Stokes v. State

In this case we are called upon to apply that venerable principle of Maryland criminal law which prohibits the use of a defendant’s significantly incriminating remark when that statement was extracted from him by promise of favor or threat of punishment.

The facts are not in dispute. At 2:30 a.m. on November 14, 1974, two narcotics officers of the Baltimore City Police Department, armed with a warrant, arrived to conduct a search for controlled dangerous substances at the house where petitioner Bernard Lee Stokes and his wife were living with several other persons. Upon entering the dwelling,…