Brooks v. State

The basic question presented in this appeal is whether an individual who enters a store while it is open to the public for business, secretes himself therein and then is apprehended after the closing hour under circumstances which indicate an intent to steal, can be convicted of storehouse breaking, Code, Art. 27, § 32.

Charles Brooks, a/k/a Charles Brice, was found guilty of breaking and entering after a non-jury trial in the Criminal Court of Baltimore (Liss, J., presiding). Sentence was set at five years under the jurisdiction of the Division of Correction.

The testimony of the three State’s…