Case Name: JOHN FRANCIS PENNINGTON v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
Jurisdiction: Maryland
Decision Date: 1971-06-10
Citations: 12 Md. App. 263
Docket Number: No. 540
Parties: JOHN FRANCIS PENNINGTON v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Judges: 
Reporter: Maryland Appellate Reports
Volume: 12
Pages: 263–264

Head Matter:
JOHN FRANCIS PENNINGTON v. STATE OF MARYLAND
[No. 540,
September Term, 1970.]
Decided June 10, 1971.
The cause was argued before Orth, Thompson and Moylan, JJ.
Jack D. Guertin for appellant.
Robert A. DiCicco, Assistant Attorney General, with whom were Francis B. Burch, Attorney General, Arthur A. Marshall, Jr., State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, and James E. Kenkel, Deputy State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, on the brief, for appellee.

Opinion:
Orth, J.,
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The judgment entered in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County on 8 September 1969 upon John Francis Pennington's plea of nolo contendere to a charge of bribery is reversed for the reason that the consent of the lower court to the entry of the plea was improper. It was improper because the record is utterly silent as to whether Pennington had an intelligent understanding that he possessed the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination and the right to confront his accusers and voluntarily waived them. See Boykin v. Alabama, 89 S. Ct. 1709, decided 2 June 1969, as construed in McCall v. State, 9 Md. App. 191, cert. denied, Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2 June 1970. See also Williams v. State, 10 Md. App. 570.
Judgment reversed; case remanded for a new trial.