .22 caliber casings. The casings were not in the car prior to appellant’s use of it; and, according to Feehley, no one else used the car between the time appellant returned it and the search.

(3) In executing the two search warrants, the sheriff found in and around the home in which appellant resided a number of .22 caliber bullets and cartridges, lead bullet fragments, and plastic boxes used to house .22 caliber bullets. (The house was owned by appellant’s father, Charles Moulton.) Evidence presented by two F.B.I. agents revealed that: (a) the bullets recovered from the Surderski trailer, the casings found in Feehley’s car, and one casing found at appellant’s home had all been fired from a .22 caliber Savage Springfield rifle; (b) "the same identical firearm” had fired the casings recovered from Feehley’s car and those found at appellant’s home; and (c) the bullets found in the Surderski trailer and a cartridge found at appellant’s home had the same general composition, and that "within reasonable scientific certainty,” they could be expected to come from the same box of cartridges.

(4) Appellant was familiar with .22 caliber guns and had done some target shooting at her home.

We find this evidence, though circumstantial in nature, clearly sufficient to support the jury’s verdict.

Search Warrants

Appellant complains about two search warrants issued by the district court, each authorizing a search of the house in which appellant lived and the surrounding ground. One of the warrants was issued on April 1, 1980, the other on August 13, 1980.

Appellant’s attack on the April 1 warrant is twofold; she argues that (1) it was not supported by an adequate showing of probable cause, and (2) it failed to indicate with requisite specificity the items sought to be seized. The August warrant, she claims, was based in part upon the evidence [460]*460discovered in execution of the April warrant, which in her view serves to render it invalid as well.

The April 1 warrant was based upon an application presented the same day to district court Judge William Yates by Deputy Sheriff Steven Williams. This was within a day or two after the killing and appellant’s arrest for it.

The relevant part of the application was as follows:2

"[1] That you[r] affiant has personal knowledge that the house as described above is occup[i]ed by Charles Henry Moulton and his daughter Mary Frances Brock and that Mary Frances Brock has been living at this residence for the past (5) five years.
[2] That on or about 3-30-80 John Frank Surderski was shot and killed with a small caliber weapon at his residence on Smithville road, Taylors Island, Maryland.
[3] That Mary Frances Brock had been seeing John Frank Surderski and was considered by the public as going together.
[4] Your affiant has received information that approximately (3) three week[s] ago Mary Frances Brock and John Frank Surderski had a[n] arguement [sic] at which time Mary Frances Brock told John Frank Surderski she would get even with him.
[5] Your affiant has received information that Mary Frances Brock has told others that she would get even with John Frank Surderski over the arguement [sic] they had.
[6] Your affiant states that on 3-30-80 Mary Frances Brock borrowed a vehicle from Timothy Feehley of Taylors Island, Md. and when the vehicle was returned to the owner and after a consent search was performed by your affiant several [.]22 [461]*461caliber spent cartridges w[ere] found in the vehicle, Mr. Feehley states that [the] cartridge[s] were not in the vehicle prior to it being borrowed by Mary Frances Brock but were there when returned by Mary Frances Brock.
[7] Your affiant states that on 3-30-80 Mary Frances Brock was arrested and charged with the first degree murder of John Frank Surderski.3
[8] Your affiant further states that Mary Frances Brock admitís [sic] going to the above named residence several times on 3-30-80 and that there [are] no weapons or ammunition in said residence.
[9] Your affiant states that he has personally been to said residence and in plain view could see several [,]22 caliber bullets lying on a kitchen counter of said residence.
[10] Your affiant states that also in plain view your affiant could see some type of weapon resting in a wall mounted weapons rack in said residence.
[11] Your affiant avers that base[d] on the information received and the statements made by Mary Frances Brock and your affiant[’]s knowledge and experience, he has probable c[au]se to believe, and does believe that evidence directly and indirectly related to the shooting death of John Frank Surderski is being concealed in the residence and on the property as described above.”

Appellant attacks the warrant by examining, with nearly microscopic precision, each phrase of each paragraph, arguing that each such provision for one reason or another is either non-inculpatory or unworthy of consideration. She then reassembles the dissected application and concludes [462]*462that, as the sum of many zeros is still zero, the application itself is insufficient.

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7 A.3d 1115 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
458 A.2d 915, 54 Md. App. 457, 1983 Md. App. LEXIS 268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brock-v-state-mdctspecapp-1983.