Bishop v. State
Decision Date | 17 July 1992 |
Citation | 608 So.2d 345 |
Parties | Ex parte State of Alabama. (In re James Charles BISHOP, Jr. v. STATE). 1910648. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Beth Jackson Hughes, Asst. Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
James Charles Bishop, Jr., pro se.
The State of Alabama petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari after the Court of Criminal Appeals had refused to allow the State to file an application for rehearing on the ground that that court no longer accepted applications for rehearing on "intervening remands," i.e., orders remanding the cause but not making a final determination of it. We granted the writ to review that decision. We now reverse and remand.
The following legal questions are presented:
1. Did the Court of Criminal Appeals err in refusing to accept the State's application for rehearing on the ground that "[a]pplications for rehearing are no longer accepted by this Court on intervening remands?"
2. Did the trial court err in dismissing the defendant's post-conviction petition without conducting a hearing, when the facts of record showed that the defendant had appealed his original conviction and had filed six other post-conviction petitions?
The State's application for rehearing in the Court of Criminal Appeals was accompanied by a motion made pursuant to the provisions of Rule 39(k), A.R.App.P., in which the State asked that Court to make the following findings of fact:
We first address the question of whether the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in refusing to accept the State's application for rehearing in this case. We hold that it did.
We recognize that this Court has held that the provisions of Rule 39 are inapplicable until there has been a final decision in the Court of Criminal Appeals, but that rule is not applicable here.
In Ex parte Pierce, 576 So.2d 258 (Ala.1991), the petitioner (Pierce) was convicted of intentional murder and was sentenced to death. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction, but remanded the case for a new sentencing hearing on the ground that the admission of a victim impact statement during Pierce's sentencing hearing violated his Eighth Amendment rights.
Pierce asked this Court to review the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals, pursuant to the provisions of Rule 39(c) Ala.R.App.P., which requires this Court to grant certiorari petitions in cases in which a sentence of death is imposed, as a matter of right. In deciding whether the Court of Criminal Appeals' affirmance of the petitioner's conviction constituted a "decision" within the meaning of Rule 39, Ala.R.App.P., this Court stated:
"We could construe the word 'decisions' in Rule 39 broadly to apply to a ruling, such as the one in this case, that affirmed the petitioner's conviction, but we believe that we should construe the word more strictly to apply...
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