Slye v. State

This appeal presents an interesting question of merger of criminal offenses: does a grand larceny 1 conviction — for which a fifteen-year maximum penalty may be imposed — merge into a shoplifting 2 conviction — for which the maximum penalty is three years — or does the latter merge into the former? For the reasons set forth, we hold that it was error not to merge the larceny conviction — the “lesser offense” — into the shoplifting conviction — the “greater offense.”

I

Harvey Ignatius Slye, the appellant, was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County (Bowie, J.) of…