The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals is one of two appellate courts in the Alabama judicial system. The court was established in 1969 when what had been one unitary state Court of Appeals was broken into a criminal appeals court and a civil appeals court. The unitary Court of Appeals had been operative since 1911. The Court of Criminal Appeals is the linear descendant of the unitary Court of Appeals as its predecessor judges were automatically assigned to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1969. At that time the court only had three judges, but that was changed to five in 1971. [1] The court is housed in the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building in downtown Montgomery, Alabama.
The court is composed of five judges elected in partisan elections, one of whom is elected by members of the court to serve as presiding judge. The Court of Criminal Appeals hears all appeals of felony and misdemeanor cases, including violations of city ordinances and all post-conviction writs in criminal cases.
The Clerk of the Court is D. Scott Mitchell.[2]
- ^ A History of the Alabama Judicial System, George Earl Smith and Billy Cauley (1991)
- ^ Alabama Judicial System - Court of Criminal Appeals