Title: Ex parte Kenneth Ray Cornelius.
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 1140673
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: June 5, 2015

Rel: 6/5/15
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-
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SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
OCTOBER TERM, 2014-2015
____________________
1140673
____________________
Ex parte Kenneth Ray Cornelius
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
(In re: Kenneth Ray Cornelius
v.
State of Alabama)
(Cullman Circuit Court, CC-04-413;
Court of Criminal Appeals, CR-14-0310)
BRYAN, Justice.
WRIT DENIED. NO OPINION.
Stuart, Bolin, Parker, Main, and Wise, JJ., concur.
Moore, C.J., and Murdock and Shaw, JJ., dissent.
1140673
MOORE, Chief Justice (dissenting).
Kenneth Ray Cornelius petitions this Court for a writ of
certiorari to review the decision of the Court of Criminal
Appeals dismissing Cornelius's appeal to that court. Today
this Court denies his petition for a writ of certiorari. I
respectfully dissent. 
Cornelius filed a motion for sentence reconsideration
pursuant to § 13A-5-9.1, Ala. Code 1975 (which was repealed
effective March 13, 2014, see Act No. 2014-165, Ala. Acts
2014), and Kirby v. State, 899 So. 2d 968 (Ala. 2004). Such a
motion is referred to as a "Kirby motion." The Cullman Circuit
Court denied Cornelius's Kirby motion, and Cornelius appealed
the circuit court's decision to the Court of Criminal Appeals.
On January 15, 2015, the Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed
Cornelius's appeal on the ground that Cornelius's 
Kirby 
motion
was filed on March 13, 2014, the effective date of the repeal
of § 13A-5-9.1. The Court of Criminal Appeals determined that
the circuit court lacked the jurisdiction to rule on
Cornelius's Kirby motion on March 13, 2014, when the repeal of
§ 13A-5-9.1 became effective.
Act No. 2014-165 states, in pertinent part:
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1140673
"BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
"Section 1. Section 13A-5-9.1, Code of Alabama
1975, is repealed.
"Section 
2. 
This 
act 
shall 
be 
applied
prospectively only.  Any case, on the effective date
of this act, in which a motion filed pursuant to
Section 13A-5-9.1, Code of Alabama 1975, is pending
in the trial court ... shall not be affected by the
act.
"Section 3. This act shall become effective
immediately following its passage and approval by
the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.
"Approved March 13, 2014
"Time: 7:20 A.M."
(Emphasis added.) Section 2 provides that any Kirby motion
"pending" in the trial court on the effective date of the act
(March 13, 2014) "shall not be affected by the act." Because
in my view Cornelius's Kirby motion was filed on and therefore
was pending on March 13, 2014, I believe the circuit court
retained jurisdiction to consider Cornelius's Kirby motion.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent. I would grant the
petition to determine whether the door on Cornelius's Kirby
motion was closed a day too early. 
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