Rowe v. Warden

PkR Curiam. Willis C. Rowe was found guilty of murder in the second degree in the Criminal Court of Baltimore on 29 June 1965. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 18 years, the sentence to date from 13 May 1958. 1 There was no appeal from this judgment. The docket entries show that a petition under the Uniform Post Conviction Procedure Act was filed on 5 October 1965 and was withdrawn upon motion of the applicant by order of the Criminal Court of Baltimore on 15 November 1965.

On 26 December 1966 a second post conviction petition was filed in proper person and answered by the State on 30 December. It made the bald allegations that the petitioner had been “subjected to double jeopardy,” been denied a speedy trial, been “subjected to cruel and unusual punishment” and “in other words, and in sundry respects * * * been denied due process and the equal protection of the laws.” It asserted that it was “in effect solely an appeal from the proceedings in the Maryland Court of Appeals, and hence from the logical consequences of those proceedings” and that the petitioner did not “now allege ²⁸² errors on the part of the Baltimore City Criminal Court, since the Court was bound to implement the erroneous decision and mandate of the State’s highest Court.” 2 It concluded that the issues “are res judicata, locally, and hence this petition is subject to being dismissed now.” 3 On 10 January 1967 Rowe filed in proper person a “Motion to Dismiss,” stating that the State’s answer to his petition averred that “ ‘the alleged errors have been previously and finally litigated’ locally” and “that for the second time the petitioner agrees with this allegation.” He concluded that the court “is without legitimate power to stir up litigation or to insist in any way upon a quarrel in a case where the parties have agreed, as here — twice over — that they have no justifiable dispute.” On 31 January Judge James K. Cullen, presiding in the Criminal Court of Baltimore dismissed the petition upon Rowe’s motion but “expressed no opinion as to the question of whether the alleged errors * * * have been previously and finally litigated.” Under the same date the court amended its original opinion “to the extent that it will dismiss, with prejudice, the Petition of Willis C. Rowe for relief under the Uniform Post Conviction Procedure Act,” noting that it had received correspondence from Rowe “which has persuaded this Court to reach the conclusion that the Petitioner is fully aware of his rights in this matter and is perfectly willing to freely and voluntarily waive any and all rights to a hearing on the issues presented by his Petition.” On 30 April 1968 Rowe filed a “Petition for Leave to Appeal from Denial of Post-Conviction Cause”; under date of 13 May 1968 he filed a “Second Petition for Leave to Appeal from Denial of Post-Conviction Cause”; and under date of 6 June 1968 he filed a “Third Petition for Leave to Appeal from Denial of Post-Conviction Cause.” We believe from these documents that Rowe is not seeking leave to appeal from the dismissal of his second post conviction petition of 26 December 1966 despite the title he ²⁸³ has given the documents. And if the “petitions” are considered as application for leave to appeal from such dismissal they must be denied as not timely filed. Md. Rule, BK46a; Bynum v. Warden, 230 Md. 631 .

But in the first document Rowe refers to “his petition for habeas corpus” filed by him in the Circuit Court for Howard County, “anticipating prejudice in Baltimore.” He states that “on February 21, 1968 said Court referred the case to the Baltimore City Criminal Court — under ‘Rule Z 54’,” and complains that he has not received a hearing thereon. He prays “for leave to appeal from a de facto and manifestly illegal denial of his cause; that alternatively he prays for change of venue to some presumedly unprejudiced jurisdiction; that alternatively he prays for a writ of