Jones v. Warden of Maryland Penitentiary

Horney, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an application for leave to appeal from the denial of post conviction relief. At his first trial for the murder of his wife, the petitioner was convicted of first degree murder by a jury in Howard County and was sentenced to death. On a direct appeal to this Court that judgment was reversed and remanded for a new trial because the lower court erred in a ruling on the admissibility of evidence tending to support the theory of self-defense.

See Jones v. State, 182 Md. 653 , 35 A. 2d 916 (1944). On remand the petitioner sought a change of venue and the case was removed for trial to Montgomery County, where the petitioner was convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree without capital punishment, and was—as the law required—sentenced to imprisonment for life. The petitioner did not appeal from this judgment and sentence. Though he has served more than fifteen years of the life sentence, he has been denied parole.

The record does not show why, but it is apparent that the denial of parole motivated the filing of this petition for post conviction relief. In his petition, the petitioner contends (i) that he was denied the right to appeal from the life sentence because he was without funds to pay fees and costs; (ii) that he was “forced” to remove the case from Howard to