Vucci v. State

Davidson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On 12 October 1972 in the Circuit Court for Howard County, a jury presided over by Judge James MacGill convicted the appellant, David John Vucci, of escape from Patuxent Institution. On appeal he complains that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction and that the court erred in refusing to propound certain voir dire questions. I Code (1957), Art. 27, § 139, insofar as here relevant, provides: “If any offender or person legally detained and ¹⁵⁹ confined, in the penitentiary ... or any place of confinement, in this State, shall escape he shall be guilty of a felony . . . .” (Emphasis supplied.) The appellant contends that he had the absolute right to depart from the confines of Patuxent Institution because he was being illegally detained there since he had not been examined for the purpose of determining his status as a defective delinquent within six months from the date he was received by the Institution, as required by Code (1957), Art. 31B.

In support of his position that his detention was illegal, he relies on McNeil v. Director, Patuxent Institution, 407 U. S. 245 , 92 S. Ct. 2083 (1972), and an order entered on 4 October 1972 in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County by Judge Plummer M. Shearin transferring him from Patuxent Institution to the jurisdiction of the Division of Corrections because his evaluation as a defective delinquent had not been made within the time limits prescribed by Art. 31B. In Jennings v. State, 8 Md. App. 321, 325, 259 A. 2d 547, 550 (1969), this Court said: “It is settled by the great weight of authority that where the imprisonment is under color of law, the prisoner is not entitled to resort to self-help but must apply for his release through regular legal channels, even though he might be able to show such defects in the procedure by which he was arrested and imprisoned as would justify his release.” (Citations omitted.) Thus it is clear in Maryland that even if a person is illegally confined because of defects in the procedure by which he was arrested and imprisoned, he is not entitled to resort to self-help but must apply for his release through regular legal channels. We think it is equally clear that even if a person, confined under color of law, is illegally confined because of violations of statutory procedures required with respect to his continued confinement, he is similarly not entitled to resort to self-help but must apply for his release through regular legal channels. ¹⁶⁰ Here the record shows that on 6 May 1971, in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, appellant was convicted of larceny. Judge H. Ralph Miller sentenced him to a term of seven years beginning on 6 May 1971 and referred him to Patuxent Institution for evaluation as to possible defective delinquency.

Appellant was received at Patuxent Institution on 13 July 1971. He refused to participate in any evaluation procedure and had not been evaluated by 24 March 1972. Assuming without deciding that his continued confinement at Patuxent was illegal at that time, we find he should have applied for his release through regular legal channels. He had no right to resort to self-help.

Instead, on that day he and a large number of other inmates engaged in an attempt to escape. A hole was cut in the perimeter fence of the Institution, described by the