Dennis v. Warden, Md. House of Correction

• Decision Date: 30 July 1971
• Docket Number: No. 1,1
• Citation: 280 A.2d 53,12 Md.App. 512
• Parties: Jerry DENNIS v. WARDEN, MARYLAND HOUSE OF CORRECTION. Post Conviction
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 512

12 Md.App. 512

280 A.2d 53

Jerry DENNIS v. WARDEN, MARYLAND HOUSE OF CORRECTION.

Post Conviction No. 1.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

July 30, 1971.

Jerry Davis in pro. per.

Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen. for the State of Maryland, Milton B. Allen, State's Atty. for Baltimore City, for appellee.

Argued before MURPHY, C. J., and ORTH and THOMPSON, JJ.

MURPHY, Chief Judge.

The applicant Jerry Dennis was found guilty by a jury in the Criminal Court of Baltimore on December 15, 1959 of murder in the first degree on which a sentence of life imprisonment was imposed, and of robbery on which he was given a concurrent sentence of ten years. On direct appeal, the judgments were affirmed. Dennis v. Warden, 6 Md.App. 295, 251 A.2d 909. On October 22, 1970 Dennis filed his third petition under the Post Conviction Procedure Act, alleging that the court erred in not giving him credit against his life sentence for time spent in jail prior to trial. The court below found no merit in the contention, nor do we.

We held in Wright v. Warden, 11 Md.App. 673, 276 A.2d 411, and Jones v. State, 11 Md.App. 468, 275 A.2d 508, that in those instances where the Legislature provided, and the court imposed a statutory maximum sentence for a criminal offense, it was the legislative intention that such maximum sentence be calculated by including time spent in jail prior to trial and sentencing. We found that the question was not one of constitutional dimension, either federal or State, but rather was one of statutory construction. In view of Dennis's life sentence, neither Wright nor Jones would have any application to his case.

Although not clear from his petition, we assume that the real purpose behind Dennis's claim is to obtain credit for his presentence jail time so as to accelerate the date upon which he would become eligible for parole consideration. Maryland Code, Article 41, Section 122(b), provides:

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

We hold that the fifteen year parole eligibility period is to be measured from the date the life sentence was imposed. We find no other construction plausible since the phrase in Section 122(b) 'served in confinement' is referable solely to such time served in confinement following conviction and sentence by the court. Two opinions of the Attorney General have also so held. See Volumes 39 and 48 of the Opinions of the Attorney General, at pages 244 and 341 respectively. Whether, for purposes of parole consideration, a person should be given credit for time served in jail prior to being...