Cheyenne Taylor

Dabney v. State
858 A.2d 1084 (2004)

History
 At midnight on January 19-20, 2003 Dabney left his apartment, got in his car, and
drove out of his neighborhood.
 A police surveillance team, consisting of six or seven unmarked cars, was waiting
to monitor Dabney’s every move including when he went to a service station and
got gas.
 Dabney went down I-695 and turned east toward Towson at which point a police
helicopter joined the surveillance.
 On Dabney’s way around the Beltway, he took the Dulaney Valley Road exit and
detoured through a residential neighborhood just off Dulaney Valley Road.
 He drove down the Beltway to White Marsh without a single traffic infraction.
 Officer Connolly used a thermal imaging camcorder and followed Dabney who
was continually driving around the neighborhood.
 He parked his car and walked to the house of Vendel and Patricia Ann Katona and
then walked up the driveway in between their cars and then walked across the
lawn to their front porch and then walked around the side and then rear of the
house.
 He walked back around the side of the house as a car came down the street and
stopped in front of the house at which point Dabney ran behind their house and
the neighbors house and down to the end of the street.
 He ran straight from that house to his car and drove off.
 He was not arrested until a month later.
Issue
 The question that was posed in this case was if Dabney attempted to commit
burglary.
Rule
 The rule that was used in this case was the Maryland Code, Criminal Law Article,
section 6-205(c) provides, in pertinent part: “A person, with the intent to commit
theft, may not be in or on … a yard, garden, or other area belonging to the
dwelling… of another.”
Analysis
 Dabney was never charged with consummated fourth-degree burglary and could
not be convicted of it and this made it difficult to correct the verdict sheet.
 Cheyenne Taylor

 The court instructed the jury on the law of attempt and on fourth-degree burglary
of the rogue and vagabond subvariety.
 The jury returned a verdict of guilty of attempted fourth-degree burglary.
Conclusion
 Franklin Roosevelt Dabney was convicted of attempted fourth-degree burglary.
 The defendant appealed his conviction on the notion that he was convicted of a
non-existent crime.
 The Court of Special Appeals reversed his appeal.