Bryant v. Warden, Md. Penitentiary

Decision Date28 July 1964
Docket NumberNo. 117,117
Citation202 A.2d 721,235 Md. 658
PartiesWillie Reno BRYANT v. WARDEN, MARYLAND PENITENTIARY. Post Conviction
CourtMaryland Court of Appeals

Before BRUNE, C. J., and HENDERSON, HAMMOND, PRESCOTT, HORNEY, MARBURY and SYBERT, JJ.

PRESCOTT, Judge.

Applicant was convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon in the Criminal Court of Baltimore and sentenced to 15 years' confinement. He was represented by privately employed counsel. His conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Bryant v. State, 232 Md. 20, 191 A.2d 566.

Applicant filed his petition for relief under the U. P. C. P. A., and counsel was appointed for him. He sought to raise three points: (1) his arrest was illegal; (2) the trial judge was prejudiced against him; (3) his rights 'were prejudiced' when he was tried without witnesses being present at the trial. The third of these contentions was finally determined to be without merit in his direct appeal; therefore it is not available in his behalf in this post conviction proceeding. Code (1957), Article 27, § 645A.

The first contention is without merit; if we assume, without deciding his arrest was illegal, there is no allegation that any 'fruits' of the arrest were used against him at his trial, hence the legality, vel non, of his arrest is immaterial.

The second contention is also without merit. The showing of the simple fact that a trial judge tries a codefendant of an accused before trying the accused does not establish prejudice against the accused. The above was petitioner's only claim relative to prejudice. Moreover, we have held that allegations of prejudice on the part of the trial court, if preserved below, are available for consideration on direct appeal, but are not so available in post conviction proceedings. Price v. Warden, 220 Md. 643, 151 A.2d 166.

Applicant's court-appointed counsel filed an amended petition in the court below alleging that his privately selected attorney was incompetent in that he failed 'to insist upon a continuance' in order to obtain a witness; to argue the proposition that applicant had been illegally arrested; and to object to 'the identification of the petitioner by the victim of the robbery,' because he had previously been identified by a witness who knew him in the presence of the victim.

(1) We discussed in some detail in petitioner's direct appeal the question relative to the alleged absent witness, and what was necessary that the trial court be shown to entitle an accused to a...

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20 cases
  • State v. Kruchten
    • United States
    • Arizona Supreme Court
    • August 2, 1966
    ...1086, cert. den. 365 U.S. 886, 81 S.Ct. 1043, 6 L.Ed.2d 199; People v. Strader, 23 Ill.2d 13, 177 N.E.2d 126 (1961); Bryant v. Warden, 235 Md. 658, 202 A.2d 721 (1964); King v. Commonwealth, Ky., 387 S.W.2d 582 For example, in O'Malley v. United States, supra, the Sixth Circuit said: 'Appel......
  • Flansburg v. State, 822
    • United States
    • Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
    • September 1, 1994
    ...Pressley v. Warden, 242 Md. 405, 408, 219 A.2d 25 (1966); Hamm v. Warden, 238 Md. 633, 635, 209 A.2d 785 (1965); Bryant v. Warden, 235 Md. 658, 660, 202 A.2d 721 (1964); Hyde v. Warden, 235 Md. 641, 646-47, 202 A.2d 382 (1964); Ward v. State, 52 Md.App. 88, 94-95, 447 A.2d 101 (1982). Indee......
  • State v. Rackley
    • United States
    • Arizona Supreme Court
    • November 20, 1970
    ...1086, cert. den. 365 U.S. 886, 81 S.Ct. 1043, 6 L.Ed.2d 199; People v. Strader, 23 Ill.2d 13, 177 N.E.2d 126 (1961); Bryant v. Warden, 235 Md. 658, 202 A.2d 721 (1964); King v. Commonwealth, Ky., 387 S.W.2d 582 'For example, in O'Malley v. United States, supra, the Sixth Circuit said: 'Appe......
  • Hoffler v. Peyton
    • United States
    • Virginia Supreme Court
    • September 9, 1966
    ...Trammell v. State, 276 Ala. 689, 166 So.2d 417, 419; People v. Strader, 23 Ill.2d 13, 177 N.E.2d 126, 132; Bryant v. Warden of Maryland Penitentiary, 235 Md. 658, 202 A.2d 721, 722. Where the delinquencies of counsel chosen and employed by a defendant are concerned the representation must b......
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