Full Opinion

Rel: August 21, 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 published in Southern Reporter. Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026 _________________________ CR-2022-1213 _________________________ Altonio Spencer v. State of Alabama Appeal from Mobile Circuit Court (CC-18-287 and CC-18-288) On Remand from the Alabama Supreme Court ANDERSON, Judge. Altonio Spencer was convicted of pharmacy robbery, see § 13A-8- 51, Ala. Code 1975, and first-degree robbery, see § 13A-8-41, Ala. Code 1975. For his pharmacy-robbery conviction, the Mobile Circuit Court CR-2022-1213 sentenced Spencer, as a habitual felony offender, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Spencer appealed to this Court, which affirmed his pharmacy- robbery conviction and accompanying sentence. Spencer v. State, [Ms. CR-2022-1213, June 28, 2024] ___ So. 3d ___ (Ala. Crim. App. 2024). This Court reversed Spencer's conviction for first-degree robbery, however, and remanded the case to the circuit court with instructions for that court to vacate that conviction and sentence. On August 9, 2024, on return to remand, after the circuit court complied with this Court's instructions, this Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. The Alabama Supreme Court granted Spencer's petition for a writ of certiorari to review this Court's determination that, because of the interplay between § 13A-8-52(a), Ala. Code 1975 (a part of the Pharmacy Robbery Act, § 13A-8-50 et seq., Ala. Code 1975) and the Habitual Felony Offender Act (the "HFOA"), § 13A-5-9, Ala. Code 1975, the circuit court lacked the discretion to sentence Spencer to either life in prison or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ex parte Spencer, [Ms. SC-2024- 0672, May 15, 2026] ___ So. 3d ___, ___ (Ala. 2026). Resolving the tension that existed between the sentencing requirements of the HFOA and § 2 CR-2022-1213 13A-8-52(a), the Alabama Supreme Court held that the HFOA applied, that "its terms are mandatory, and [that] under the plain terms relevant here, the trial court had the discretion to sentence Spencer either to life imprisonment or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole." Ex parte Spencer, ___ So. 3d at ___. Consequently, that court reversed this Court's judgment "insofar as [we] affirmed Spencer's sentence for pharmacy robbery," and it remanded the case for proceedings consistent with its opinion. Id. Accordingly, on remand from the Alabama Supreme Court, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court as it pertains to Spencer's conviction for pharmacy robbery, we reverse the judgment of the circuit court as it pertains to Spencer's sentence for his pharmacy-robbery conviction, and we remand this matter to the circuit court for that court to conduct a new sentencing hearing, at which Spencer shall be present and represented by counsel.1 See Rule 26.6, Ala. R. Crim. P. AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; AND REMANDED. Windom, P.J., and Kellum, Cole, and Minor, JJ., concur. 1Because Spencer has obtained the sentencing relief he originally requested on direct appeal, he must file a new notice of appeal if he desires to challenge the sentence imposed by the circuit court on remand. 3