Ex Parte Williams

We granted certiorari in this case to review the Court of Criminal Appeals' affirmance of the Mobile County Circuit Court's judgment, wherein that court set aside its original sentence, which the defendant had begun serving, and imposed a more severe sentence after discovering that the Habitual Felony Offender Act applied. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment, 492 So.2d 677. We reverse.

On January 28, 1982, the defendant, David Lee Williams, pleaded guilty to the crime of attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud, Code of Alabama (1975), §20-2-70. On…