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891 So. 2d 393

Borden v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama · decided 2002-03-22

Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently July 2011

2 federal appellate · 7 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“"[A]t the pleading stage of Rule 32 proceedings, a Rule 32 petitioner does not have the burden of proving his claims by a preponderance of the evidence. Rather, at the pleading stage, a petitioner *Page 866 must provide only `a clear and specific statement of the grounds upon which relief is sought.' Rule 32.6(b), Ala. R.Crim.P. Once a petitioner has met his burden of pleading so as to avoid summary disposition pursuant to Rule 32.7(d), Ala.R.Crim.P., he is then entitled to an opportunity to present evidence in order to satisfy his burden of proof."”

quoted by 5 later decisions, including Borden v. Allen, Lewis v. State

“The petitioner shall have the burden of pleading and proving by a preponderance of the evidence the facts necessary to entitle the petitioner to relief. The state shall have the burden of pleading any ground of preclusion, but once a ground of preclusion has been pleaded, the petitioner shall have the burden of disproving its existence by a preponderance of the evidence.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Borden v. Allen

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2002-03-22

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1

¶2Because the appellant has made some allegations that may be meritorious, I agree that we should remand this case to the circuit court for that court to address those claims. However, I write specially because I am concerned that this court, in its hyper-vigilance to distinguish between the burden of pleading and the burden of proof, may be lowering the threshold necessary to warrant further proceedings on a Rule 32 petition. Rule 32.3, Ala. R.Crim. P., provides, in relevant part: *398

"The petitioner shall have the burden of pleading and proving by a preponderance of the evidence the facts necessary to entitle the petitioner to relief."

¶3Rule 32.6(b), Ala. R.Crim. P., provides:

¶4 "The petition must contain a clear and specific statement of the grounds upon which relief is sought, including full disclosure of the factual basis of those grounds. A bare allegation that a constitutional right has been violated and mere conclusions of law shall not be sufficient to warrant any further proceedings."

¶5Bare allegations and conclusions of law in a Rule 32 petition are not sufficient to warrant further proceedings on the petition. Instead, a petitioner must plead his claims with specificity and fully disclose the factual basis for those claims. Because it appears that the majority may be blurring the line as to what type of allegations may be sufficient to warrant further proceedings, I concur in the result.

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