Another Sex Offender Loses in WV Supreme Court

Earlier this year, in a decision handed down by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on March 12, 2012, convicted sex offender Alvin Chambers' appeal was denied.

According to the decision, "in 2005, Chambers was sentenced on two counts of third degree sexual assault and two counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. The two sexual assault counts were to run concurrently and the two sexual abuse counts were to run concurrently, but the sexual assault counts and the sexual abuse counts were to run consecutively. Chambers was therefore sentenced to twenty to forty years imprisonment."

Note: concurrent sentences are served together at the same time whereas consecutive sentences are served one after another.

Chambers' original appeal was refused by the Supreme Court. This decision came after he filed a "habeas corpus" petition, claiming the Warden of the prison was unlawfully detaining him. When Judge Jack Alsop ruled on the habeas petition in 2007, the Order incorrectly said that all of Chambers' sentences would run concurrently, in contrast to the original 2005 decision noted above.

Chambers, now age 44, contended that the ruling on his habeas petition by Judge Alsop effectively reduced his sentence by half since the sentences were to run concurrently, rather than the consecutive sentences originally ordered by Judge Alsop. When Judge Alsop noticed this clerical error, he corrected the habeas Order to read that the sentences would run consecutively, as originally ordered in 2005. Chambers then filed this habeas petition stating that Judge Alsop illegally increased his sentence.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals wasted little time in its decision, stating that Judge Alsop merely corrected the clerical error. "This Court finds no violation of double jeopardy principles, as the circuit court merely reinstated the previous sentence," the Court concluded. Chambers remains incarcerated at the Mount Olive Correctional Center, serving the 20 to 40 year sentence. The Department of Corrections' website lists his next parole hearing for July 22, 2025.

The full opinion can be read at this link:
http://www.courtswv.gov/supreme-court/memo-decisions/spring2012/11-1082memo.pdf