McMillian v. State

Trial courts and circuit clerks regularly receive through the mail numerous letters, petitions, and other documents from incarcerated defendants in criminal proceedings that require interpretation for further processing. Usually, those documents are related to a criminal case and can be categorized as attempts to file postconviction pleadings under Rule 32, Ala. R.Crim. P., or some type of a motion in a pending or concluded criminal case. On April 11, 2014, Melvin McMillian submitted to the Mobile circuit clerk by mail a document he styled as a “Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus to Purge,…