Jones v. State

Per Curiam. In Jones v. State, 247 Md. 530 , we reviewed and affirmed a judgment and sentence of death for an eighteen-year-old youth for his “bloody and painful, and agonizing rape” on an eleven-year-old girl. The trial judge, who ¹⁴⁷ sat without a jury, found that “there is absolutely no shadow of a doubt as to his guilt.” Both written and oral argument on behalf of the appellant were limited to the claim that the death penalty should not have been imposed. We said (pp. 531-582 of 247 Md.) : “The appellant does not suggest that the guilty verdict was wrong or unjustified.

He urges only that Judge Prendergast abused his discretion in imposing the death penalty because the victim has physically recovered, the defendant is young and the psychiatrist who had examined him on behalf of the State and the psychiatrist he had selected to examine him, although unanimously agreeing that the youth was sane, recommended that the death penalty not be imposed and that confinement at Patuxent Institution be substituted.” After the opinion was filed on October 10, 1967, but before the mandate was issued, the appellant’s lawyer filed a motion for rehearing and later a petition seeking leave to file a supplemental brief, alleging in the latter that: “at the request of this Court, Counsel again interviewed the Appellant at the Maryland Penitentiary and Appellant stated that, through knowledge received from various individuals at the Maryland Penitentiary and newspaper articles, he desires to have his case and sentence reviewed on legal points other than those submitted in the original brief and argument.” No action was taken on the motion for rehearing; counsel was directed to file a supplemental brief. Many extensions of time to file the brief were granted. Finally, counsel advised the Court that he could find no honest or valid contention to make on behalf of the appellant. We directed him forthwith to brief and submit any contention his client desired to have briefed