Ex parte Williams, 3 Div. 601

Citation53 So.2d 334,255 Ala. 648
Decision Date14 June 1951
Docket Number3 Div. 601
PartiesEx parte WILLIAMS.
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama

M. Ashley Dickerson, Montgomery, for petitioner.

Si Garrett, Atty. Gen., and A. A. Carmichael, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

BROWN, Justice.

This is an original application to this court by Essie Q. Williams for leave to apply to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County for a writ of error coram nobis to review the action of that court in adjudging the petitioner guilty of grand larceny and sentencing him to the penitentiary for a term of ten years. If the facts alleged in the petition are true, there has been a gross abuse of judicial processes superinduced by fraud practiced on the court to the hurt of petitioner in depriving him of his liberty without due process of law.

The circuit court is a court of unlimited, original jurisdiction in respect to the enforcement of the criminal laws of the state and petitioner has a right to seek relief in that court under the constitution by proper pleadings and proof showing with reasonable certitude that the facts alleged are true. Ex parte Taylor (Taylor v. State), 249 Ala. 667, 32 So.2d 659; Constitution of 1901, §§ 6 and 13.

Application to this court for leave to proceed in the circuit court is necessary only in cases where this court has assumed and exercised its appellate jurisdiction to review the judgments of nisi prius courts on appeal or writ of error and through such review the judgment of the trial court has become merged in the judgment of the Supreme Court. It is not made to appear that the judgment of the circuit court was reviewed on appeal to this court or otherwise, hence the application for leave to proceed is without merit. Smith v. State, 245 Ala. 161, 16 So.2d 315; Wheeler v. Wheeler, 254 Ala. 611, 49 So.2d 219.

The motion of the Attorney General to dismiss the petition is therefore due to be granted. Johnson v. Williams as Warden, 244 Ala. 391, 13 So.2d 683.

Motion to dismiss the petition granted.

LIVINGSTON, C. J., and FOSTER and SIMPSON, JJ., concur.

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14 cases
  • Barber v. Alabama
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama
    • April 16, 2012
    ...Cir. 2008). On the other hand, state circuit courts possess general jurisdiction to hear alleged criminal matters. See Ex parte Williams, 53 So. 2d 334, 335 (Ala. 1951) ("The circuit court is a court of unlimited, original jurisdiction in respect to the enforcement of the criminal laws of t......
  • Shuttlesworth v. State, 6 Div. 901
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Appeals
    • December 11, 1962
    ...rendered abortive, a coram nobis alternative in this case, is not available to Shuttlesworth as an original remedy. In Ex parte Williams, 255 Ala. 648, 53 So.2d 334, an original application for leave to proceed at nisi prius by way of coram nobis was denied because the Supreme Court, not ha......
  • Smith v. Hixon
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama
    • February 25, 1957
    ...The motion of the Attorney General to dismiss the petition is well taken and is, therefore, due to be granted." Citing Ex parte Williams, 255 Ala. 648, 53 So.2d 334, 335. 11 See footnote 10. 12 Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 73 S.Ct. 397, 97 L.Ed. 469. 13 Darr v. Burford, 339 U.S. 200, 70 S.......
  • Wiman v. Argo
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • December 10, 1962
    ...even permissible, and the petitioner has a right to seek relief in the State circuit court in which he was convicted. Ex parte Williams, 1951, 255 Ala. 648, 53 So.2d 334; Ex parte Smith, 1956, 265 Ala. 60, 89 So.2d 694; Ex parte Terry, 1959, 40 Ala.App. 538, 116 So.2d 615; Allison v. State,......
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