Court Opinion

ID: 9939308
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 19:09:49.372646+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:40:23.058785
License: Public Domain

On Return to Remand
On September 28, 2001, this Court remanded this case for the circuit court to determine whether the trial court had jurisdiction to accept Henderson's plea of guilty to the offense of robbery in the second degree when the indictment charged Henderson with the offense of robbery in the first degree. Henderson v. State, 821 So.2d 238 (Ala.Crim.App. 2001). More specifically, the circuit court was directed to determine whether the indictment included the offense of second-degree robbery, i.e., whether Henderson had been aided in the commission of the robbery by another person actually present and a participant in the robbery armed with a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument, or had caused physical injury to another.
After a hearing, the circuit court found that Henderson was correct in his assertion that he had not been aided by another person in committing the offense. However, the circuit court did not order that Henderson's Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P., petition be granted, that Henderson be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea, or that the original charge of first-degree robbery be reinstated. See, e.g., Pless v. State, 805 So.2d 778
(Ala.Crim.App. 2001); Marks v. State, 791 So.2d 1062 (Ala.Crim.App. 2000). Instead, the circuit court entered an order making these findings in its return to remand, filed with this Court on October 26, 2001.
The circuit court found that Henderson was not aided in the commission of the robbery by another person actually present. Accordingly, the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to accept Henderson's guilty plea to second-degree robbery as a lesser-included offense of the charged offense of first-degree robbery, and the judgment of that court, therefore, is void. See Edwards v. State, 671 So.2d 129, 130 (Ala.Crim.App. 1995) ("a trial court is without authority to accept a plea of guilty to an offense not encompassed by the charge in the indictment").
Based on the foregoing, the judgment of the circuit court in denying Henderson's Rule 32 petition is reversed and this cause is remanded with instructions that the circuit court allow Henderson to withdraw his guilty plea, and further, that the original charge of first-degree robbery be reinstated.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
McMillan, P.J., and Cobb, Baschab, and Shaw, JJ., concur.