Magwood v. State, 4 Div. 209
| Decision Date | 20 March 1984 |
| Docket Number | 4 Div. 209 |
| Citation | 449 So.2d 1267 |
| Parties | Billy Joe MAGWOOD v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
J.L. Chestnut, Jr. of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders & Turner, Selma, for appellant.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Ed Carnes, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
This is an appeal by Billy Joe Magwood from denial of his petition for a writ of error coram nobis including an attempt to invoke § 15-16-23, Code of Alabama 1975, suspending the execution of the death sentence of insane convicts.
Magwood was convicted of the March 1, 1979, murder of Coffee County Sheriff Neal Grantham, while Sheriff Grantham was acting in his official capacity. Our court affirmed his conviction and death sentence in Magwood v. State, 426 So.2d 918 (Ala.Cr.App.1982). This affirmance was in turn affirmed by the Alabama Supreme Court in Ex Parte Magwood, 426 So.2d 929 (Ala.1983). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in Magwood v. Alabama, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed.2d 1355 (1983).
Magwood's execution was set for July 22, 1983. On July 13, 1983, appellant filed this petition and a full hearing was had on July 18, 1983. The circuit court denied the petition and the application for stay of execution in a comprehensive opinion. Meanwhile, appellant petitioned the federal court for a writ of habeas corpus and applied for a stay of execution, which secured him a stay of execution pending consideration of his petition. The federal court then decided to delay the federal habeas corpus proceeding to wait for the outcome of this appeal.
Section 15-16-23, Code of Alabama 1975, provides that
It is interesting to note that the legislature provided that the order of the trial court This provision was obviously necessary if any sentence of execution is ever to be carried out. Otherwise, a person awaiting execution could simply file an application every time the last one was denied, ad infinitum, thereby defeating the intent of the law and the will of the legislature. Our laws are now choking...
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