This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
When you appeal a criminal case in Alabama and the death penalty is not involved, the Court of Criminal Appeals only has to look at the arguments you actually raise in your written briefs. The court will not go searching for other possible problems with your case on its own.
This means your lawyer needs to clearly identify every issue you want the court to review and include it in the brief. If a mistake happened during your trial but your brief does not mention it, the appeals court is not required to consider it or bring it up. Simply put, if you want the court to review something, you have to point it out yourself. The court will not hunt for extra issues to help your case.
This rule works differently in death penalty cases, where the court does look more broadly at the record. But in regular criminal appeals, the responsibility falls on the person appealing to raise every issue they care about.
