Brooks v. State
Brooks v. State
Opinion
Calvin Bernard Brooks appeals the circuit court's summary denial of his Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P., petition for postconviction relief, in which he attacked his 1988 conviction for escape in the second degree and his resulting sentence, as a habitual offender, of 20 years' imprisonment.
As best we can discern, Brooks alleged the following in his petition: (1) that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to render the judgment or to impose the sentence because, he said, the State failed to prove the elements of escape in the second degree; (2) that his conviction violates "the ex post facto laws of the U.S. Constitution" because, he said, he was convicted "based on facts that were not criminal at the time" (C. 4.); (3) that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to render the judgment or to impose the sentence because, he said, the petit jury was never sworn; and (4) that his 20-year sentence is illegal because, he said, "at no time did the State submit any certified case action summary sheets" to prove his prior convictions. (C. 17.)
Claims 1, 2, and 4, as set out above, are clearly not jurisdictional claims and, therefore, are subject to the procedural bars in Rule 32.2. See, e.g., Bass v. State,
As to Brooks's claim that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to render the judgment or to impose the sentence because, he says, the petit jury was never sworn, we find that Brooks has failed to plead sufficient facts to show that this claim is, in fact, jurisdictional and, therefore, that it, too, is time-barred by Rule 32.2(c).
It is well settled that "[t]he failure to administer the oath to the jury renders the jury's verdict a nullity," Dyson *Page 851 v. State,
In this case, Brooks has not alleged that no oath was administered at all; thus, he has not pleaded facts sufficient to show that his issue is jurisdictional. Brooks alleges that the petit jury was not sworn, but he does not allege that the venire was not sworn. In fact, in his brief to this Court, Brooks maintains that "the practice" in Houston County is to administer the oath to the venire on Monday before trials begin on Tuesday. (Brooks's brief at p. 14.) Brooks's claim is based on an alleged defect in the oath, a nonjurisdictional claim subject to the procedural bars in Rule 32.2. Because, as noted above, Brooks's petition was filed long after the expiration of the two-year period of limitations, *Page 852 this claim is time-barred by Rule 32.2(c), and summary denial of this claim was also proper.
Based on the foregoing, the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
McMillan, P.J., and Cobb, Baschab, and Wise, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Calvin Bernard Brooks v. State of Alabama.
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published