Baynor v. Warden, Maryland House of Correction

• Decision Date: 14 March 1975
• Docket Number: No. B-74-287,B-74-287
• Citation: 391 F. Supp. 1254
• Parties: Daniel BAYNOR, #9764 v. WARDEN, MARYLAND HOUSE OF CORRECTION, et al. (CASE A)
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

391 F. Supp. 1254

Daniel BAYNOR, #9764 v. WARDEN, MARYLAND HOUSE OF CORRECTION, et al. (CASE A)

No. B-74-287, Case A.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

March 14, 1975.

Luther Blackiston, Prisoner Assistance Project, Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., Baltimore, Md., for petitioner.

Alexander L. Cummings, Asst. Atty. Gen., of Maryland, Baltimore, Md., for respondents.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BLAIR, District Judge.

Petitioner is now incarcerated in the Maryland House of Correction under a sentence of life imprisonment on a conviction of first-degree murder and a twenty-year sentence for attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, the latter sentence to be served consecutively to the life sentence. Petitioner was arrested on December 28, 1963, and was originally convicted of both offenses on January 26, 1965 in the Criminal Court of Baltimore City before a judge sitting without a jury. At that time he was sentenced to life imprisonment under the murder conviction and to a five-year concurrent term for attempted robbery. Petitioner appealed his convictions, and his case was vacated and remanded in accordance with the decision of the Court of Appeals of Maryland in Schowgurow v. State, 240 Md. 121, 213 A.2d 475 (1965).

After petitioner's indictment was dismissed, he was reindicted, tried, and convicted of the same offenses at a trial on October 14, 1966, in the Criminal Court of Baltimore City, again before a judge sitting without a jury. On January 25, 1967, petitioner was sentenced to the terms of imprisonment that he is now serving. Petitioner again appealed to the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, which affirmed the judgments and convictions. Baynor v. State, No. 209 (Md.Ct.Spec.App., May 13, 1968). Certiorari was denied by the Court of Appeals of Maryland on December 11, 1968.

Petitioner has now filed two separate petitions for a writ of habeas corpus in this court. This petition requests "that his present sentence be recomputed so that he is given credit for the time served on his first sentence from December 28, 1963 to January 25, 1967, a total of 1124 days." He also requests that his parole eligibility date "be determined upon a beginning date for his sentence of December 28, 1963."

Petitioner bases his claim on the retroactive application of the Supreme Court's decision in North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969), which was decided on June 23, 1969. In Pearce, the Court made two separate rulings. First, it held that after a defendant has obtained a new trial from the reversal of a conviction, "the constitutional guarantee against multiple punishments for the same offense absolutely requires that punishment already exacted must be fully `credited' in imposing sentence upon a new conviction for the same offense." 395 U.S. at 718-19, 89 S.Ct. at 2077. Second, the Court held that while neither the double jeopardy provision nor the Equal Protection Clause imposes an absolute bar to a more severe sentence upon reconviction, id. at 723, 89 S.Ct. at 2080, due process of law does require that "vindictiveness against a defendant for having successfully attacked his first conviction must play no part in the sentence he receives after a new trial," and that "a defendant be freed of apprehension of such a retaliatory motivation on the part of the sentencing judge." Id. at 725, 89 S.Ct. at 2080. Hence, to assure the absence of such a motivation, the Court formulated the constitutional rule that the sentencing judge must state his reasons for the imposition of the more severe sentence. Id. at 726, 89 S.Ct. 2072.

The second holding of Pearce has been held not to be retroactive. Michigan v. Payne, 412 U.S. 47, 93 S.Ct. 1966, 36 L. Ed.2d 736 (1973). Hence, that portion of Pearce is not at issue in this case, since petitioner was sentenced before June 23, 1969. However, the Supreme Court has never ruled on the retroactive effect of the first holding in Pearce based on the double jeopardy clause. The Fifth Circuit has expressly ruled that the first holding in Pearce is retroactive. Allen v. Henderson, 434 F.2d 26 (5th Cir. 1970). Petitioner argues that the Fourth Circuit has implicitly so ruled in Wilson v. North Carolina, 438 F.2d 284 (4th Cir. 1971).

I.

The first question for this court to decide is whether petitioner is required to further exhaust his state remedies. Petitioner concedes that he has never raised this issue either on direct appeal of his conviction or under the Maryland Post Conviction Procedure Act. He contends, however, that further exhaustion would be futile because the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland has ruled that North Carolina v. Pearce is not retroactive. Craig v. Warden, No. 39 (Md.Ct.Spec.App., June 26, 1972). Hence, petitioner argues, any available state remedy would be ineffective, and exhaustion should therefore not be required. See Evans v. Cunningham, 335 F.2d 491 (4th Cir. 1964); Hayes v. Boslow, 336 F.2d 31 (4th Cir. 1964), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 1039, 87 S.Ct. 1496, 18 L.Ed.2d 607 (1967); Rowe v. Peyton, 383 F.2d 709 (4th Cir. 1967).

