Coral v. State, CR-89-1117
| Decision Date | 31 May 1991 |
| Docket Number | CR-89-1117 |
| Citation | 585 So.2d 248 |
| Parties | Robert Lance CORAL v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
W. Terry Travis, Montgomery, for appellant.
James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Sandra J. Stewart, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The appellant, Robert Lance Coral, was indicted on March 7, 1988, in Montgomery County, in a two-count indictment for the capital offenses of murder committed during a robbery in the first degree, in violation of § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Code of Alabama 1975 (count I), and murder committed during a burglary in the first degree, in violation of § 13A-5-40(a)(4) (count II). A jury found him guilty of the lesser included offense of murder under count I of the indictment and guilty of the capital offense of murder committed during a burglary in the first degree, as charged in the indictment under count II. A sentencing hearing was held before the jury, in accordance with §§ 13A-5-43 through -46, and the jury returned an advisory verdict recommending that the appellant be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The vote of the jury in arriving at the advisory verdict was eight for life imprisonment without parole and four for the death penalty. 1 Thereafter, the trial court held another sentencing hearing and, on October 20, 1989, sentenced the appellant to death. 2
We note at the outset of our review of this case that the trial court has failed to comply with the requirements of § 13A-5-47(d), which provides as follows:
The court's sentencing order contains no findings. "Without knowing what the trial judge did, we are unable to properly review his sentencing decision." Ex parte Cochran, 500 So.2d 1179, 1187 (Ala.1985). See also Murry v. State, 562 So.2d 1348 (Ala.Cr.App.1988), cert. quashed, 562 So.2d 1348 (Ala.1990).
Due to the deficiencies in the sentencing order, we remand this cause to the trial court with directions that it enter specific written findings concerning the existence or nonexistence of the aggravating...
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Coral v. State
...appropriate punishment by reweighing the proper aggravating circumstances against any proper mitigating circumstances. Coral v. State, 585 So.2d 248 (Ala.Cr.App.1991). We also instructed the trial court to enter written findings of fact summarizing the facts of the crime and Robert Lance Co......
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Clark v. State
...1975. "`Without knowing what the trial judge did, we are unable to properly review his sentencing decision.'" Coral v. State, 585 So.2d 248, 248-49 (Ala.Crim.App.1991), aff'd, 628 So.2d 1004 (Ala.1993), cert. denied, 511 U.S. 1012, 114 S.Ct. 1387, 128 L.Ed.2d 61 (1994), quoting Ex parte Coc......
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Coral v. State
...of Alabama 1975. On May 31, 1991, we remanded the case with instructions for the trial court to enter a proper order. Coral v. State, 585 So.2d 248 (Ala.Cr.App.1991). On August 12, 1991, the trial court filed a new sentencing order; however, we again remanded. Coral v. State, 628 So.2d 954 ......
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Coral v. State
...court to enter specific written findings concerning the existence of any aggravating and mitigating circumstances. See Coral v. State, 585 So.2d 248 (Ala.Crim. App.1991). On return, we again remanded the case for the trial court to correct its sentencing order and to set aside Coral's convi......