Case Title: Ex Parte Colbert

Citation: 805 So. 2d 687

Docket Number: 1001041

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
805 So. 2d 687 (2001)
Ex parte Christopher COLBERT.
(In re State of Alabama v. Christopher Colbert).
1001041.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 1, 2001.
*688 Lawrence B. Sheffield III of Sheffield, Sheffield & Sheffield, P.C., Birmingham, for petitioner.
Bill Pryor, atty. gen., and E. Vincent Carroll, deputy atty. gen., for respondent.
WOODALL, Justice.
Christopher Colbert, a defendant in a criminal case, petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus, directing the Jefferson Circuit Court to set bail in his case. Colbert was charged with attempted murder and robbery in the first degree. Both charges are noncapital offenses. Based on a finding that Colbert has a history of violence, the court denied bail. Colbert then petitioned the circuit court for a writ of habeas corpus. After the circuit court denied the writ, Colbert petitioned the Court of Criminal Appeals for a writ of habeas corpus. The Court of Criminal Appeals, on February 28, 2001, denied the writ "based on the trial court's finding that Colbert presented a danger to the community." Ex parte Colbert, (No. CR-00-0969), ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Crim.App.2001) (table). A petition for habeas corpus is the proper remedy in a case such as this; the petition in this case is properly before this Court. See Ex parte Cordell Colbert, 717 So. 2d 868 (Ala.Crim.App.1998).
Article I, § 16, Alabama Constitution of 1901, provides: "That all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great; and that excessive bail shall not in any case be required." This Court has interpreted § 16 as providing an absolute right to bail in all noncapital cases. State v. Blake, 642 So. 2d 959, 968 (Ala. 1994). See also Ala.Code 1975, § 15-13-2; Brown v. State, 615 So. 2d 1306 (Ala.Crim. App.1993); and Ex parte Jackson, 687 So. 2d 222 (Ala.Crim.App.1996).
In Ex parte Jackson, the Court of Criminal Appeals, quoting Rule 7.2(a), Ala. R.Crim. P., noted:
687 So. 2d  at 223-24.
The Court of Criminal Appeals addressed a substantially similar situation in *689 Ex parte Colbert, supra. In that case, the defendant Cordell Colbert was charged with "robbery in the first degree, two counts of theft of property in the first degree, and receiving stolen property in the first degree," all noncapital offenses. 717 So. 2d  at 869. The trial court denied bail. The Court of Criminal Appeals noted:
717 So. 2d  at 871-72.
Furthermore, in the instant case, the State notes:
Response to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, p. 8. (Emphasis supplied.)
Colbert's right to relief is clear and undisputed. Therefore, we direct the Jefferson Circuit Court to set bail. See Rule 7.2, Ala. R.Crim. P.
PETITION GRANTED; WRIT ISSUED.
MOORE, C.J., and HOUSTON, SEE, LYONS, BROWN, JOHNSTONE, HARWOOD, and STUART, JJ., concur.