Justia Alabama Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 1991, Defendant Carl Ward was convicted on murder charges and sentenced to life in prison. Acting pro se, Defendant challenged his conviction to the Supreme Court, alleging that recently discovered material facts warranted his conviction to be vacated. Central to Defendant's "newly-discovered facts" were the results of forensic tests performed on the key evidence that convicted him. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that "the newly discovered facts at issue here relate[d] not to some procedural violation, but to [Defendant's] actual guilt or innocence." The evidence against Defendant was largely circumstantial; the only physical evidence in the record tying Defendant to the crime scene was the evidence subject to the forensic tests. Accordingly, the Court found that Defendant sufficiently pled a claim of newly discovered material facts, and that he was entitled to an opportunity to prove his allegations. The Court reversed the lower courts' decisions in this case, and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Ward v. Alabama" on Justia Law

Barbara Roberts sued Steve Lanier and his firm Steve Lanier, PC, and Rodney Stallings and his firm Coggin & Stallings, LLC. In 2006, Ms. Roberts was arrested on murder charges and sent to the Cherokee County jail. She contacted Attorney Lanier, who then met with her and agreed to represent her in her criminal proceedings. The contract between them provided that Ms. Roberts would pay a "nonrefundable retainer" of $50,000. At that time, Ms. Roberts executed a power-of-attorney authorizing Mr. Lanier to withdraw the retainer from her bank accounts. Ms. Roberts testified at trial that she first learned that Mr. Lanier was not licensed to practice law in Alabama when she appeared for her first hearing at the district court. It was then that she was introduced to Mr. Stallings, who "associated" on her case. Seeing no need for two lawyers, she tried to terminate Mr. Lanier's representation. Mr. Stallings eventually managed Ms. Roberts' case, having all her mail sent to his office so that he could "oversee every aspect" of her personal life, including payment of all outstanding bills and expenses. Ms. Roberts alleged that instead of using her money for the purposes she intended, Mr. Stallings misappropriated approximately $100,000 of her funds. Ms. Roberts was eventually convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole. She later learned that the "nonrefundable retainer" language in her contract with Mr. Lanier was unenforceable under Alabama law, and sued her former lawyers for legal malpractice. The circuit court granted summary judgment to the lawyers. Upon review, the Supreme Court reversed the circuit court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the lawyers only with respect to employment contract and the "nonrefundable retainer" and the misappropriation of Ms. Roberts' money for expenses while she awaited trial. The Court remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Roberts v. Lanier " on Justia Law

In 1993, Defendant James Knight was convicted on theft and burglary charges. He was sentenced under the state Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA) to life in prison for theft and to fifteen years for burglary, both sentences served concurrently. In 2000, the legislature amended the HFOA to make certain sentences less severe. In 2009, Defendant filed a motion for reconsideration of his life sentence under the new HFOA. The judge who sentenced Defendant had since left office. Another judge was assigned pursuant to a standing administrative order that was entered in 2007. Without requiring an answer from the State, the court summarily dismissed Defendant’s motion. Defendant appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals contending, among other things, that the judge was not the "sentencing judge" and that the administrative order did not appoint the judge to decide his motion as required by law. The appellate court was not persuaded by Defendant’s argument and affirmed the lower court’s decision. The issue for review by the Supreme Court was whether the administrative order gave the judge who decided Defendant’s reconsideration motion authority over his case. Upon review of the administrative order, the Court found that the order does not select the judge for any given case. The order provided that motions for reconsideration would be assigned to the judge holding the sentencing judge’s seat. The circuit clerk did not assign a judge to hear Defendant’s motion. Therefore, the judge that dismissed Defendant’s motion acted without authority. The Court reversed the lower court’s decision and remanded the case for further consideration. View "In re: Knight v. Alabama" on Justia Law