Henderson v. State
| Decision Date | 30 January 2004 |
| Parties | Charles Malcom HENDERSON v. STATE of Alabama. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Charles Malcom Henderson, pro se.
William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen., and J. Thomas Leverette, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.
On November 18, 1998, Charles Malcom Henderson was convicted of murder and was sentenced, as a habitual offender, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. On direct appeal, this Court affirmed his conviction and sentence in an unpublished memorandum. Henderson v. State, (No. CR-98-0468) 768 So.2d 1027 (Ala.Crim.App.1999) (table). The certificate of judgment was issued on August 28, 2001.
On July 2, 2003, Henderson filed this, his second, Rule 32, Ala. R.Crim. P., petition. After the State filed a response, Henderson responded and requested an evidentiary hearing. On August 13, 2003, the circuit court summarily dismissed the petition. This appeal followed.
Henderson raised only one claim in his petition. Henderson contended that his six prior convictions had been pardoned in full, that is, with restoration of civil and political rights, before he was convicted of and sentenced for the crime at hand; therefore, he claimed, his sentence was illegal because the pardoned convictions could not be used to enhance his sentence as a habitual offender.1 To his petition, Henderson attached a copy of the "Certificate of Pardon with Restoration of Civil and Political Rights,"2 dated November 21, 1996, which purports to prove that Henderson's six prior convictions were fully pardoned before his conviction and sentence in the case at hand. The State responded only with allegations of preclusion, and the circuit court in turn did not address this specific claim.
On appeal, Henderson claims that he is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his illegal-sentence claim. We agree.
Contrary to the State's assertions below and on appeal, this claim — that sentence is illegal — is not subject to procedural bars. "[A]n allegedly illegal sentence may be challenged at any time, because if the sentence is illegal, the sentence exceeds the jurisdiction of the trial court and is void." Rogers v. State, 728 So.2d 690, 691 (Ala.Crim.App.1998).
Additionally, Henderson's claim has merit on its face. In addressing a similar claim that a full pardon removed prior convictions from consideration under the Habitual Felony Offender Act, the Alabama Supreme Court stated, Ex parte Casey, 852 So.2d 175, 181 (Ala.2002). The Alabama Supreme Court remanded the cause to this Court, which in turn remanded the cause to the circuit court for resentencing.
Therefore, because Henderson stated an unanswered, valid illegal-sentence claim and provided proof of the full pardon of his six prior convictions, we remand this cause for the circuit court to take evidence on Henderson's claim. If it finds that Henderson's prior...
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