Opinion ID: 151087
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Direct Appeal: Alabama Supreme Court

Text: The Supreme Court of Alabama granted Hall's petition for a writ of certiorari in part and affirmed the judgment of the Alabama appeals court. Ex parte Hall, 863 So.2d 1079, 1081 (Ala.2003). The Alabama Supreme Court reviewed two issues: (1) whether the trial court's denial of Hall's motion for acquittal or new trial, which was based on claims of perjured testimony and ineffective trial counsel, was proper; and (2) whether Hall's confession was voluntary and properly admitted into evidence. Id. As to the false testimony of Chambers, the Alabama Supreme Court, applying Ex parte Frazier, 562 So.2d 560 (Ala.1990), [34] agreed with the trial court's ruling that the outcome of the trial would not have been different had the jury heard the correct facts regarding the telephone records. Id. at 1083. The Alabama Supreme Court also concluded that Hall failed to exercise due diligence in discovering the falsity of the BellSouth testimony, given that Hall had every opportunity to evaluate Chambers's testimony before the start of the third trial. . . . Id. Under Ex parte Frazier, the exercise of due diligence is an element of the test for whether a new trial should be granted due to perjured testimony. 562 So.2d at 569-70. As to Hall's ineffective trial counsel claim, the Alabama Supreme Court granted Hall's certiorari petition only as to whether a defendant not entitled to a new trial under Frazier because his trial counsel failed to exercise due diligence in finding false testimonyis entitled to a new trial because trial counsel was ineffective. The Alabama Supreme Court concluded that even if Smedley's failure to discover the falsity of Chambers's testimony was error, the second prong of the Strickland test [35] was not satisfied because the court already had concluded that, under Frazier, there was not a significant chance that the jury would have reached a different result had it heard the truth. Id. at 1084-85. The Alabama Supreme Court made no ruling, therefore, on whether Smedley's failure to exercise due diligence in discovering the falsity of Chambers's testimony amounted to ineffective assistance. Nor did it rule on Hall's other claims of ineffective assistance, as it did not grant certiorari as to those claims. As for Hall's claim that his confession was involuntary, the Alabama Supreme Court: (1) observed that Hall and the State presented conflicting evidence as to whether Hall had asked for his father to be present prior to being questioned, creating a question of fact for the trial court to resolve, and (2) found no reason to hold that the trial court's determination that the confession was voluntary was contrary to the weight of the evidence. Id. at 1087. [36]