Birmingham, Alabama Criminal Defense Blog

A Happy Ending - Finally

Posted by Michael P. Hanle  //  March 5, 2009

When D. W. was found not guilty of murder back in January, you would have thought that the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. NOT GUILTY. That is what the jury had said. Very loud and very clear. It only took 30 minutes to decide that he was not guilty. Unfortunately, D. W. had been sitting in a jail cell for over 13 months at that time. NOT GUILTY did not equal GET OUT OF JAIL. The same Judge who presided over D.W.'s trial had revoked his probation 11 months prior to his trial. The Judge had imposed a very long sentence becaue he had already decided that D.W. was guilty. This wrong had to be righted. After the acquittal, I filed two seperate post conviction documents. First, I filed a Rule 32 Petit... Keep Reading »