Ex parte Wesley, 84-809

Decision Date08 November 1985
Docket NumberNo. 84-809,84-809
Citation481 So.2d 1162
PartiesEx parte Paul WESLEY. (Re: Paul Wesley v. State.)
CourtAlabama Supreme Court

Paul M. Harden, Monroeville, for petitioner.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Helen P. Nelson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

BEATTY, Justice.

Certiorari was granted in this case to review that part of the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals, 481 So.2d 1155, holding that petitioner was properly charged under the original indictment "after reversal of his plea of guilt to an offense which was no longer a lesser included offense under the indictment."

Petitioner was first tried under an indictment which charged him with first degree robbery. He pleaded guilty to "attempted robbery" after the indictment was amended to charge "attempted robbery." Wesley was then convicted and sentenced to a term of five years' imprisonment. He appealed. In Wesley v. State, 448 So.2d 468 (Ala.Crim.App.1984), the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed petitioner's conviction and remanded the case on the ground that, the general attempt statute no longer being applicable to robbery offenses, the crime of attempted robbery "now constitutes robbery." 448 So.2d at 469. See Code of 1975, § 13A-8-41; Petty v. State, 414 So.2d 182 (Ala.Crim.App.1982); Reed v. State, 372 So.2d 876 (Ala.1979). That court added:

"For aught that appears in the record, the factual circumstances of this case might support a conviction for any of the three degrees of robbery. The state is, of course, free to reindict this appellant for the appropriate offense. Petty v. State, [414 So.2d 182 (Ala.Crim.App.1982) ]."

However, on remand, the State of Alabama did not reindict petitioner but put him to trial upon the original indictment for robbery in the first degree. Such a course was erroneous. The clerk's record in the first case establishes that, with the petitioner's consent, the indictment charging first degree robbery was amended to charge attempted robbery, and it was to the amended indictment charging attempted robbery that petitioner pleaded guilty and received the sentence of five years in the first case. Accordingly, petitioner pleaded guilty to a charge which at that time did not exist, and, accordingly, he could not be sentenced under such a void indictment. Petty v. State, supra. It follows that when the State of Alabama chose to try petitioner again on the void amended indictment, his conviction was erroneous. However, as stated in Wesley, supra, the ...

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18 cases
  • Acres v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • February 10, 1987
    ...definition of robbery to include what had traditionally been regarded as assault with intent to rob and attempted robbery. Ex parte Wesley, 481 So.2d 1162 (Ala.1985); Petty v. State, 414 So.2d 182, 183 (Ala.Cr.App.1982). Under the present statutory definition of robbery, it is not essential......
  • Tulley v. City of Jacksonville
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • October 3, 2014
  • Williams v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • May 13, 1986
    ...Livingston Bail Bonds v. State, 416 So.2d 423 (Ala.1982).4 This case is distinguished from the Supreme Court's holding in Wesley v. State, 481 So.2d 1162 (Ala.1985) in which the Supreme Court held that the defendant could not be tried on the original indictment after his guilty plea to a le......
  • McNeely v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • November 12, 1986
    ...court has nothing before it to review. Wesley v. State, 481 So.2d 1155, 1161 (Ala.Cr.App.1985), rev'd on other grounds, Ex parte Wesley, 481 So.2d 1162 (Ala.1985) on remand, 481 So.2d 1163 (Ala.Cr.App.1985). Even if this issue had been preserved, the trial court committed no "The accepted r......
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