Lane v. State

The sole issue in this case is whether a defendant who entered a plea of guilty to a capital offense, and who was sentenced to life without parole, is entitled to withdraw that plea of guilty and obtain a new trial in light of Beck v.Alabama, 447 U.S. 625, 100 S.Ct. 2382, 65 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980); on remand, Beck v. State, 396 So.2d 645 (Ala. 1981) (wherein the Court held that the constitutionally infirm clause in Alabama's death penalty statute, which precluded trial judges from giving lesser included offense instructions in capital cases, could be severed from the death penalty statute).

When…