Whiteley v. Warden, Maryland Penitentiary

⁶³⁵ Singley, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Whiteley, convicted of conspiracy to sell marijuana by a Worcester County jury, was committed by the Circuit Court on 31 October 1969 to the custody of the Commissioner of Correction for a term of five years. On 25 November 1969, he entered an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, and on 29 December 1969, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that he was entitled to be admitted to bail pending the disposition of his appeal. From an order denying bail, Whiteley has appealed to this Court.

Maryland Rule 777 b provides: “After conviction, pending sentence or appeal, of an offense the maximum punishment for which is other than capital or confinement in the penitentiary, an accused shall be entitled to be admitted to bail. In all other cases the accused may be admitted to bail in the discretion of the court.” Whiteley was convicted of an offense punishable by imprisonment for five years and could have been confined in the penitentiary, Maryland Code (1957, 1967 Repl. Yol. and 1969 Cum. Supp.) Art. 27, §§ 276, 277, 300, 689, 690.

As a consequence, whether or not he was to be admitted to bail lay in the discretion of the trial court. In a well considered opinion delivered at the conclusion of the habeas corpus hearing, the judge rested his refusal to admit