John Leo Brady v. Superintendent, Anne Arundel County Detention Center

WINTER, Circuit Judge:

John Leo Brady’s 1958 conviction for first degree murder was affirmed but his sentence of death was reversed in Brady v. State, 226 Md. 422, 174 A.2d 167 (1961). A new trial was ordered limited solely to the issue of punishment. The limitation of relief to a trial on the issue of punishment was affirmed by the Supreme Court in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). At the time of both decisions and at all times thereafter, Maryland law provided only for the imposition of capital punishment or life imprisonment as punishment for the offense…