Mateen v. Saar

BATTAGLIA, J

This case comes to us from a judgment of the Court of Special Appeals affirming the Circuit Court for Baltimore City’s denial of Muhsin R. Mateen’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. We must consider whether the Circuit Court’s pronouncement of Mateen’s 1973 sentence for first degree murder was for 50 years, or for life with all but 50 years suspended, whether subsequent off-the-record communications between the sentencing judge and the chairman of the Maryland Parole Commission, in the absence of notice to Mateen or an opportunity to be heard, could have constituted a valid…