Legal Question in Criminal Law in Alabama

criminal law

husband was accussed of rape & rape w/forced compulsion, no dna,no witness, pub defen told him if he pled guilty that all children in foster care would be returned to mothers involved only 2 of tha 5 children were in foster care,and they were taken due to utilities being off in tha mothers home, my daughter has sttd & written that she lied to get her way @ home thinkin that w/step dad out of way she could run free, so in short is there any way that my husband could fight this case and really win? Again I say there was no dna on the rape kit no internal proof from exam that she had been havin sex the, children that were in foster care were not returned as promised they are not up for adoption, and a ward of the state. So please any direction that you can point us to go in at this time would be a BLESSING for our family. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME & CONSIDERATION IN THIS MATTER


Asked on 8/11/08, 4:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Pfeifer Pfeifer LLC

Re: criminal law

If your husband has already entered a guilty plea to the charge, then he only has a few options, and those options really depend on how much time has passed since he entered his guilty plea. He may be able to file a motion to set aside his guilty plea and try to go back to court to go to trial, or we might consider filing what is called a Rule 32 petition. In a Rule 32, we try to have his conviction set aside on the basis of receiving ineffective assistance of counsel. He also has the right to appeal his conviction if it is within 42 days, but if he did not preserve any issues for appeal then that will not accomplish anything. With a guilty plea, usually the best route is to file a motion to set aside the plea or to file a Rule 32 petition to get him a new trial.

Either way, you are going to need to hire an attorney to file these petitions for your husband. The court system does not provide court-appointed attorneys for this kind of work. I would encourage to speak to a criminal defense attorney right away to see if there is something that can be done to help your husband.

Read more
Answered on 8/11/08, 5:04 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Alabama