Wood v. Director of Patuxent Institution

Per Curiam. This is an application for leave to appeal from an order of the Circuit Court for Frederick County dated January 28, 1965, finding that the applicant is a defective delinquent and committing him to Patuxent Institution. Morris Wood previously had been convicted in the Circuit Court for Frederick County of assault and battery, and on September 24, 1962, he was sentenced to the Maryland Institute for Men for not more than three years. Subsequently, on January 28, 1965, Judge Patrick M. Schnauffer, sitting without a jury, found him to be a defective delinquent.

The applicant raises the following contentions: 1. That there was an unconstitutional delay of nearly twenty-eight months from the time of applicant’s commitment to Patuxent Institution to the time of his adjudication as a defective delinquent. The delay has postponed the running of the two years which must lapse before applicant can seek a redetermination. 2. That Art. 31B violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. 3.

That Art. 3IB violates the double jeopardy provisions of the federal Constitution. 4. That Art. 3IB is an ex post facto law, in violation of Art. I, § 10, of the Constitution of the United States. 5. That Art. 31B violates the self-incrimination provision of the Fifth. Amendment of the United States