Title: Ex Parte Alexander

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

475 So. 2d 628 (1985)
Ex parte Gary ALEXANDER.
(Re Gary Alexander v. State of Alabama).
84-271.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
July 12, 1985.
Barnes F. Lovelace, Jr., Decatur, for petitioner.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and James B. Prude, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
ADAMS, Justice.
Gary Alexander was convicted of escape in the first degree under Code 1975, § 13A-10-31. The evidence showed that Alexander was an inmate within the State of Alabama Correctional System and was stationed at the Decatur Work Release Center. Alexander was serving time under a felony conviction. On April 6, 1982, Alexander failed to return to the work release center from his place of employment. He was not authorized to go anywhere except his place of employment and had instructions to return to the work release center after work.
Alexander appealed the escape conviction to the Court of Criminal Appeals. He argued that the word "custody" in the escape statute did not encompass his work release situation. In fact, two prior decisions issued by the Court of Criminal Appeals supported the argument that the failure of an inmate to return from his place of employment to his place of confinement did not constitute escape from custody. Grimes v. State, 402 So. 2d 1094 (Ala.Cr.App.1981); *629 Eady v. State, 369 So. 2d 841 (Ala.Cr.App. 1979).
In Alexander's case, however, the Court of Criminal Appeals, 475 So. 2d 625, reconsidered the scope of the word "custody," and found that the crime of escape in the first degree did cover the facts in Alexander's case. The court expressly overruled Grimes and Eady, thereby erasing the existing interpretation of Code 1975, § 13A-10-31, and creating a new base of conduct falling within the statute.
We granted Alexander's petition for a writ of certiorari, not to question the Court of Criminal Appeals' interpretation of the statute, but to review the effect of that interpretation on Alexander's constitutional rights. We granted certiorari on the following issue: Whether an appellate court's decision, which construes a criminal statute to find certain conduct in violation thereof, should be enforced only prospectively due to the constitutional prohibition against the passage of ex post fact laws, when the appellate court overrules prior cases which held such conduct was not in violation of that criminal statute. Under these circumstances, the application must be prospective only.
Alexander argues that the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals, in affirming the trial court's judgment and holding that Alexander's conduct fell within the definition of first degree escape, subjects Alexander to punishment for conduct which was free from criminality under § 13A-10-31 when committed. He argues that this retroactive application of the new interpretation violates his rights under Article 1, Section 22, of the Constitution of the State of Alabama, and under Article 1, Sections 9 and 10, of the Constitution of the United States, which provisions prohibit the passage of ex post facto laws. We agree.
In Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894 (1964), the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a conviction for trespass because the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the conviction on the basis of judicial construction, announced after the alleged trespass, which interpreted the statute as proscribing not only entering the premises of another after notice prohibiting such entry, but also remaining on the premises of another after receiving notice to leave. The United States Supreme Court stated the following:
378 U.S.  at 353-54, 84 S. Ct.  at 1702-03. The Court concluded by saying this:
378 U.S.  at 362-63, 84 S. Ct.  at 1707. Therefore, in the case of judicial interpretation of statutes, due process of law prevents the retroactive application of a changed construction of a statute, just as legislative enactments cannot be retroactively applied.
The Michigan Supreme Court followed this principle in People v. Stevenson, 416 Mich. 383, 331 N.W.2d 143 (1982). In that case, the Court judicially abrogated the common law "year and a day" rule applied to time of death in murder cases, but refused to apply the new rule retroactively. The Court stated:
416 Mich. at 395-96, 331 N.W.2d  at 147-48. The Court held that applying the abrogation of the "year and a day" rule retroactively would violate the defendant's constitutional rights.
In State v. Longino, 109 Miss. 125, 67 So. 902 (1915), the Supreme Court of Mississippi held that a judicial change of construction of a criminal statute could not be applied retroactively. The court said:
109 Miss. at 133-34, 67 So.  at 903-04. The Court relied on State v. O'Neill, 147 Iowa 513, 126 N.W. 454 (1913), and quoted from that opinion:
109 Miss. at 133, 67 So.  at 903. Mississippi is therefore in accord with many jurisdictions which have adopted this principle.
We find no Alabama cases directly on point. We now hold, however, that under the facts of this case, it would be a violation of Alexander's due process rights to apply the new interpretation of the escape statute to the circumstances of his case. We are not to be interpreted as either agreeing or disagreeing with the construction given to Code 1975, § 13A-10-31, by the Court of Criminal Appeals, as we have not reached that issue.
For the above reasons, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
TORBERT, C.J., and MADDOX, FAULKNER, JONES, ALMON, SHORES, EMBRY and BEATTY, JJ., concur.