Hinton v. State
Citation | 172 So.3d 338 |
Decision Date | 19 December 2008 |
Docket Number | CR–04–0940. |
Parties | Anthony Ray HINTON v. STATE of Alabama. |
Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
J. Drew Colfax, Bryan A. Stevenson, Cathleen I. Price, Charlotte R. Morrison, and Aaryn M. Urell, Montgomery, for appellant.
Troy King and Luther Strange, attys. gen., and Corey L. Maze and Jon B. Hayden, asst. attys. gen., for appellee.
On Remand from the Alabama Supreme Court
In accordance with the Alabama Supreme Court's opinion in Ex parte Hinton, 172 So.3d 332 (Ala.2008), we remand this case to the circuit court for that court to conduct proceedings that are consistent with that opinion. On remand, the circuit court shall take all necessary action to see that the circuit clerk makes due return to this court at the earliest possible time and within 84 days after the release of this opinion. The return to remand shall include the circuit court's written findings of fact; any additional pleadings that are submitted on remand; and a transcript of the remand hearing if the circuit court conducts such a hearing.
REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.*
Baschab, P.J., concurs specially, with opinion.
Because this court is bound by the decisions of the Alabama Supreme Court, I am compelled to concur. However, I would note that, by allowing Payne to testify, the trial court found, at least implicitly, that he was a qualified and competent firearms expert. Therefore, a remand for findings on the issue is a waste of already scarce judicial resources.
In 1986, Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted of two counts of murder made capital because the murders were committed during the course of a robbery. By a vote of 10–2, the jury recommended that Hinton be sentenced to death, and the trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Hinton to death. Both this Court and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed Hinton's convictions and death sentence, Hinton v. State, 548 So.2d 547 (Ala.Crim.App.1988), aff'd, 548 So.2d 562 (Ala.1989), and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review. Hinton v. Alabama, 493 U.S. 969, 110 S.Ct. 419, 107 L.Ed.2d 383 (1989). A thorough statement of the facts is set out in this Court's opinion affirming Hinton's convictions and sentence.
Hinton subsequently filed a timely petition for postconviction relief pursuant Rule 32, Ala. R.Crim. P., challenging his convictions and sentence of death. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the circuit court denied Hinton's petition in a written order. This Court affirmed that denial on appeal. Hinton v. State, 172 So.3d 249 (Ala.Crim.App.2006).
The Alabama Supreme Court granted certiorari review as to one issue: Whether Hinton's trial counsel was ineffective for not procuring a qualified firearms-identification expert to testify in Hinton's defense. The Court held that it was premature to address the issue because no specific finding of fact had been made by the circuit court, as required by Rule 32.9, Ala. R.Crim. P., as to whether Andrew Payne, whom trial counsel had procured in Hinton's defense, was, in fact, qualified as an expert in firearms identification. Ex parte Hinton, 172 So.3d 332 (Ala.2008). The Court quoted then Judge Shaw's1 dissent to this Court's opinion affirming the circuit court's denial of Hinton's Rule 32 petition, in pertinent part, as follows:
Ex parte Hinton, 172 So.3d at 335–36 (quoting Hinton v. State, 172 So.3d 249, 328–31 (Ala.Crim.App.2006) (Shaw, J., dissenting) (footnote omitted)). The Supreme Court then reversed this Court's judgment and remanded the case for this Court to remand the case “for the trial court to enter an order pursuant to Rule 32.9, Ala. R.Crim. P., making specific findings as to whether Andrew Payne was indeed qualified and competent to testify as a firearms-identification expert based on his knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education.” Ex parte Hinton, 172 So.3d at 337.
On December 19, 2008, this Court remanded this case to the circuit court for proceedings consistent with the Alabama Supreme Court's opinion. Hinton v. State, 172 So.3d 338 (Ala.Crim.App.2008) ( ). The circuit court then conducted a hearing and issued a written order purporting to comply with the Supreme Court's opinion and submitted its return to remand. This Court permitted the parties to file briefs on return to remand. After carefully examining the parties' briefs, the proceedings on remand, and the circuit court's order on remand, this Court concluded that the circuit court had failed to comply with the Alabama Supreme Court's opinion. Instead of “making specific findings as to whether Andrew Payne was indeed qualified and competent to testify as a firearms-identification expert based on his knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education,” Ex parte Hinton, 172 So.3d at 337, the circuit court appeared to disagree with the Supreme Court's conclusion that no finding had been made regarding whether Payne was qualified as an expert in firearms identification and issued a written order quoting various portions of the transcript from Hinton's trial and the transcript from the evidentiary hearing on Hinton's Rule 32 petition and concluding that the original trial judge who had presided over Hinton's trial and the initial Rule 32 proceedings had, indeed, found Payne to be a qualified expert, albeit implicitly.2 The circuit court made no independent findings of fact regarding whether Payne was qualified as an expert in firearms identification.
Thereafter, this Court remanded this case a second time by order for the circuit court to comply with the Supreme Court's opinion and to make specific findings as to whether Payne was qualified to testify as a firearms-identification expert. On second remand, the circuit court complied with the Supreme Court's opinion and issued a written order finding that Payne was, in fact, a qualified...
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Hinton v. State (Ex parte Hinton)
...twice for the circuit court to address the issue, affirmed the circuit court's denial of Hinton's petition. Hinton v. Alabama, 172 So.3d 338, 340 (Ala.Crim.App.2006) (opinion on return to second remand). Hinton then petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review the Court of Crimi......