Court Opinion

ID: 9655583
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:16:21.962578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:20.259598
License: Public Domain

WELCH, Judge,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority that a circuit court may properly deny a motion for sentence reconsideration under § 13A-5-9.1, Ala.Code 1975, on the basis that such motion is successive, so long as at least one of the previous motions was properly considered in compliance with this Court’s opinion in Holt v. State, 960 So.2d 726 (Ala. Crim.App.2006). However, in this case, the Court erroneously relied on this Court’s opinion in Wells v. State, 941 So.2d 1008 (Ala.Crim.App.2005), in denying Ash-ford’s motion.
This case does not present a situation in which the circuit court believed it had jurisdiction to consider the motion but refused to do so on the basis that the motion was successive. Rather, the circuit court, based on earlier caselaw, was of the belief that it was precluded from considering the motion because it was without jurisdiction. I do not believe that a previous motion properly considered and denied cures the circuit court’s erroneous reliance on Wells, supra. Because the circuit court erroneously thought it did not have jurisdiction to rule on Ashford’s motion to reconsider, it did not reach the merits, if any, to Ash-ford’s motion to reconsider. I would reverse the circuit court’s judgment and remand this cause for the circuit court to review the motion and to enter judgment accordingly. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.