[DOWNLOAD] "Burley v. Maryland" by Supreme Court of Minnesota * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Burley v. Maryland
- Author : Supreme Court of Minnesota
- Release Date : January 20, 1968
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 58 KB
Description
An accomplice is one who knowingly, voluntarily, and with common criminal intent with the principal offender, unites with him in the commission of the crime either as a principal or as an accessory before the fact. Watson v. State, 208 Md. 210. An accomplice is a competent witness; his testimony is admissible even though he has been found guilty, confessed his guilt or testifies under a promise of immunity. See Kitt v. State, 2 Md. App. 306. His credibility and the weight to be given his testimony is a matter for the trier of fact as with other witnesses. But "(i)t is a firmly established rule in this State that a person accused of crime may not be convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice." Watson v. State, supra, at 217. There must be corroborative evidence supporting the testimony of the accomplice as to some of the material facts, tending to show that the accused was either identified with the perpetrators of the crime or had participated in the commission of the crime itself. Boone v. State, 3 Md. App. 11, 19-20. It therefore becomes material whether, in a particular case, a witness is an accomplice and, if so, whether there was sufficient corroboration. The generally accepted test as to whether a witness is an accomplice is whether he himself could have been convicted for the offense, either as principal or accessory before the fact. 2 Whartons {PA}