Hunter v. Warden
Hunter v. Warden
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case concerns the right of a person accused of crime to be admitted to bail prior to conviction.
OPHELIA C. HUNTER was arrested and accused of solicitation of the felony of murder. A judicial officer of the District Court refused to release her pending trial, either on her personal recognizance or on bail. See Code, Art. 26, § 145 (b) (6); Maryland District Rule 777. She petitioned the Baltimore City Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that she was illegally imprisoned, detained and restrained of her liberty by the Warden of the Baltimore City Jail because she had been denied bail by the District Court. The writ was issued returnable 27 October 1972 and on that date, by order of Sklar, J., she was remanded without bail to the custody of the Warden. See Maryland Rule 777. Also on 27 October she was presented, and indictments against her were filed in the Criminal Court of Baltimore charging her with soliciting to murder and conspiracy. On 28 November 1972 another order was entered in the Baltimore City Court remanding her without bail to the custody of the Warden.
The application is bottomed upon the claim that the amount of bail set was prohibited by the guarantees in the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Maryland against excessive bail.
In Bigley and Fleming v. Warden, 16 Md. App. 1, the issue before us was the refusal of the trial court to admit to bail after conviction, but we mentioned several facets relating to the setting of bail before trial. We observed that the court may not consider other charges pending against an accused, except as provided in Code, Art. 27, § 616%, but must confine its consideration to the particular offense for which bail is sought. We noted, however, that the court may take into account whether or not an accused has previously given bail for other offenses and whether or not he has forfeited that bail. We called attention to, and set out in Appendix A, at 15-17, the “Standards Relating to Pretrial Release” suggested in Tentative Draft No. 9, March 1968 of the American Bar Association Project on Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice. In Simmons v. Warden, 16 Md. App. 449, 298 A. 2d 199 (1973), the court set bail at $50,000 pending a third trial after the jury in each of two prior trials of the accused for murder, rape, arson, burglary and robbery had been unable to agree. We found, in
We do not know the particular circumstances of the case here before us other than through the bald allegations made in the application for leave to appeal, and we do not deem this to be sufficient.
We grant the application for leave to appeal without affirming, reversing, or modifying the judgment, and remand the case with direction to the court below to submit a memorandum setting out its reasons for the action taken by it. The record with such memorandum shall be returned to this Court forthwith.
Application granted; case remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion; costs to abide the final disposition of the case in this Court; mandate to issue forthwith.
. The record before us does not disclose the circumstances of the entry of the order of 28 November 1972.
. The people of Maryland declared in Article 25 of the Declaration of Rights, Constitution of Maryland, “That excessive bail ought not to be required, * * Amendment VIII to the Constitution of the United States provides that “Excessive bail shall not be required, * * The federal guarantee has been held to apply to the states through the fourteenth amendment by various courts in other jurisdictions but not, as yet, by the Supreme Court of the United States. See Bigley and Fleming v. Warden, 16 Md. App. 1, at 9 and footnote 4.
. Hunter alleges in the application: “That she is 22 years of age, the mother of a 5 year old son, and has been employed and resided in the Baltimore Community her entire lifetime. Prior to her confinement, she was to marry and will do so upon her release. ® * * That she has never been convicted of a crime * * *. She presents no danger to the community if released and there is no possibility that she will not be available for court appearances.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.