Rodger Wyley, 3253 v. Warden, Maryland Penitentiary

SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge:

This appeal by a state prisoner attacks on federal constitutional grounds Article XV, section 5 of the Constitution of Maryland which leaves to the jury the final determination of the law as well as the facts in a criminal trial. The provision reads as follows:

In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be the Judges of Law, as well as of fact, except that the Court may pass upon the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction.

On November 19, 1953 a jury in the Criminal Court of Baltimore found Rodger Wyley guilty of first degree murder, without capital…