The State of Alabama v. Whirley

This is a pretrial appeal by the State from the order of the Circuit Court of Autauga County dismissing an indictment against Kenneth Whirley for murder and vehicular homicide and discharging Whirley from custody.

I

THE FACTS

In 1984, Whirley was indicted for reckless murder under Alabama Code 1975, § 13A-6-2. He was convicted of vehicular homicide under § 32-5A-192 as a lesser included offense.

On appeal, this Court reversed Whirley's conviction finding (1) that the vehicular homicide statute was unconstitutional because it provided both misdemeanor and felony punishment for the same offense,…