Ex parte State

I concur in Part I of the main opinion; I agree that these matters are properly before this Court by way of petitions for writs of mandamus. As to Part II of the opinion, I concur only in part. I concur to grant the petitions and issue the writs.

Initially, I question whether the circuit court had jurisdiction to decide the motions filed by Kenneth Eugene Billups, Stanley Brent Chatman, Terrell Corey McMullin, and Benjamin Todd Acton (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the respondents”) in which they argued that the death-penalty portion of Alabama’s capital-murder statute is facially…