Rosenberg v. State

276 A.2d 708, 12 Md. App. 20, 1971 Md. App. LEXIS 334
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMay 4, 1971
Docket530, September Term, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 276 A.2d 708 (Rosenberg 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
Rosenberg v. State, 276 A.2d 708, 12 Md. App. 20, 1971 Md. App. LEXIS 334 (Md. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

Orth, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Indictment

The offense which a jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt had been committed by Richard P. Rosenberg was that he kept and maintained a common nuisance on 28 February 1970. Not the common law misdemeanor of common nuisance recognized in Maryland for which the penalty is fixed by statute, Code, Art. 27, § 125 and which we defined and discussed in Ward v. State, 9 Md. App. 583, 586-587, but the statutory felony of common nuisance under Code, Art. 27, § 291, wherein it was defined, and Art. 27, § 300 wherein it was classified and the penalty for its violation fixed. Section 291 read:

“Any store, shop, warehouse, dwelling house, building, vehicle, boat, aircraft, or any place whatever, which is resorted to by narcotic drug addicts for the purpose of using narcotic drugs or which is used for the illegal keeping or selling of the same, shall be deemed a common nuisance. No person shall keep or maintain sueh common nuisance.” 1

*23 So a place is a common nuisance when it is:

(1) resorted to by narcotic drug addicts for the purpose of using narcotic drugs; or

(2) used for the illegal

(a) keeping, or

(b) selling of narcotic drugs.

The charge of which appellant was convicted was the 2nd count of the indictment returned against him. It alleged that on 28 February 1970 he “* * * unlawfully did keep and maintain as a common nuisance a building, to wit, a garage, located at 13814 Parkland Drive, Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, for the purpose of illegal selling of narcotic drugs, to wit, ‘Robitussin A-C’, in violation of Article 27, Section 291, of the Annotated Code of Maryland, * * * 2

It is obvious that the Grand Jury was attempting to allege that the garage kept and maintained by appellant was a common nuisance because it was “used for the illegal selling” of narcotic drugs. However, in drafting the allegation, language of the statute applicable only to that part we have above designated (1), namely, “for the purpose of”, was used to allege that part which we have *24 above designated (2) (b), so that instead of presenting that the garage was a common nuisance as “used for the illegal selling of narcotic drugs”, the applicable language of the statute, the allegation was that it was “for the, purpose of illegal selling of narcotic drugs.” Appellant does not claim that he was misled but he argues that as drawn the count does not charge a proscribed offense. The general rule is that an indictment is sufficient if it describes the offense in the words of the statute, Baker v. State, 6 Md. App. 148. Appellant urges that the language of the statute was not used. “Maintaining a garage for the purpose of illegal sale is not the equivalent of maintaining a garage which has not been so used. A garage * * * may be maintained for the purpose of selling narcotics without ever having been so used. Under the indictment, no actual use is required whereas the statutory offense clearly includes actual use as a necessary element or as an essential ingredient of the offense.” We find the language of Murphy, C.J., speaking for the Court in Ward v. State, supra, apposite:

“Contrary to appellant’s contention, we think the information in this case properly charged an offense over which the court had jurisdiction. The rule which seems to be generally recognized draws a line of demarcation between an indictment or information which completely fails to state an offense and one which alleges all the elements of the offense intended to be charged and apprises the accused of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, even though it is defective in its allegations or is so inartfully drawn that it would be open to attack in the trial court. Putnam v. State, 234 Md. 537; Baker v. State, [supra].”

The count here specified that appellant unlawfully did keep and maintain a garage as a common nuisance in vio *25 lation of Code, Art. 27, § 291. Whether the facts alleged were such as constituted a nuisance within the meaning of the statute was a matter of evidence. At most the count was open to challenge on sufficiency grounds — not that it failed to state an offense — but that it did so imperfectly by failing on its face to inform sufficiently the accused of the precise nature of the nuisance with which he was charged, thus entitling him prior to trial to move to dismiss the count under Maryland Rule 725 b or to a bill of particulars under Rule 715. 3 But this was not the ground upon which appellant sought dismissal of the charge. He claimed, at the close of evidence offered by the State, that it failed to state an offense. We think it did; it stated the statutory offense of common nuisance.

The Sufficiency of the Evidence

Appellant claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal made at the close of all the evidence because the evidence and rational inferences therefrom were not sufficient for the jury to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the garage was used for the illegal selling of narcotic drugs. Williams v. State, 5 Md. App. 450. We agree that under the statute for the garage to be deemed a common nuisance the State must establish that it was in fact used for the illegal selling of narcotic drugs. By statutory definition “ ‘sale’ includes barter, exchange or offer therefor, and each such transaction made by any person, whether as principal, proprietor, agent, servant or employee.” Code, Art. 27, § 276 (k). The dictionary definition of each of these words encompasses the receipt of something in return *26 for the goods sold, bartered or exchanged as distinguished from a gift. 4

Officer Richard A. Bias, assigned to the Narcotics Section of the Metropolitan Police Department, testified that he went to 13814 Parkland Drive about 3:30 P.M. on 28 February 1970 to search a garage on the property under the authority of a search warrant. “We met with other officers and agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and we found the garage.” In the garage were 87 cases, each containing 24 four ounce bottles labeled Robitussin A.C. Cough Syrup and 24 cartons, each containing a one-gallon jug of the same prescription. Fourteen of the cartons had the word “ACTING” stamped on them under the horizontal bar in the letter “H” in the name “A.H.Robbins” on the cartons. There were no other markings on the cartons. “All of them had been peeled to the point where there was no other markings on them.” The bottles and jugs were taken to the Office of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

On 11 February Bias placed the Petworth Pharmacy, 4201 Georgia Avenue, N.W., under surveillance. It was not until 8:55 P.M. on 13 February that he observed any unusual activity.

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Bluebook (online)
276 A.2d 708, 12 Md. App. 20, 1971 Md. App. LEXIS 334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosenberg-v-state-mdctspecapp-1971.