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REL: 07/27/2007

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SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
SPECIAL TERM, 2007 ____________________ 1060926 ____________________ Ex parte Jammy Bell PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS (In re: Jammy Bell v. State of Alabama) (Washington Circuit Court, CC-03-143.60; Court of Criminal Appeals, CR-05-2319)

STUART, Justice.

1060926 On February 25, 2005, Jammy Bell filed a postconviction petition pursuant to Rule 32, Ala. R. Crim. P., challenging the validity of his conviction for second-degree receipt of stolen property and his sentence of 25 years in prison. a hearing, the circuit court denied his petition. Bell appealed the circuit court's denial of his petition to the Court of Criminal Appeals. Before that court, Bell After

argued, among other issues, that the circuit court erred in denying his claim that the State had failed to prove venue and that, therefore, the trial court did not have jurisdiction to enter the judgment and to impose the sentence. The Court of

Criminal Appeals, in an unpublished memorandum, held that the claim was nonjurisdictional and precluded because Bell could have raised it at trial or on appeal, but did not. 32.2(a)(3) and (5), Ala. R. Crim. P. 05-2319, February 23, 2007), ___ So. App. 2007)(table). Bell petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari. In See Rule

Bell v. State (No. CR2d ___ (Ala. Crim.

his petition, he alleged that the holding of the Court of Criminal Appeals that his claim that the State had failed to prove venue was nonjurisdictional conflicted with this Court's

2

1060926 statement in Ivey v. State, 821 So. 2d 937, 950 (Ala. 2001), that "proof of venue is jurisdictional." We granted the writ

to clarify whether an issue of venue in a criminal case is jurisdictional. This Court in Ex parte Culbreth, [Ms. 1050510, December 22, 2006] ___ So. 2d ___ (Ala. 2006), addressed the difference between a jurisdictional requirement and a venue limitation, stating: "'Jurisdiction is "[a] court's power to decide a case or issue a decree." ... In deciding whether [a petitioner's] claim properly challenges the trial court's subject-matter jurisdiction, we ask only whether the trial court had the [requisite] constitutional and statutory authority ...." Ex parte Seymour, 946 So. 2d 536 (Ala. 2006). Venue, in contrast, addresses '[t]he county or other territory over which a trial court has jurisdiction.' Black's Law Dictionary 1591 (8th ed. 2004). ... "Venue can be waived, and any objection improper venue is waived if not timely raised." ___ So. 2d at ___. In Ex parte Seymour, 946 So. recognized the subject-matter 2d 536 (Ala. 2006), we of the circuit to

jurisdiction

court, stating: "Under the Alabama Constitution, a circuit court 'shall exercise general jurisdiction in all cases except as may be otherwise provided by law.' Amend. 3

1060926 No. 328,

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