Aldridge v. State

179 So. 2d 51, 278 Ala. 470, 1965 Ala. LEXIS 933
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 30, 1965
Docket6 Div. 214
StatusPublished
Cited by75 cases

This text of 179 So. 2d 51 (Aldridge v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aldridge v. State, 179 So. 2d 51, 278 Ala. 470, 1965 Ala. LEXIS 933 (Ala. 1965).

Opinion

*473 HARWOOD, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court of Fayette County denying •a petition for a writ of error coram nobis .and remanding the petitioner to the Warden of Kilby Prison.

On 27 February 1961, the petitioner, Fred Aldridge, was adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment.

No step looking toward an appeal was taken following petitioner’s conviction. While the petitioner testified he had desired to appeal, no steps were taken. His attorney who represented him at his trial testified in the hearing below that an appeal was discussed, and he had told petitioner what his fee would be, but he heard nothing further from petitioner.

The solicitor who prosecuted the case at the trial testified that on a visit to the jail on another matter, after petitioner’s conviction, he had seen petitioner and inquired of him if he intended to appeal his conviction ■and petitioner had replied that he did not .so intend. Regardless, the fact remains that no steps were taken to perfect an appeal, and neither the trial judge nor any ■official representing the state was informed •of any desire on petitioner’s part to appeal ■the judgment.

In connection with the coram nobis hearing, the court below ordered that a full transcript of the record of the petitioner’s trial in the murder case be prepared and sent to this court along with the transcript of the record made in the coram nobis hearing. In addition, the attorney representing the state in the coram nobis proceeding also introduced in evidence a full transcript of the evidence taken in a habeas corpus proceeding instituted by the petitioner prior to his murder trial, this habeas corpus proceeding having been instituted by-petitioner in an effort to gain bail.

We have examined this mass of evidence and proceedings in connection with our review of the coram nobis proceeding.

In the coram nobis proceeding it seems to have been the policy of the court and counsel to give the petitioner full freedom in presenting any and all matters that might occur to him in an effort to support his petition. This was done to the extent that in many instances fundamental rules for the admission of evidence were not invoked to limit petitioner’s efforts.

At the petitioner’s trial on the murder indictment the petitioner was represented by counsel of his own choice, employed and paid by petitioner or members of his family.

In the coram nobis proceeding petitioner was represented by counsel appointed by the court. Their representation was full, diligent, and competent.

The petitioner has alleged some 24 grounds as a basis for his petition for a writ of error coram nobis. Many of these grounds overlap.

Ground 1 asserts petitioner, in his murder trial, was tried by a prejudiced court; Ground 6 asserts that the trial court made a statement that he knew petitioner was innocent of the charge, but he was afraid petitioner would kill someone else if he did not have him convicted, and Ground 8 asserts that the trial court conspired with the prosecution to have him convicted.

As to Ground 1, appellant’s rambling testimony is difficult to interpret, but is to the general effect that something was wrong with his trial in that he was convicted; that numerous people had come to him after his conviction and told him he had gotten a raw deal, and they knew he was innocent. One of these had been to a fortune teller and been told that he was innocent, that he knew of nothing else to say in support of this ground.

*474 As to Ground 6,-appellant testified that the trial judge had made such a statement to Edwin Strickland. Strickland denied that the trial judge had ever made a statement, or that he had ever told petitioner that the trial judge had made such a statement.

When asked if he had anything to say as to Ground 8, or any evidence to support the assertions of Ground 8, petitioner stated that he did not write the petition, that another prisoner had prepared it for him.

Ground 2 asserts that his “jury trial was prejudiced and influenced by the state’s prosecutor, while” (petitioner) “was not in the courtroom.”

This ground is based upon the fact that during the examination of a state’s witness, the petitioner momentarily left the courtroom. The state’s evidence shows that only one question was asked during petitioner’s absence, and upon the court’s attention being called to petitioner’s absence, the proceedings were suspended until petitioner returned. The question was then repeated to the witness. Clearly the petitioner was not injured by this instance. Further, the petitioner having voluntarily absented himself, he is in no position to complain. An accused cannot by his own voluntary conduct invite error and then seek to profit thereby. It would be a sad commentary upon the vitality of the judicial process if an accused could render it impotent by his own choice. Jackson v. State, 38 Ala.App. 114, 78 So.2d 665.

Ground 3 asserts that the prosecution did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the verdict is contrary to the evidence.

A writ of error coram nobis does not lie to enable the petitioner to question the merits of the case or correct an error of fact which has been adjudicated. Ex. parte Seals, 271 Ala. 622, 126 So.2d 474. However, after our reading of the transcript of the evidence in the murder trial, we are clear to the conclusion that the verdict and judgment are amply -supported-to the required degree by the evidence'presented in the trial.

Ground 4 asserts that petitioner was-confined for seven days before a complaint was filed against him.

This matter ’was not raised in his trial.. Additionally, no question of any confession, is involved.

Ground 5 alleges that' petitioner was not arraigned until the day of his trial ; Grounds 7 and 18 assert petitioner was not served with a copy of the indictment against him; Ground 11 asserts that petitioner was not represented by counsel at his arraignment.

The record of the murder trial shows that petitioner, accompanied by his counsel, was-arraigned on 27 February 1961, and entered a not guilty plea. At the arraignment, it was stipulated that the defendant and his attorneys agreed to waive a special venire and service of a copy of the indictment, and the state agreed to waive any demand for capital punishment.

The record • further shows that the trial' was begun on 3 March 1961, some several' days after his arraignment. Counsel for petitioner in his murder trial also testified to facts fully substantiating the record matter above mentioned.

Ground 9 asserts that petitioner was not afforded a preliminary hearing. The-transcript of- the evidence taken at the habeas corpus proceeding shows that it was. stipulated that petitioner had waived a preliminary hearing prior to the institution of' the habeas corpus proceeding. Both attorneys .who represented the petitioner in- the-murder trial testified that they waived a. preliminary hearing, and instead instituted habeas corpus proceedings because they desired a transcript of-the testimony of the-state’s witnesses-to be-used in the later trial of the murder case.

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Bluebook (online)
179 So. 2d 51, 278 Ala. 470, 1965 Ala. LEXIS 933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aldridge-v-state-ala-1965.