Barber v. State

Spurgeon Barber, Jr., an ex-paratrooper 21 years of age, and Alfred Irvin Holmes, were jointly indicted on March 2, 1948, for assaulting and robbing George Hamilton, paymaster of a lumber company, in his own home in Cecil County, Maryland, on Friday, December 19, 1947 at about 3 P. M. Holmes plead “guilty”, Barber “not guilty”, whereupon the court granted a severance and the trial of Barber proceeded before the court and a jury, resulting in a verdict of “guilty”, with a recommendation of mercy. After a motion for a new trial had been overruled, the court sentenced Barber to the Maryland…