Melia v. Warden of Marydand House of Correction

Horney, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On September 30, 1957, Judge Michael Paul Smith, of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, denied the petition of John R. Melia for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner has applied to this Court for leave to appeal. The petitioner pleaded guilty to forgery and uttering and false pretenses in No. 2288 Criminals in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (Dawlor, J.) on February 11, 1957.

He was sentenced on February 25, 1957, to the Maryland House of Correction for a period of three years accounting from September 17, 1956, the date on which he was incarcerated in jail. The petitioner was also tried and convicted of assault and battery in No. 2112 Criminals in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (Dawlor, J.) on February 11, 1957, and on February 25, 1957, was sentenced to one year in the same penal institution, the sentence to begin at the expiration of the three-year sentence imposed in No. 2288. Thus, the petitioner was sentenced to a total of four years in both cases from September 17, 1956. On March 6, 1957, the trial court struck out the “consecutive” sentence in No. 2112, and sentenced the petitioner to one year in the same penal institution, the sentence to run concurrently with the three-year sentence previously imposed in No.