Slater v. Warden of the Maryland Penitentiary

Applicant Warner Slater was convicted in the Criminal Court of Baltimore on January 15, 1960, of two charges of armed robbery, and two consecutive sentences of twenty years in the Maryland Penitentiary were resultingly imposed. He was represented' at the non-jury trial, before Judge Prendergast, by counsel who had been privately engaged. In his petition to prosecute an appeal as an indigent defendant, Slater cited as one of his reasons for his appeal the alleged incompetency of his trial counsel. Despite this allegation Judge Prendergast assigned his trial counsel to represent him on appeal.…