Bowers v. Warden

Hammond, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. These are two applications in one record for leave to appeal from denials of writs of habeas corpus by Judge Henderson of the Circuit Court for Allegany County. Each applicant ⁶³⁶ was separately indicted by the Grand Jury of Washington County for two offenses: unlawfully breaking into the Hagerstown Dairy in the night time under Code, 1957 Supp., Art. 27, Sec. 407; and breaking into the Always Drive-In Restaurant in the night time with intent to commit a felony therein, under Code, 1951, Art. 27, Sec. 38. The applicants were arrested on November 15, 1956, and indicted the next day.

On November 19, 1956, both were arraigned, pleaded not guilty, and were appointed counsel. The pleas of not guilty were withdrawn at trial on November 27, 1956, and pleas of guilty entered. Each applicant was sentenced to eighteen months in the Hagerstown Dairy case and three years in the Drive-In case, the latter sentence to run consecutively to the former. Applicants’ complaints, which essentially are the same, follow: (1) they were denied preliminary hearings; (2) their arrest on November 15, 1956, was improper and irregular in that they were denied the right to be taken immediately before a committing magistrate who could order their legal confinement; (3) they were denied counsel awaiting arraignment; (4) they were misled by counsel appointed by the court at the time of their arraignment; (5) their three-year sentence was excessive, in that the maximum legal sentence was eighteen months; (6) they were illegally denied bail; (7) they were sentenced on the basis of their past records.

Lack of a