Ex Parte Stutts

John Stutts was charged with one count of criminal mischief in the first degree, a violation of § 13A-7-21, Ala. Code 1975. At the time Stutts was indicted, criminal mischief in the first degree required proof that the accused had inflicted "damage to property . . . [i]n an amount exceeding $1,000.00."1 Stutts was convicted of criminal mischief in the third degree, a violation of § 13A-7-23, Ala. Code 1975, as a lesser offense included within the offense of first-degree criminal mischief. Stutts was sentenced to 4 months in the county jail; that sentence was suspended, and he was placed on…