Lawrenson v. Warden of Maryland House of Correction

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an application for leave to appeal from a denial, on November 29, 1956, of a writ of habeas corpus by Judge John T. Tucker, of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City. Petitioner was indicted with a co-defendant, Reva Walker, in an indictment, which charged them with forgery, uttering, false pretenses, and fraud in connection with a certain promissory note. This indictment was returned by the Grand Jury on March 22, 1956.

They had been previously indicted on November 22, 1955, for forgery and false pretenses for the same offense, and on March 16, 1956, had filed a suggestion and affidavit for removal under their first indictment. The petitioner and his co-defendant were not tried under the ⁶⁶⁶ first indictment, and the trial under the later indictment was held on April 23, 1956, before Judge Anderson, in Montgomery County. At that time, the State abandoned the fourth count of the indictment, and the docket entries do not disclose that any motion for removal was filed with reference .to this indictment. The defendants were tried before a jury and were found guilty under all three counts of the indictment, and, thereafter, were sentenced to confinement for the offenses committed.

The petitioner contends: (1) That he was denied his right to a change of venue; (2) that the Court abused its discretion in not continuing his case for the purpose of securing counsel; (3) that there was insufficient time and opportunity for the preparation of an adequate defense to the new indictment; (4) that he was not tried by an impartial jury; and (5) that his attorney was incompetent and lacked diligence. (1) The denial of a change of venue. The petitioner’s contention that he was denied the right of a change of venue goes to the regularity of the proceedings and was in the sound discretion of the trial court. Art. 75, sec. 109, of the Maryland Code (1956 Supp.).

In the absence of proof that the trial court acted arbitrarily and abused, or refused to exercise the discretion vested in it, its