Walker v. Warden of Maryland House of Correction

Bruñe, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The petitioner, John C. Walker, asks leave to appeal from an order by Judge Charles C. Marbury, sitting in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, denying the petitioner’s application for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner was tried before a jury in the Criminal Court of Baltimore on a charge of burglary on October 14, 1955. He was convicted and was sentenced by Judge John T. Tucker to three years’ imprisonment in the House of Correction.

He asserts his innocence and claims that his conviction was in violation of his constitutional rights under both the Federal and the State Constitutions because, although the court told him at the time of his arraignment that certain named counsel would be appointed for him, no counsel was appointed to represent him. (The name of the lawyer alleged to have been mentioned is not stated.) Judge Marbury, in passing upon the application, had before' him a certified copy of the docket entries in the Criminal Court of Baltimore and a transcript of the proceedings at the time of the petitioner’s arraignment and a copy of a medical report relating to the petitioner. These were public records which were properly taken into consideration by him under Code (1951), Article 42, Section 5, in determining whether or not the writ should be granted. A letter from the Judge before whom the petitioner was tried does not, we think, constitute a public record and hence was not properly before the Judge to whom application was made for the writ and we ⁶⁵⁶ have therefore disregarded it in reaching our conclusion.

The docket entries show that the indictment against Walker was returned on September 2, 1955, and that a copy of it was served on him on that day and that he gave a receipt for it. He was arraigned with a co-defendant, Jimmie Coughman, on September 9th. Coughman pleaded guilty, Walker, not guilty. Walker was asked by the court if he had ever been in a mental institution and denied that he had been.

The Judge then said that he would get a medical report. The accused accordingly was examined by the Chief Medical Officer for the court. His