Young v. Warden of Maryland House of Correction

Collins, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an application by Thomas W. Young for leave to appeal from the denial of a writ of habeas corpus by Chief Judge Emory H. Niles, of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, after a hearing held before him on October 23, 1956. Petitioner was tried on charges of burglary and carrying a deadly weapon and sentenced by Judge Joseph Byrnes to four ⁶⁴⁰ years in the Maryland House of Correction from March 20, 1955. Petitioner contends that he pleaded not guilty and, by a mistake of the clerk of the court, a plea of guilty was entered at the trial before Judge Byrnes.

At the hearing on the petition held by Judge Niles, Messrs. Pairo and Murphy, Assistant State’s Attorneys, who tried the case for the State, testified that the records in the State’s Attorney’s Office and the notations which they made on the face of the indictment showed that petitioner pleaded guilty to both charges and, also, that they both remembered that he pleaded guilty. Also, certified copies of the docket entry show that petitioner pleaded guilty to both charges. Johnson v. Warden, 209 Md. 643 , 120 A. 2d 914 ; Pritchard v. Warden, 209 Md. 662 , 121 A. 2d 696 .

Petitioner further contends that he requested counsel for his defense and this request was denied by the trial judge. At the hearing before Judge Niles petitioner testified that in 1946 he was sentenced to jail for thirty