Mauldin v. Warden

Anderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The petitioner, Van Burén Mauldin, was convicted by a jury of manslaughter by automobile in the Criminal Court of Baltimore on September 25, 1964, Judge Prendergast presiding, and sentenced to three years in the Maryland House of Correction. He had previously been convicted on July 18, 1964 in the Municipal Court of Baltimore City on traffic charges, the chief of which was drunken driving, and received a sentence of fifteen months in the Maryland House of Correction. All of the charges arose out of a fatal accident which occurred on July 2, 1964 when the petitioner’s car collided with another vehicle causing the death of a passenger in the motor vehicle which his car struck.

He was represented in both cases by counsel of his choice. On October 5, 1964, he noted an appeal to the Court of Appeals of Maryland from his conviction on the manslaughter charge, and Judge Prendergast appointed counsel of his owti selection to represent him. His conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals on July 30, 1965. Mauldin v. State, 239 Md. 592 .

He had previously taken an appeal from his traffic convictions, which had been dismissed by petition. On September 15, 1965, he filed a petition under the Uniform Post Conviction Procedure Act, under which he raised the following contentions: (1) petitioner was denied the assistance of counsel at critical stages of the proceedings; (2) petitioner’s trial attorney was inadequate; (3) petitioner was convicted on evidence which was equally as consistent with innocence as with guilt; (4) petitioner’s rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, regarding self-incrimination, were violated; (5) and for such other and further grounds as will be urged at the hearing on petition. Upon the filing of his petition, counsel was appointed for him, and at the hearing before Judge Carter in the lower court, he raised as a further contention: (6) that the Grand Jury which presented indictments against him was an illegally constituted Grand Jury, and under the Schowgurow decision he feels his case has not yet reached final adjudication. A full evidentiary hearing was held before Judge Carter on ⁴¹ November 22, 1965, and on February 15, 1966, Judge Carter filed a comprehensive opinion denying the relief sought.

The applicant, Van Burén Mauldin, has filed an application for leave to appeal from Judge Carter’s decision in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, in accordance with Rule BK 46 a. The notice of appeal is dated March 11, 1966, and was filed March 16, 1966, and would be within thirty days from the passage of the order appealed from. In his application for leave to appeal he fails to state any reasons why the order of the lower court should be reversed or modified, as required by Rule BK 46 b, and his application could be denied for that reason alone. Jones v. Warden, 241 Md. 728 .

However, in view of the decision of the Court of Appeals in Terry v. Warden, 243 Md. 610 , the Court will consider the applicant’s sixth contention, which his counsel raised at the hearing in the lower court. His sixth contention that the applicant was indicted by an illegally constituted Grand Jury was undoubtedly inspired by the decision