Habeas Corpus in Alabama
Habeas corpus translates to “you shall have the body.” Described as the “Great Writ,” habeas corpus allowed a court to determine the cause for why a person was imprisoned and determine whether the individual should be released or subjected to further proceedings by the state.
Alabama allows postconviction relief through the statutory writ of habeas corpus. Ala. Code § 15-21-1. The procedure for habeas corpus is set forth in Ala. R. Crim. P. 32, or Rule 32. Salter v. State, 606 So. 2d 209, 211 (Ala. Crim. App. 1992). Rule 32 petitions may be filed based on one or a combination of the following bases:
(a) The constitution of the United States or of the State of Alabama requires a new trial, a new sentence proceeding, or other relief.
(b) The court was without jurisdiction to render judgment or to impose sentence.
(c) The sentence imposed exceeds the maximum authorized by law or is otherwise not authorized by law.
(d) The petitioner is being held in custody after the petitioner's sentence has expired.
(e) Newly discovered material facts exist which require that the conviction or sentence be vacated by the court, because:
(1) The facts relied upon were not known by the petitioner or the petitioner's counsel at the time of trial or sentencing or in time to file a posttrial motion pursuant to Rule 24, or in time to be included in any previous collateral proceeding and could not have been discovered by any of those times through the exercise of reasonable diligence;
(2) The facts are not merely cumulative to other facts that were known;
(3) The facts do not merely amount to impeachment evidence;
(4) If the facts had been known at the time of trial or of sentencing, the result probably would have been different; and
(5) The facts establish that the petitioner is innocent of the crime for which the petitioner was convicted or should not have received the sentence that the petitioner received.
(f) The petitioner failed to appeal within the prescribed time from the conviction or sentence itself, from the revocation of probation or participation in a community corrections program, or from the dismissal or denial of a petition previously filed pursuant to this rule and that failure was without fault on the petitioner's part.
Ala. R. Crim. P. 32.1.