Ex Parte State of Alabama

The State of Alabama filed this petition for a writ of mandamus directing the Honorable James B. Smith, circuit judge for the Twenty-third Judicial Circuit, to vacate his order denying the State's request to call Jimmy Shane Click as a witness at the evidentiary hearing on Click's postconviction petition. Click was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Click v. State, 695 So.2d 209 (Ala.Cr.App. 1996), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1001 (1997). In October 1998, Click filed a postconviction…