State v. Whitley, CR-93-1191
Citation | 665 So.2d 998 |
Decision Date | 24 March 1995 |
Docket Number | CR-93-1191 |
Parties | STATE v. Chester Leon WHITLEY, Jr. |
Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Jeff Sessions, Atty. Gen., and Steve Willoughby, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.
Buster Landreau, Phenix City, for appellee.
This case was originally assigned to another judge on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. It was reassigned to Judge Cobb on January 17, 1995.
This is an appeal by the State of the trial court's order granting Chester Whitley's Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P., petition challenging his conviction for murder. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court entered the following order:
Defendant's trial attorney testified this would have influenced his striking of jurors. 'The measuring stick to be applied ... is whether the action of the juror might have unlawfully influenced the verdict ... This test casts a light burden on the Defendant.' State v. Freeman, 605 So.2d 1258, 1260 (Ala.Cr.App.1992). In Freeman the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a retrial where the jury foreman failed to disclose that he had been a former police officer. Accord, Ex Parte Ledbetter, 404 So.2d 731 (Ala.1981).
Ex parte Lowe, 514 So.2d 1049 (Ala.1987), addresses the argument of harmless error in that the State would contend the evidence against Defendant was overwhelming. There the Supreme Court held overwhelming evidence of guilt does not render prejudicial error to be harmless. The Freeman decision applied this rule.
The court cannot distinguish Freeman from the case sub judice; therefore, the court must find that Defendant was denied his right to be tried by an impartial jury as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Defendant's petition should be granted on this ground and a new trial be ordered.
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Jenkins v. Allen
...experience of an attorney is an important consideration in evaluating ineffective assistance of counsel claims. See State v. Whitley, 665 So.2d 998, 999 (Ala.Crim.App. 1995) (denying ineffective assistance of counsel claim while pointing out that "[d]efendant's attorney had extensive experi......
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Brown v. State
...for newly discovered evidence contained in Rule 32.1(e). Freeman conflicts with our holdings in Holladay and State v. Whitley, 665 So.2d 998 (Ala.Cr.App.1995). In Holladay, which was released after Freeman, this Court held that we could not consider a claim of juror misconduct because there......
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Callahan v. State
...failure to disclose he had prior jury duty was newly discovered evidence. This ground is, therefore, precluded. State v. Whitley, 665 So.2d 998, 1000 (Ala.Cr.App.1995); King v. State, 729 So.2d 366 Callahan also presents an additional argument that the trial court erred in not considering a......
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Jenkins v. State
...experience of an attorney is an important consideration in evaluating ineffective assistance of counsel claims. See State v. Whitley, 665 So.2d 998, 999 (Ala.Crim.App.1995) (denying ineffective assistance of counsel claim while pointing out that `[d]efendant's attorney had extensive experie......