O'Connor v. Director of Patuxent Institution

Prescott, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The petition filed by the applicant below sets forth matters of little, if any, substance. However, the application for leave to appeal must be granted and the case remanded for a hearing. After petition and answer had been filed below, the court appointed a lawyer for petitioner, who is indigent.

(Applicant also had another post conviction petition pending in Prince George’s County after a conviction there.) The trial judge, unfortunately, did not grant a hearing on the petition, even though he wrote and filed an able and rather lengthy opinion, in which he stated: “Although counsel was appointed to represent the ² petitioner in this matter, a hearing was deemed unnecessary. The issues presented to this Court are * * * the same as those raised and presented to the Court of Appeals [O’Connor v. State, 234 Md. 459 ] * * It will be noted that no use, or attempted use, was made of the services of the court-appointed counsel; he filed no brief, memorandum of law or request to amend the petition. Maryland Rule BK44 states that “a hearing on the petition shall be held in the court in which the petition is properly filed.” This Rule conforms with former Section 645G of Article 27, which was repealed by the Acts of 1962, ch. 36, § 1. The aim of the Post Conviction Procedure Law was to consolidate in one proceeding all of the possible remedies, beyond those incident to the usual procedures of trial and review, to which a convicted defendant might be entitled in challenging the validity of his sentence.

Brady