Skates v. Warden of Maryland House of Correction

Bruñe, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The applicant seeks leave to appeal from the denial by Judge Smith of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The applicant alleges that he was held incommunicado by the police for seventy-two hours, despite efforts of his family to get in touch with him and to send a lawyer to see him, that he was subjected to beatings and other indignities, that he was arraigned on the charges against him without having counsel prior to his arraignment, and that evidence of his identification by the victim of the assault with a deadly weapon, upon which the applicant received a three-year sentence, was insufficient, and that a blackjack found at or near the scene of the offense was not sufficiently identified with the applicant. He also alleges prejudice of the police against him.

It is worthy of note that the applicant does not assert that his alleged mistreatment by the police resulted in his making a confession. Hence, it could hardly have induced the plea of guilty referred to below. See Townsend v. Burke, 334 U. S. 736 . ⁶⁴¹ The applicant’s petition asserts that he “pleaded Not Guilty in all cases.” The docket entries in the three cases against him, upon which he was sentenced to the imprisonment from which he seeks release, show this to be a half-truth at best. The charges are summarized in the docket entries as “Deadly Weapon” (No. 1473), “Attempt to Rob with Deadly Weapon” (No. 1474) and “Assault” (No. 1475).

On April 25, 1956, when arraigned, the defendant (now applicant) did plead not guilty to each indictment. On May 2, 1956, a docket entry in each case shows that he submitted under a plea of guilty. The docket entries also show that he was represented by counsel in each case. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on the