Alabama top stories in brief

• A lawsuit has been filed against the city of Valley and AmWaste by a former resident for unconstitutionally jailing residents that failed to pay garbage fines. In the last two years, over a dozen Valley residents have had warrants for their arrests issued for overdue garbage fines. The filing specifically references section 20 of the Alabama constitution which says “that no person shall be imprisoned for debt.”

• Legal Services Alabama, a non-profit legal service, is offering free services to low income central Alabama storm victims until at least Feb. 15. LSA offers a range of services to victims, including consumer issues, contractor fraud, insurance and FEMA applications. There are clinics on Monday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Selma and 1 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday in Montgomery. 

• With the Moody landfill fire still burning after over two months since it was first reported, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management has asked the U.S. Environment Protection Agency for assistance. The EPA has now taken over the operation to extinguish the fire, and will determine the best method to put out the fire. The EPA has also been testing the air quality in the area, and ADEM is testing the water quality in nearby streams. 

• Alabama legislators filed two bills ahead of session for “divisive concepts and parents rights.” The divisive concepts bill is similar to another bill filed last session, which targeted critical race theory and attempted to ban it being taught in classrooms. This new bill does not mention critical race theory specifically, but uses similar language to the previous bill and bans teaching divisive concepts related to race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin. There are seven points that the bill uses to define divisive concepts, which can be read here.

Alabama Supreme Court removes plain errors review for death row cases

The Alabama Supreme Court has now removed rules that required a plain errors review of cases for death row inmates. Previously, Rule 45A of the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure required that appellate courts review old cases for errors that may have occurred and consider errors brought forth even if those errors weren’t objected to at the original trial or brought up on appeal. This requirement only applied to those on death row.

The decision was supported by six of the nine justices. The three dissenting justices were Greg Shaw, Kelli Wise and Tommy Bryan. In his concurring opinion, Justice Jay Mitchell said that the rule had put too much of a burden on appellate courts and took time and resources away from other cases.

“Former Rule 45A thus imposed an extraordinary cost on appellate courts without a correspondingly clear benefit,” said Mitchell. 

In her dissent for the change, Wise acknowledged the burden that the former rule placed on appellate courts, but believed it necessary. 

“I understand that plain error review on direct appeal places a burden on the Court of Criminal Appeals and requires the use of judicial resources. However, in these cases, the defendants’ very lives are at stake, and I believe that such cases are entitled to heightened review on direct appeal,” said Wise. 

The decision was also met with criticism by many groups that advocate for prison reform, including the Equal Justice Initiative and the ACLU of Alabama. According to the EJI, “Mandatory plain error review has been responsible for nearly 40% of all reversals in Alabama death penalty cases.”

“The Alabama Supreme Court’s appellate rule change is unnecessary, dangerous, and will lead to wrongfully convicted people being executed,” said Alison Mollman, ACLU of Alabama’s senior legal counsel. 

The ACLU also referenced the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision which now allows the governor of Alabama to set a time frame for executions, so that executions will no longer be stopped by midnight deadlines as has happened in the recent past.  

Our articles you might have missed

• Check out this month’s issue of The Breathing Room! Written by our managing editor, Hannah Irvin, The Breathing Room is a monthly column where she shares her views on topics like love, friendship, mental health and more. This month’s issue is titled “The best is yet to come,” and talks about making peace with the passage of time. 

• Our lifestyles editor, Noah Wortham, wrote a feature on Swanglish, a group of local artists creating music that blends both Swahili and English. Part of our mission is to feature local creators, so if you know anyone you believe should be spotlighted, please shoot us an email at [email protected] or message us on social media. 

Updates on The Sunrise News

• Our goal with The Sunrise News has always been to provide a place where news is personal. Part of this is connecting with our audience and giving you a place to share your views, and we’d love to feature opinions by the ordinary people of Alabama. If you know anyone that would be interested in submitting guest opinion articles to The Sunrise News, please tell them to reach out to us at [email protected].

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