Ex Parte State of Alabama. (in Re ex Parte Joel Patrick Moyers. (in Re State of Alabama v. Joel Patrick Moyers))

Summary

The court held that an offense punishable by death or life imprisonment without parole remains a capital offense for bail purposes, even when the State does not intend to seek death. A court may therefore deny bail if the State satisfies the required evidentiary prerequisites, and an indicted defendant bears the burden of overcoming the presumption supporting denial of bail. The court reversed the Court of Criminal Appeals and remanded for further proceedings. Justices Shaw and Moore, concurring specially, agreed with the result but emphasized that the prior discussion of the death penalty addressed the evidentiary quantum rather than the definition of a capital offense.