Ralph v. Warden of the Maryland Penitentiary

The applicant, William Ralph, was convicted of rape and sentenced to death in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County by a three judge panel, sitting without a jury. On appeal, the judgment and sentence were affirmed in Ralph v. State, 226 Md. 480 (1961), cert. denied, sub nom, Ralph v. Maryland, 369 U. S. 813 (1962). The applicant thereafter brought an application under the Maryland Uniform Post Conviction Procedure Act and a federal habeas corpus application, both of which were denied. On a second federal habeas corpus application, Chief Judge Roszel C. Thomsen of the United States District…