In the Craig case, the circumstances were essentially the same as the instant case. Craig was first convicted and sentenced to death on January 31, 1957. The conviction was reversed and remanded for retrial. He was again convicted, but sentenced only to life imprisonment on February 21, 1958. Craig argued based on Pearce that he should have been credited with the time served under the first sentence for purposes of ascertaining prison privileges as well as determining parole rights and status. The lower court rejected this argument. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed based on a construction of the relevant Maryland statute, 4A Annotated Code of Maryland, art. 41, § 122(b) (Supp. 1973), which provides as follows:

No person who has been sentenced to life imprisonment shall be eligible for parole consideration until he shall have served in confinement fifteen years. . . .

The Court of Special Appeals construed "served in confinement" to mean commencing on the second sentencing date: February 21, 1958. The Court further held Pearce to be not retroactive. Hence, Craig was not entitled to credit on his parole time. Craig v. Warden, No. 39 (Md.Ct.Spec.App., June 26, 1972). See also Dennis v. Warden, 12 Md.App. 512, 280 A.2d 53 (1971).

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland has therefore recently ruled against the very contention that petitioner asserts here. Exhaustion of state remedies was excused on almost identical grounds in Mohr v. Jordan, 370 F. Supp. 1149, 1152, 1154 (D.Md.1974) (Harvey, J.), aff'd, No. 74-1496 (4th Cir., July 31, 1974), i. e., that exhaustion would be futile. Cf. Ralph v. Warden, 438 F.2d 786 (4th Cir. 1970).

Further, this case appears to fall within the ambit of Wilson v. North Carolina, 438 F.2d 284 (4th Cir. 1971), decided on February 24, 1971. Craig v. Warden was decided June 26, 1972. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that the Court of Special Appeals considered Wilson at that time and reasonable also to assume that if petitioner were required to file further proceedings under the Maryland Post Conviction Procedure Act, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland would reach the same result as in Craig.

As it would therefore be futile for petitioner to seek relief in the state courts as to his claim, this court will consider the claim on its merits without requiring the exhaustion of state remedies. Mohr v. Jordan, supra, 370 F.Supp. at 1155.

II.

As to the merits of petitioner's claim, the first question is whether the double jeopardy holding in North Carolina v. Pearce is retroactive. In Wilson v. North Carolina, 438 F.2d 284 (4th Cir. 1971), this aspect of Pearce was apparently applied retroactively. Shortly after Wilson, the Fourth Circuit decided James v. Copinger, 441 F.2d 23 (4th Cir. 1971), in which the court expressly held the second holding of Pearce retroactive. The Supreme Court has subsequently held otherwise as to that portion of Pearce. Michigan v. Payne, 412 U.S. 47, 93 S.Ct. 1966, 36 L.Ed.2d 736 (1973). It is not altogether clear whether or not the implicit Wilson holding of retroactivity was influenced by the Fourth Circuit's belief that all of Pearce was retroactive. Since the Fourth Circuit has never expressly stated its views on this issue, this court will consider anew the retroactivity of Pearce's double jeopardy aspect.

In determining whether a new constitutional principle should be applied retroactively, the Supreme Court has, since Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601 (1965), considered the following three factors: (1) the purpose to be served by the new standards; (2) the extent of reliance by law enforcement authorities on the old standards; and (3) the effect on the administration of justice of a retroactive application of the new standards. Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 297, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967). The latter two factors, however, have controlling significance "only when the purpose of the rule in question did not clearly favor either retroactivity or prospectivity." Desist v. United States, 394 U.S. 244, 251, 89 S.Ct. 1030, 1035, 22 L.Ed.2d 248 (1969).

It is doubtful, however, whether this three-pronged test is appropriate to determine the retroactivity of the double-jeopardy holding of Pearce. In Robinson v. Neil, 409 U.S. 505, 93 S.Ct. 876, 35 L.Ed.2d 29 (1973), the Supreme Court considered the retroactivity of Waller v. Florida, 397 U.S. 387, 90 S.Ct. 1184, 25 L.Ed.2d 435 (1970), in which the Court had held that the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy precluded the recognition of the "dual sovereignty" doctrine with respect to separate state and municipal prosecutions. In Robinson, the Court refrained from applying the three-pronged test because the prohibition against being placed in double jeopardy was simply not susceptible to such analysis. 409 U. S. at 508, 93 S.Ct. 876. The...