Carlisle v. State
Carlisle v. State
Opinion
The appellant, Raymond Carlisle, was indicted for two counts of capital murder for the killing of Sammie Speigner III. Count I charged him with murder made capital because he committed it during the course of a robbery, §
In Ex parte Rice,
Rice,"We note that merely ordering that Rice's sentences run concurrently is not a constitutionally acceptable option. The Supreme Court stated in Ball v. United States,
470 U.S. 856 ,864-65 ,105 S.Ct. 1668 ,84 L.Ed.2d 740 (1985):"`The remedy of ordering one of the sentences to be served concurrently with the other cannot be squared with Congress' intention. One of the convictions, as well as its concurrent sentence, is unauthorized punishment for a separate offense. See Missouri v. Hunter,
459 U.S. 359 ,368 [,103 S.Ct. 673 ,74 L.Ed.2d 535 ] (1983)."`The second conviction, whose concomitant sentence is served concurrently, does not evaporate simply because of the concurrence of the sentence. The separate conviction, apart from the concurrent sentence, has potential adverse collateral consequences that may not be ignored. For example, the presence of two convictions on the record may delay the defendant's eligibility for parole or result in an increased sentence under a recidivist statute for a future offense. Moreover, the second conviction may be used to impeach the defendant's credibility and certainly carries the societal stigma accompanying any criminal conviction. See Benton v. Maryland,
395 U.S. 784 ,790-91 [,89 S.Ct. 2056 ,23 L.Ed.2d 707 ] (1969); Sibron v. New York,392 U.S. 40 ,54-56 [,88 S.Ct. 1889 ,20 L.Ed.2d 917 ] (1968). Thus, the second conviction, even if it results in no greater sentence, is an impermissible punishment.'"See, also, Rolling v. State, [
673 So.2d 812 (Ala.Crim.App. 1995)]."Neither is it an acceptable option to merely vacate one of Rice's convictions and its corresponding sentence. The jury specifically found that Rice had violated §
13A-6-2 (a)(3) in two different ways — by participating in a kidnapping and causing Taylor's death and by participating in a robbery and causing Taylor's death. Based on the record before us, an appellate court's vacating one of Rice's convictions and its corresponding sentence would have the effect, albeit unintended, of nullifying a part of the jury's verdict. We think the better approach is for the Court of Criminal Appeals to remand the case to the trial court for the entry of a new order — an order that adjudges Rice guilty of Taylor's murder and sentences him for that single offense."
AFFIRMED BY UNPUBLISHED MEMORANDUM IN PART; REMANDED *Page 172 WITH INSTRUCTIONS.*
McMILLAN, P.J., and COBB, SHAW, and WISE, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Raymond Carlisle v. State of Alabama.
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published