Dowdell v. State

BROWN, Justice

(concurring specially).

Barry Dowdell petitions this Court for certiorari review of the Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision in Dowdell v. State, 854 So.2d 1195 (Ala.Crim.App.2002). Although I understand the concerns expressed by *1206Judge Shaw in his opinion concurring in the result in Dowdell and by Judge Bas-chab in her dissent, I do not believe that the facts of this case — Dowdell’s apparent guilty plea to first-degree rape, his failure to file a direct appeal, and his failure to assert his innocence through DNA testing for almost 15 years — merit granting the petition.