State Ex Rel. Freeland v. Warden of Maryland Penitentiary

PER CURIAM. Earl Randall Freeland, sentenced to the Maryland Penitentiary for 7 y% years for the crime of robbery with deadly weapon, has applied here for leave to appeal from refusal of a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner says that he was committed in January, 1946, to the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, and while in that penitentiary the Maryland authorities filed a detainer against him. He says that, before the expiration of the term at Leavenworth, he refused to sign a waiver of extradition to the State of Maryland; that he was thereupon ordered to be sent to the Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; and that he objected because he had arranged to have an attorney represent him at an extradition hearing in Kansas.

He claims that he was transferred from Leavenworth to Lewisburg in order that he would be more easily available to the Maryland authorities. He alleges that, after he refused to submit to the transfer, he was brutally beaten and forcibly transferred to Lewisburg; and that as a result of that treatment he arrived there in a highly nervous state and on the verge of collapse. Petitioner also alleges that on December 15, 1947, he was taken to the Central Police Station in Baltimore, where he made a request to be allowed counsel, but this right was denied him and he was subjected to exhaustive questioning. He complains that he was questioned “on and off” during a period of about 36 hours.

He claims ⁶⁹⁸ that he made his confession when he was mentally and physically exhausted. He further alleges that on December 17 he was taken to the Baltimore City Jail, and on December 18 he was brought before Judge Sherbow in the Criminal Court for arraignment. He