Alabama v. Neel

I regret that this Court is unable to reach the substantive issue in this case. However, we cannot overlook jurisdiction and the well-established precedent holding that a filing of a petition for a writ of mandamus does not stay the proceedings in the trial court. Ex parte St. John, 805 So.2d 684 (Ala.2001).

The State is precluded from appeal when the trial court grants a judgment of acquittal for a defendant and its only remedy is to seek mandamus relief. An argument exists that perhaps our rules of criminal procedure should consider this limitation on the State and, consequently, when appeal…