Solomon v. Warden, Baltimore City Jail

McWilliams, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Appellant (Solomon) urges us to remand this case to the Baltimore City Court “with instructions to grant” his petition for the writ of habeas corpus, which the trial judge, Watts, J., on 2 April 1969, after a hearing, denied. Since we are obliged to affirm the action of Judge Watts, Solomon must now be delivered to the agent of the Commonwealth of Virginia, there to be taken and “dealt with according to Law.” The facts, as related to the trial judge by counsel, seem not to be in dispute. On 28 August 1968 a clothing store in Colonial Heights, Virginia was burglarized.

Merchandise worth about $5,000 was taken. Around midnight of the same day Trooper D. E. Stillwell, of the Virginia State Police, at the time unaware of the burglary, noticed a vehicle on Interstate Route 95 which “looked suspicious to him.” He stopped it and asked the occupants to identify themselves. They were, according to the trooper, William Banning, Woodrow Graham and Elwood Blackstone. The car, driven by Banning, was owned by Solomon’s wife.

The trooper observed “all these clothes” in the back of the car but he allowed them to proceed. Within a day or so the trooper saw a news item about the burglary and soon thereafter he gave the authorities at Colonial Heights the information he had obtained. Two members of the Colonial Heights police force went to Baltimore on 80 August and obtained a fugitive warrant for the arrest of “Woodrow Graham.” No arrest was made but they did question Mrs. Solomon who told them that, on the evening of 27 August, she had loaned her car to Banning who, she said, was a neighbor and an old friend. They searched her house but nothing was found. ³⁰⁰ A conclusion was reached some time during the succeeding four months that the “Woodrow Graham” seen by Trooper Stillwell on 27-28 August was actually Solomon.

The Governor of Virginia issued an extradition warrant on 3 February 1969. The Governor of Maryland designated Assistant Attorney General Joseph D. Buscher to preside at the extradition hearing which was held in Annapolis on 18 March. Trooper Stillwell, who was present at the hearing, identified Solomon as one of the three men he had seen in Mrs. Solomon’s automobile on Interstate Route 95 in Virginia on the night of 27-28 August. Lt.

Norman, of the Colonial Heights Police Department testified that a yellow wool glove found in the trunk of Mrs. Solomon’s car matched one found near the scene of the burglary. Following the signing of the rendition warrant by the Governor of Maryland Solomon applied for the writ of habeas corpus pursuant to Code, Art. 41, §25 (1965 Repl. Vol.). Solomon did not testify at the hearing in the court below.

He has offered no evidence in respect of his whereabouts at the time of the burglary. In this Court Solomon claims first, that it was not shown he was in the demanding state at the time of the crime, inasmuch as the identification by Trooper Stillwell was made pursuant to an unduly suggestive and thus constitutionally impermissible photographic “lineup;” he next suggests that the writ should be granted because “ [t] he stopping and subsequent search of * * * [his wife’s] automobile * * * violated the fourth and fourteenth amendments.” The issuance of