Bowden v. State

We granted the State's petitions for writ of certiorari in these cases and have consolidated them to address the issues decided by the Court of Criminal Appeals in reliance upon, and in view of, this Court's decision in Anonymous v. State,507 So.2d 972 (Ala. 1987) (hereinafter referred to as "Anonymous"). In this opinion, we shall undertake to re-examine certain aspects of our decision in Anonymous. A brief summary of that decision follows.

The defendant in Anonymous was charged with and convicted of three counts of first degree rape and three counts of incest with one of his daughters, the…