Court Opinion

ID: 9932780
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:41:12.186502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:58:06.492748
License: Public Domain

Because the appellant has made some allegations that may be meritorious, I agree that we should remand this case to the circuit court for that court to address those claims. However, I write specially because I am concerned that this court, in its hyper-vigilance to distinguish between the burden of pleading and the burden of proof, may be lowering the threshold necessary to warrant further proceedings on a Rule 32 petition. Rule 32.3, Ala. R.Crim. P., provides, in relevant part: *Page 398
 "The petitioner shall have the burden of pleading and proving by a preponderance of the evidence the facts necessary to entitle the petitioner to relief."
Rule 32.6(b), Ala. R.Crim. P., provides:
 "The petition must contain a clear and specific statement of the grounds upon which relief is sought, including full disclosure of the factual basis of those grounds. A bare allegation that a constitutional right has been violated and mere conclusions of law shall not be sufficient to warrant any further proceedings."
Bare allegations and conclusions of law in a Rule 32 petition are not sufficient to warrant further proceedings on the petition. Instead, a petitioner must plead his claims with specificity and fully disclose the factual basis for those claims. Because it appears that the majority may be blurring the line as to what type of allegations may be sufficient to warrant further proceedings, I concur in the result.