Dawson v. State, 8 Div. 55

Decision Date28 October 1952
Docket Number8 Div. 55
Citation66 So.2d 567,37 Ala.App. 16
PartiesDAWSON v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals

Thos. C. Pettus, Moulton, for appellant.

Si Garrett, Atty. Gen., and Thos. F. Parker, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

PRICE, Judge.

The indictment in this case charged appellant with manufacturing whiskey and possessing a still.

Defendant plead guilty to the charge contained in the indictment, and the court pronounced judgment and sentence. The sentence being one year and one day in the penitentiary.

Three days later defendant, by his counsel, filed a motion praying that 'the court will grant him leave and permission to withdraw his plea of guilty entered in this cause, and will further allow and permit him to enter a plea of not guilty thereto.'

The basis of the motion was that defendant was without counsel at the time he entered the plea of guilty and was sentenced; that he is ignorant and illiterate, having finished only the second grade in school, and that he has been classed by some as being moronic and feeble minded; that he entered his plea of guilty because he was advised that if he would enter the military service of the United States he would be placed on probation, or the cases against him would be disposed of in some way so that he would not have to go to the penitentiary. But after he plead guilty he was informed he was not eligible for probation and was refused admittance into the armed services because of his lack of education.

He further deposed that he entered a plea of guilty because of his presence at the still, and since he has employed counsel he has learned that the mere presence of one at a still, not his own, located on lands not his own, and at which he is not working and has not worked, is not a violation of the law.

On the hearing defendant's evidence in support of the motion was uncontroverted.

The court entered an order denying the motion.

No appeal was taken from the judgment of conviction, this attempted appeal being from the order of the court overruling the motion to set aside the plea of guilty.

The right of appeal is wholly statutory. Under our statute an appeal is authorized in criminal cases only from a judgment of conviction. Title 15, Sec. 367, Code 1940; Allen v. State, 141 Ala. 35, 37 So. 393; Smith v. State, 253 Ala. 277, 44 So.2d 250, and cases cited. And Title 7, Sec. 764, gives a defendant a right of appeal from an adverse decision on a motion for a...

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13 cases
  • Gwin v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • March 23, 1982
    ...denied, 268 Ala. 696, 106 So.2d 674 (1958); or from an order denying a defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Dawson v. State, 37 Ala.App. 16, 66 So.2d 567, cert. denied, 259 Ala. 205, 66 So.2d 568 Since there is no statute or rule providing for a direct appeal from the denial of a......
  • Waters v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • December 20, 2013
    ...denial of motions to withdraw guilty pleas. See, e.g., Gwin v. State, 425 So.2d 500, 504 (Ala.Crim.App.1982) (citing Dawson v. State, 37 Ala.App. 16, 66 So.2d 567 (1952), for the proposition that no appeal lies from an order denying a motion to withdraw a guilty plea); Turner v. State, 365 ......
  • Waters v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • December 20, 2013
    ...of motions to withdraw guilty pleas. See, e.g., Gwin v. State, 425 So. 2d 500, 504 (Ala. Crim. App. 1982) (citing Dawson v. State, 37 Ala. App. 16, 66 So. 2d 567 (1952), for the proposition that no appeal liesfrom an order denying a motion to withdraw a guilty plea); Turner v. State, 365 So......
  • Searcy v. State , CR–10–0950.
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • July 8, 2011
    ...by statute in § 12–22–130, Ala.Code 1975.” Dixon v. City of Mobile, 859 So.2d 462, 463 (Ala.Crim.App.2003). See also Dawson v. State, 37 Ala.App. 16, 66 So.2d 567 (1952). Section 12–22–130, Ala.Code 1975, provides: “A person convicted of a criminal offense in the circuit court or other cour......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • Procedure trumps justice: judicial inactivism in Alabama and its unjust result.
    • United States
    • Jones Law Review Vol. 13 No. 2, March 2009
    • March 22, 2009
    ...(113) Fagan, 957 So. 2d at 1159. (114) See id.; see also Hart v. Alabama, 939 So. 2d 948, 949 (Ala. Crim. App. 2005); Dawson v. Alabama, 66 So. 2d 567, 568 (Ala. Crim. App. (115) Fagan, 957 So. 2d at 1159. (116) Id. (117) Id. (Baschab, J., dissenting). (118) Barbour v. Alabama, 903 So. 2d 8......

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