Sweeney v. State

Panel: Nazarian, Arthur, Shaw Geter, JJ.

Nazarian, J.

*167 *783 Patrick Joseph Sweeney was convicted in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County of second-degree theft and burglary. Mr. Sweeney was found guilty of breaking into a church pastor's garden shed and taking, among other smaller items, a John Deere riding lawn mower and twenty-five pairs of sneakers that had been donated to the church. The State presented its case against Mr. Sweeney on a first-degree principal theory of liability, but the jury convicted Mr. Sweeney only after the circuit court provided a supplemental instruction on accomplice…