Phillips v. Warden of Maryland Penitentiary

Per Curiam. Ralph E. Phillips (applicant) was convicted of robbery and rape in the Criminal Court of Baltimore on February 27, 1959, and was sentenced to five years in the Maryland Penitentiary on the first count and twenty years on the second count, to run concurrently. He was represented by court-appointed counsel and filed no motion for a new trial or appeal from the judgment and sentence. Phillips filed application in the Criminal Court for relief under the Post Conviction Procedure Act which was denied by Judge Manley, sitting in the Criminal Court, on January 4, 1961, after again appointing counsel for applicant and having a hearing.

Prior to the ruling on the merits, applicant’s counsel had requested that the application for relief be withdrawn without prejudice because it did not make out a case. The trial judge, acting within his discretion under the terms of Art. 27, § 645F, Code (1960 Cum. Supp.), denied the request. Applicant raised several familiar grounds for relief in the trial court.

However, in his application for leave to appeal to this Court, applicant has narrowed his contentions to one, namely that his court-appointed counsel at his hearing under the Post Conviction Procedure Act was incompetent because he attempted to withdraw the petition for relief under the Act and that this action was taken completely without his knowledge or consent. He also requests this Court to order the court below to supply him with a free transcript of his original trial. The contention of the applicant in this Court is anything