Midgett v. McClelland

422 F. Supp. 82, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15572
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedOctober 28, 1975
DocketCiv. No. 11867
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 422 F. Supp. 82 (Midgett v. McClelland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Midgett v. McClelland, 422 F. Supp. 82, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15572 (D. Md. 1975).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HERBERT F. MURRAY, District Judge.

Petitioner was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in the Criminal Court of Baltimore City on May 3, 1957, and was sentenced to consecutive prison terms of twenty and fifteen years, respectively. This judgment of conviction was reversed by the Maryland Court of Appeals and a new trial was ordered. Midgett v. State, 216 Md. 26, 139 A.2d 209 (1958). Midgett was retried and convicted by a jury in the Criminal Court for Baltimore City on June 22, 1959, of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery and assault. On December 11, 1959, he was sentenced by Judge Allen to a term of thirty years for kidnapping, five years consecutive for conspiracy and five years concurrent for assault. He was found not guilty of armed robbery upon retrial. On appeal the judgments were affirmed. Midgett v. State, 223 Md. 282, 164 A.2d 526.

Midgett, in his petition for habeas corpus relief, contended that he was entitled to [84]*84such relief under the doctrine of North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969), which prohibits a longer sentence to be imposed upon conviction after retrial, unless the sentencing court expressly states the reasons supporting a more severe sentence. Since the filing of the petition for habeas corpus, Midgett was paroled by the State of Maryland on March 19, 1975.

In a prior Memorandum and Order, dated August 3, 1973, this Court denied Midgett’s petition, after noting that a subsequent decision of the Supreme Court, Michigan v. Payne, 412 U.S. 47, 93 S.Ct. 1966, 36 L.Ed.2d 736 (1973), held that the Pearce requirements were not to be accorded retroactive application to resentencing procedures occurring prior to the date of the Pearce decision, which was June 23, 1969.

Petitioner appealed this decision to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. In reversing this Court’s decision, the Fourth Circuit, after agreeing that Pearce was not applicable in light of the Michigan v. Payne decision, stated:

The Supreme Court in Payne was careful to point out, however, that Pearce did not state a new constitutional rule and that ‘it cannot be questioned that this basic due process protection articulated in Pearce is available equally to defendants resentenced before and after the date of decision in that case.’ 412 U.S. at 50-51, [93 S.Ct. 1966.] The difference is that in post-Pearce proceedings the sentencing judge’s reasons must be affirmatively stated and must be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of the defendant occurring after the time of the original sentencing, while in the pre-Pearce situations the defendant must come forward with evidence of retaliatory motivation on the part of the judge who imposed the second, more severe sentence. Midgett v. McClellan, Mem.Dec., No. 73-2239 (4th Cir. decided July 15, 1974), at 3.

After reviewing the transcript of the re-sentencing proceeding in this case, the Fourth Circuit took particular note of the following statements of Judge Allen during that proceeding:

You were tried once before a jury and found guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery, at that time you were sentenced by Judge Warnken, to a total of 35 years in the Maryland Penitentiary. I consider the total sentence imposed by Judge Warnken a just one and not excessive; for the crime for which you were found guilty before me I shall therefore adopt it and follow it, the sentence of the Court is, in Indictment No. 1157 of 1959 that of kidnapping 30 years in the Maryland Penitentiary; Indictment No. 2120 of 1958 that of conspiracy five years in the Maryland Penitentiary; these sentences to be served consecutively; Indictment No. 250 of 1957 that of assault, five years in the Maryland Penitentiary. This sentence to be served concurrently with the two sentences previously pronounced.

After citing the analogous cases of Chandler v. United States, 468 F.2d 834 (5th Cir. 1972) and United States v. Welty, 426 F.2d 615 (3d Cir. 1970), the Fourth Circuit found that Judge Allen’s express adoption of the total time period of the initial sentence notwithstanding that petitioner had been convicted of different offenses at the two trials, coupled with the fact that the original sentence of fifteen years for kidnapping had been doubled by Judge Allen upon re-sentencing, “strongly suggests the possibility that [Midgett’s] kidnapping sentence was increased in consideration of his acquittal on the armed robbery charge.” Midgett v. McClellan, supra, at 6. If this were the reason, held the Fourth Circuit, such a sentence would have violated the due process clause. The Fourth Circuit thereupon remanded the matter for further factual development by this Court. The Court of Appeals then suggested that such factual development might be accomplished by way of additional pleadings, affidavits or examination of the original transcript of Midgett’s second trial and the related sentencing proceedings. .

In line with the Fourth Circuit’s directive, the Court and counsel have engaged [85]*85in repeated attempts to discover what information might exist which could shed light on Judge Allen’s motivation during a sentencing proceeding which took place over fifteen years ago. In addition to the obvious problems which would attend any such temporally distant inquiry, the matter was further complicated by the fact that Judge Allen passed away some years ago. Nevertheless, after a series of conferences, hearings and correspondence, efforts were made to locate any and all parties who were either directly or indirectly concerned with the events relating to Midgett’s retrial and resentencing during 1959. Rather than engage in a lengthy narrative as to the efforts made in this regard, suffice it to say that due to the passage of time, the memories of those who might have been able to share some information with the Court in this regard had been understandably dimmed to the point where any further inquiry along these lines would have been a meaningless gesture.

Furthermore, while the Court did pursue the suggested avenue of reviewing the transcript of the petitioner’s" retrial and related sentencing proceedings, which consisted of over 1,200 pages, such review, when viewed in light of the specific issue involved, did not contribute measurably to a resolution of the matter.

Of course, if the term “retaliatory motivation” be viewed as connoting hostility and vindictiveness, then a review of the transcript might be considered dispositive, for it revealed in each and every instance the fact that Judge Allen was most tolerant and hospitable to petitioner, who was acting pro se and who afforded numerous occasions to try the patience of the judge. However, in the Court’s opinion, the term retaliatory motivation, as used in analogous cases such as Chandler, does not necessarily involve any showing of personal animosity and ill-will by the sentencing judge.

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Bluebook (online)
422 F. Supp. 82, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/midgett-v-mcclelland-mdd-1975.