Dixon v. City of Mobile

The appellant, Daniel Harris Dixon, appeals the dismissal of his de novo appeal to the Mobile Circuit Court. Dixon was convicted of violating municipal ordinance no. 39-1, by violating a "no-contact" order. (Ordinance no. 39-1 embraces § 30-5A-3(c)(1), Ala. Code 1975, part of what is commonly referred to as the Family Violence Protection Order Enforcement Act.) He was sentenced to 180 days in the city jail. Dixon then appealed the municipal court's ruling to the circuit court for a trial de novo. At the time that Dixon's case was called for trial, Dixon was not in the courtroom, and an alias…