Alabama Supreme Court To Hear Arguments At UA Law School

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ­ The Alabama Supreme Court will hear oral arguments at The University of Alabama School of Law Thursday, Feb. 8, from 9:15 a.m. until noon in room 187/188 of the Law Center.

The Supreme Court occasionally hears arguments at locations around the state in order to allow Alabama’s citizens to see the court in action. The court last heard arguments at the UA Law School in March 1999.

The court will hear two cases on Feb. 8, beginning at 9:15 a.m. The first case is Ex parte Monsante. This is a consolidation of cases in which the plaintiffs claim the defendant corporation caused environmental contamination that resulted in property damage and personal injuries. The defendants have asked for a writ of mandemus to direct the trial court to set a pre-trial conference, to transfer the venue, to quash the jury selection that has begun, and to sever the cases.

The second case, which the Supreme Court will hear at about 10:30 a.m., is Ex parte Apicella. This is an appeal of a criminal case. At the trial level, the jury recommended life without parole, but the trial judge rejected the jury’s recommendation and sentenced the defendant to death by electrocution. The issues on appeal are whether there was such juror misconduct as to require a new trial, whether the delay in sentencing in the case required a new trial, and whether a trial judge’s statutory right to override a jury’s recommendation of life in prison without parole and to sentence a defendant to death is constitutional under Article I, section 11 of the Alabama Constitution.