Dowdell v. State

The appellant, Barry Dowdell, appeals from the circuit court's denial of his petition for postconviction relief, filed pursuant to Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P., in which he attacked his 1986 conviction for first-degree rape and the resulting sentence of 18 years' imprisonment. As best we are able to determine from the record, Dowdell's conviction was based on his guilty plea to the charge of rape in the first degree. There is some conflict in the record concerning whether Dowdell appealed from this conviction.1

On June 6, 2001, Dowdell filed a Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P., petition for postconviction…