User:Kagura8/George Edward Grammer
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George Edward Grammer was the penultimate person to be executed by hanging in the State of Maryland. He was convicted of murdering his wife, Dorothy Mae Grammer, on August 20, 1952.
The Charges
Soon after midnight on August 20, 1952, two Baltimore County policemen spotted a Chrysler sedan speeding through their district. It ran off the road, over a lawn, back onto the road and crossed to the other side, hit a bank, went up over it, hit a tree, turned over on its right side and came to rest against a telephone pole. In the car was Mrs. Grammer, under the dash, bent over so her head was between her knees. Her face and hair were matted with blood. She was apparently then dead; certainly, she was dead on arrival at the hospital. The first stories in the newspapers indicated that the police thought she had been fatally injured when her car went out of control going down hill on the avenue. Pictures were published of Grammer at the home of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Schmidt, showing him seemingly a very much affected and bereaved husband. Early police suspicions that the death was murder and not accidental had been aroused in part by a stone found wedged under the heel of the accelerator so as to cause it to feed gas to the engine of the car which had an automatic drive. The Chief Medical Examiner of Baltimore, Dr. Russell S. Fisher, found, as he later testified, that death had been caused by craniocerebral injuries including lacerated wounds of the scalp and ear and extensive fracturing of the skull, inflicted by multiple blunt impacts coming from left to right. There was also extensive aspiration and ingestion of blood. The back of the left hand and the left arm were swollen and purplish. Dr. Fisher examined the car and found no object or surface which in his opinion could possibly have produced the injuries suffered by Mrs. Grammer. Further, he said the bruises could not have come from the accident because dead bodies do not bruise. His conclusion, reported in the papers several days after the happening, was that she had been murdered and the automobile accident arranged to conceal the crime. Pictures were then again published showing Mrs. Schmidt acting as Grammer's nurse, giving him sleeping pills and reporting that he was ‘dazed by murder’. Mrs. Schmidt reported that her daughter had once been beaten by an enemy while the husband was in the army. Grammer issued a public appeal for help "so that whoever is responsible for this will not have a chance to harm someone else."[1] Public interest in what the papers called the ‘near perfect crime’ was fanned by stories as to the pebble under the accelerator and comment on the obvious fact that if chance had not caused the car to swerve and overturn on the avenue, it would have torn across heavily traveled U.S. Route 1 and either struck another vehicle or the concrete wall along the east side of Route 1. If this had happened, the evidence as to the cause of death and the accelerator might well have been obscured by resulting fire or wreckage and the near perfect crime would have become the perfect crime.[2]
On Sunday afternoon, August 31, while in custody of the police, Grammer confessed that after a brief quarrel in the parked Chrysler, he had struck his wife with a piece of iron pipe.[3]
About 4:20 p. m. on Sunday, August 31, the only formal statement by the State's Attorney was issued. It appeared in the newspapers the next day. The statement read: ‘After an investigation in connection with the death of Dorothy May Grammer, and interrogation of a number of witnesses, including George Edward Grammer, Mr. Grammer will be charged with the killing of his wife."[4]
The Press
There are no Sunday evening newspapers published in Baltimore, but at 10:45 p.m. Sunday night, there was a television broadcast over a station owned by one of the newspapers. Present in the studio, and shown to the television audience, were the State's Attorney of Baltimore City, two Assistant State's Attorneys of Baltimore County, and two Baltimore County policemen. The commentator said to the television audience that: "We are told tonight by Mr. Anselm Sodaro, State's Attorney for Baltimore City, who is here in the studios with us, that Mr. Grammer has been charged with the murder of his wife."[5] In introducing those present, as the camera was focused on them, the commentator said: "we'd like you to meet this team which has been responsible for bringing a conclusion to this case, that is, conclusion before pretrial."[6] No one spoke, other than the commentators except Mr. Sodaro, who, after pictures had been shown of the Chrysler, the Towson Court House, of Grammer being taken to the scene of the crime, and the scene of the crime, confirmed a statement that this was in Baltimore City about a sixth of a mile from the County line by saying: "That's correct."[7] Several times the announcer warned of prejudgment. Once he said he would not go into details or motives because: "we will not attempt to pre-judge."; and again, "we will ask for no comment from these police and prosecuting officials at this time in the best interests of Mr. Grammer so that we will not prejudice his case."[8]
On September 2, it was announced in the paper that Dr. Fisher would explain on television step-by-step the facts which led to his conclusion that Dorothy May Grammer's death was homicide. This was done on one of a series of television broadcasts produced by the University of Maryland on a program entitled Death and the Law. No transcript of the program is available but a summary, verified as accurate by Dr. Fisher, shows that he had been scheduled to appear on the program, before the Grammer murder occurred, to describe the functions of the office of the Medical Examiner. It was suggested to him that he use the Grammer case as an illustration of his work. With the prior approval of the State's Attorney, he did so. The appellant's name was not mentioned, although photographs of Mrs. Grammer were used.