Smith v. Warden of the Maryland Penitentiary

On March 20, 1961, applicant, through his privately retained counsel, pleaded not guilty to an indictment, the first count of which charged robbery with a deadly weapon. On April 27, 1961, he withdrew that plea and entered a plea of guilty on the first count. Judge Sodaro, in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, on the same day, sentenced him to twenty years in the penitentiary, from which judgment and sentence the applicant took no timely appeal in accordance with Maryland Rule 812 a. On June 21, 1961, the clerk of the Criminal Court of Baltimore received a “Notice of Appeal”, dated June 20,…