Gilbert v. State

PATTERSON, Retired Appellate Judge.

Harold Ray Gilbert filed a petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to Ala.R.Cr.P. 32, attacking his conviction for murder, and alleging that his trial counsel was ineffective because, he says, counsel knew that one of the state’s key witnesses testified falsely. Specifically, he alleges that the witness, Carl Clance, saw someone else murder the victim. Gilbert attached to his petition an affidavit from Clance asserting that Steve Bridgman, not Gilbert, killed the victim.

In its motion to dismiss, the state responded, among other things, that “if the…