Ex Parte Coleman

The petitioner, John David Coleman, an inmate at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, filed this petition for a writ of mandamus after the Honorable Alfred Bahakel, circuit judge for the Tenth Judicial Circuit, denied his request to proceed in forma pauperis for purposes of filing a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P. In June 1998, Coleman filed a Rule 32 petition attacking his 1989 convictions. The petition was accompanied by an in forma pauperis declaration.1 (See Rule 32.6(c), Ala.R.Crim.P., and the accompanying form.) Judge Bahakel…