Charles David Merchant v. State of Alabama

Opinion

Rel: December 16, 2022

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published in Southern Reporter.

Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals OCTOBER TERM, 2022-2023

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CR-21-0222

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Charles David Merchant

v.

State of Alabama

Appeal from Lamar Circuit Court (CC-03-111.60)

COLE, Judge.

AFFIRMED BY UNPUBLISHED MEMORANDUM.

Windom, P.J., concurs. Minor, J., concurs in the result. Kellum, J., dissents, with opinion. McCool, J., recuses himself.

CR-21-0222 KELLUM, Judge, dissenting.

A petition for a writ of mandamus, not a Rule 32, Ala. R. Crim. P., petition for postconviction relief, is the proper avenue by which to challenge a trial court's order directing the Alabama Department of Corrections to withhold from an inmate's trust-fund account any and all economic-impact payments received by the inmate pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act so that those funds can be used to pay any restitution, fines, fees, or costs owed by the inmate. See Ex parte Reno, [Ms. CR-20-0512, Feb. 11, 2022] ___ So. 3d ___ (Ala. Crim. App. 2022). Instead of affirming the circuit court's judgment summarily dismissing Charles David Merchant's Rule 32 petition, I would treat this appeal as a petition for a writ of mandamus and deny the petition. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.