In re: Altonio Spencer v. State of Alabama

── In re: Altonio Spencer v. State of Alabama ── Court: Supreme Court of Alabama Date: May 15, 2026 Author: Tommy Bryan Category: General Rel: May 15, 2026 Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter. SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________ SC-2024-0672 _________________________ Ex parte Altonio Spencer PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS (In re: Altonio Spencer v. State of Alabama) (Mobile Circuit Court: CC-18-288; Court of Criminal Appeals: CR-2022-1213) SC-2024-0672 BRYAN, Justice. Altonio Spencer was convicted in the Mobile Circuit Court of pharmacy robbery and first-degree robbery. The trial court sentenced Spencer, as a habitual felony offender, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the pharmacy-robbery conviction; the trial court also sentenced Spencer to 240 months in prison for the first-degree- robbery conviction. Spencer appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed the pharmacy-robbery conviction and accompanying sentence. Spencer v. State, [Ms. CR-2022-1213, June 28, 2024] ___ So. 3d ___ (Ala. Crim. App. 2024). That court reversed the first-degree- robbery conviction and sentence and remanded the case to the trial court with instructions that it vacate that conviction and sentence, which the trial court did. On August 9, 2024, on return to remand, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the judgment in its entirety by unpublished memorandum. Spencer then petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari, challenging that part of the Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion affirming his sentence for the pharmacy-robbery conviction, and we granted the petition. For the reasons discussed below, we reverse the judgment of 2 SC-2024-0672 the Court of Criminal Appeals insofar as it affirmed Spencer's sentence for the pharmacy-robbery conviction, and we remand the case. The issue in this case is whether the trial court was required to sentence Spencer to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his pharmacy-robbery conviction or whether the trial court instead had the discretion to sentence Spencer either to life in prison without the possibility of parole or simply life in prison, indicating the possibility of parole. Regarding that issue, tension exists between the sentencing requirements of the Habitual Felony Offender Act ("the HFOA"), § 13A- 5-9, Ala. Code 1975, and the sentencing requirements of § 13A-8-52(a), Ala. Code 1975, which is a part of the Pharmacy Robbery Act of 1982 ("the Pharmacy Robbery Act"), § 13A-8-50 through -52, Ala. Code 1975. In this case, given Spencer's four previous felony convictions, the State invoked the HFOA regarding Spencer's pharmacy-robbery conviction under the Pharmacy Robbery Act. The HFOA provides that a defendant, like Spencer here, who is convicted of a Class A felony and who has at least three prior felony convictions but no prior convictions for a Class A felony "must be punished by imprisonment for life or life without the possibility of parole, in the discretion of the trial court." § 13A-5-9(c)(3) (emphasis 3 SC-2024-0672 added).1 On the other hand, the relevant part of the Pharmacy Robbery Act, § 13A-8-52(a), provides that a defendant, like Spencer here, who is convicted of