Henry v. Warden of Maryland House of Correction

Horney, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an application for leave to appeal from an order of the Circuit Court for Dorchester County dismissing the petition of the applicant for post conviction relief. The applicant—who was convicted before a trial magistrate ⁶⁰⁷ of Dorchester County with having possession of apparatus for the unlawful manufacture of alcoholic beverages and sentenced to the House of Correction for eighteen months from June 11, 1959—filed a petition in forma pauperis in the circuit court of the county in which he was convicted, as he had a right to do under Code (1959 Cum. Supp.), Art. 27, sec. 645 C, to set aside the sentence.

In substance the petition for relief alleged that the sheriff (a) had unlawfully broken down the door and entered the home of the petitioner, (b) had illegally searched the interior thereof without a search warrant and removed the petitioner’s property therefrom, and (c) had illegally arrested the petitioner forthwith before a state warrant had been issued. The lower court, without appointing counsel for the petitioner and, apparently, without a hearing on the petition, which is required by Art. 27, sec. 645G, dismissed the petition for relief because, as the court stated in its written opinion, the petitioner did “not allege any of the four