Court refuses to rehear Talladega murder appeal

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has refused to rehear arguments in the case of a Talladega man who has been on death row for some 24 years.  60 year old Charles Randall Stewart, was convicted of murdering his ex-wife in front of their 6-year-old son on July 16, 1990. He was found guilty and sentenced to death later that same year. The aggravating circumstances included committing murder during a burglary and during a kidnapping.  He was originally sentenced to die by electrocution, but this was changed to lethal injection when Alabama changed the procedure for carrying out executions.  The conviction has been held up consistently on appeal, but the death sentence has been remanded on three separate occasions by higher courts. The first time, the court ordered that some of the counts of burglary and kidnapping were due to be dismissed. The second time, it was revealed after the fact that the wife of one of the jurors had served on the grand jury that indicted Stewart.  In both cases, the sentencing phase of the trial was redone, and resulted in the death penalty being imposed again.  Unlike other criminal cases in Alabama, a person convicted of a capital crime is subject to a two-fold trial. After guilt has been determined, the same jury must weigh any aggravating or mitigating circumstances the sides might argue. If aggravating factors outweigh mitigating factors, then the jury recommends death. If the other way around, the jury recommends life without the possibility of parole. The jury’s recommendation does not have to be unanimous, and the judge does not have to follow the jury’s recommendation. Alabama is the only state where a judge can do this.