Price v. Warden of Maryland Penitentiary

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. James Price makes application for leave to appeal from a denial of a writ of habeas corpus by Judge Michaelson sitting in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, on September 24, 1956. Petitioner was convicted by Judge Carter in the Criminal Court of Baltimore on February 8, 1956, on a charge of possession of narcotics, and was sentenced to ten years in the Maryland Penitentiary. Petitioner, who was represented by counsel at his trial, filed a motion for appeal or review on April 29, 1956, which was ineffective because not taken within the time prescribed for the taking of appeals.

Price filed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Anne Arundel County, and Judge Michaelson denied the same, without hearing, because: “The reasons given by the petitioner for having the writ issue relate to matters which are considered in a motion for a new trial or in an appeal to the Court of Appeals”. Petitioner contends: (1) He was arrested without a warrant; (2) he was made to give evidence against himself at the trial; (3) that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction; and (4) that he made a motion to “strike out the sentence”, which motion was denied and he requested an appeal to the Court of Appeals therefrom, which was not granted by the trial court. With reference to (1) and (3), ⁶⁶³ this Court has recently held that after conviction the illegality of an arrest cannot be reviewed on habeas corpus hearing; nor can the sufficiency of the evidence be tested in such a proceeding. Spence v. Warden, 204 Md. 661 , 103 A. 2d 345 , and the cases cited therein; also Spencer v. Warden, 207 Md. 630, 114 A. 2d 891 , as to (3).

With reference to (2), it needs no citation of