Shorey v. State

The appellant was tried before a court and jury on charges of rape and burglary, and convicted of both. After a motion for new trial had been overruled by the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, he was sentenced to death. Since the appeal challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, we state the testimony in some detail.

The victim, a seventy-seven year old woman, was alone in her home early in the morning of May 28, 1960, when she was awakened in her darkened bedroom by an intruder. She tried to placate him by offering him the purse under her pillow, but he raped her, after striking her…