Shorey was sentenced to death on June 7, 1961, upon the verdict of a jury of the Criminal Court of Baltimore City convicting him of rape and burglary. His conviction was affirmed on appeal, Shorey v. State, 227 Md. 385, 177 A.2d 245 (1962), cert. den., 371 U.S. 928, 83 S.Ct. 297, 9 L.Ed.2d 235 (1962), and he was denied relief in state post-conviction proceedings, Shorey v. Warden, 229 Md. 620, 182 A.2d 47 (1962) (per curiam), and Shorey v. Warden, 240 Md. 735, 215 A.2d 476 (1966) (per curiam). This appeal involves the legality of Shorey's arrest, the seizure of his clothing, and the admissibility of his inculpatory statement to the police.

The conviction was affirmed on appeal in Shorey v. State, 227 Md. 385. Judge Edwin Harlan denied post conviction relief in 1962 and Shorey's application for leave to appeal was denied in Shorey v. Warden, 229 Md. 620, cert. denied 371 U.S. 928. Judge Harlan again refused post conviction relief in 1965 and in Shorey v. Warden, 240 Md. 735, his action was approved. Judge Roszel Thomsen denied habeas corpus relief in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and in 1968 was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Shorey v. Warden, 401 F.2d 474.