McConico v. ALABAMA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS

• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
• Writing for the Court: WISE.
• Citation: 893 So.2d 577
• Parties: James McCONICO, Jr. v. ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS.
• Decision Date: 30 April 2004

893 So.2d 577

James McCONICO, Jr.
v.
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

CR-03-0287.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

April 30, 2004.

Rehearing Denied June 18, 2004.

893 So.2d 578

James McConico, Jr., pro se

Charles Crook, gen. counsel, Department of Corrections, for appellee.

WISE, Judge.

The appellant, James McConico, Jr., currently an inmate at the St. Clair Correctional Facility, appeals the circuit court's dismissal of his petition for a writ of certiorari.

On July 30, 2003, while an inmate at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, McConico petitioned the Montgomery Circuit Court for a writ of certiorari. The petition challenged the decision of the Department of Corrections ("DOC") to upgrade McConico's custody classification and his resulting transfer to another prison facility. McConico sought relief because, he alleged, his due-process rights were violated by DOC's refusal to conduct a full and fair reclassification hearing. He further alleged that the basis for his reclassification — namely, "an inability to abide by the rules and regulations of the DOC" — was pretextual. According to McConico's petition, DOC's real motives for reclassifying him were: (1) to prevent him from practicing his "Islamic faith"; (2) to prevent him from developing "the Islamic Community at W.E. Donaldson Correctional Facility"; (3) to prevent him from assisting other inmates with their legal matters; and (4) to prevent him from instructing other inmates in the law and on how to proceed in their legal matters. On October 28, 2003, DOC filed a motion to dismiss McConico's petition, arguing that McConico had received all of the due-process rights mandated by Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974). Included in DOC's response were copies of the reclassification report. The circuit court summarily dismissed the petition, without prejudice, on November 18, 2003. This appeal followed.

McConico argues that the circuit court erred in summarily denying his certiorari petition because, he says, the manner in which his reclassification hearing was conducted violated his due-process rights. However, because McConico appeals from the decision of an administrative agency (DOC), based on that agency's administrative rules and regulations we must first determine whether this Court has the jurisdiction to review McConico's claims.

In 1969, the Alabama Legislature created the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Civil Appeals, from the former Court of Appeals. See § 12-3-1, Ala.Code 1975. The appellate jurisdiction of each of the newly created courts was established by statute. This Court's appellate jurisdiction is set out in § 12-3-9, Ala.Code 1975, which states:

"The Court of Criminal Appeals shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction of all misdemeanors, including the violation of town and city ordinances, habeas corpus and all felonies, including all post conviction writs in criminal cases."

Additionally, § 6.03(a) of Amendment No. 328, Ala. Const. of 1901, states that this Court shall "exercise" its appellate jurisdiction "

893 So.2d 579

under such terms and conditions as shall be provided by law and by rules of the supreme court."

When § 12-3-9 was enacted, the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure had not yet been adopted; they were adopted effective January 1, 1991.¹ Therefore, the only post-conviction remedy available for a criminal defendant was by filing a petition for a writ of error coram nobis. See, e.g., Mayola v. State, 337 So.2d 105 (Ala.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 337 So.2d 107 (Ala.1976) (recognizing the writ of error coram nobis as a means of postconviction review). Thus, our jurisdiction to review postconviction writs generally involves the review of Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P., petitions for postconviction relief, the successor to the petition for writ of error coram nobis. The one exception to this general rule is this Court's review of certiorari petitions of inmates challenging the decision of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. However, as both this Court and the Court of Civil Appeals have recognized, the Board of Pardons and Paroles is a legislative agency, rather than an administrative agency.² See Ex parte Alabama Bd. of Pardons & Paroles, 849 So.2d 255 (Ala.Crim.App.2002); Gholston v. Board of Pardons & Paroles, 627 So.2d 945 (Ala.Civ.App.1993).

By contrast, the writ of habeas corpus was traditionally not available until an inmate was entitled to immediate release. See, e.g., Aaron v. State, 497 So.2d 603 (Ala.Crim.App.1986) (citing Ex parte Miller, 54 Ala.App. 590, 591, 310 So.2d 890 (1975)). In 1980, however, the Alabama Supreme Court held that a petition for writ of habeas corpus was the proper method by which an inmate could challenge a disciplinary hearing depriving him or her of good time credit even if the inmate would not be entitled to immediate release upon restoration of the good time. Williams v. Davis, 386 So.2d 415 (Ala.1980). Following the Alabama Supreme Court's decision in Williams v. Davis, this Court gradually recognized the use of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus by an inmate to challenge DOC decisions involving not only the loss of good-time credit, but as a method by which the inmate could determine whether DOC had correctly calculated the amount of time he was required to serve, see, e.g., Swicegood v. State, 646 So.2d 158...