Baker v. State

404 So. 2d 100
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedOctober 7, 1980
StatusPublished

This text of 404 So. 2d 100 (Baker v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. State, 404 So. 2d 100 (Ala. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

404 So.2d 100 (1980)

Sam Dawson BAKER, Jr., alias
v.
STATE.

5 Div. 504.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

October 7, 1980.
Rehearing Denied October 28, 1980.

Michael Sundock, Opelika, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and J. Anthony McLain and James F. Hampton, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.

TYSON, Judge.

Sam Dawson Baker, Jr., was charged by indictment with the offense of assault with *101 intent to ravish. A timely motion for treatment as a youthful offender was overruled, and at trial Baker was found guilty as charged, and sentenced to serve fifteen years in the state penitentiary. Baker brings this appeal in forma pauperis.

The State's first witness was the victim, Shirley Ann Waters, a Jacksonville, Florida, native who was attending Auburn University. She testified that, on the evening of November 11, 1979, she drove to the A & P supermarket, located in Auburn, arriving there at a few minutes before 7:00 o'clock. Miss Waters stated that, after parking her car in the store parking lot, she proceeded to the front of the store; she remembered that there were people inside the store and in the parking lot, and that a single black male was standing near the front door. Upon reaching the front door, she discovered that it was locked, so she began to return to her car in the parking lot. At this point, she stated, the black male, who had been by the front door, began walking "across the front of the A & P, slowly" (R. 17), and then traced Miss Waters' path back to her car, following her all the time.

Miss Waters then stated that, when she reached her car and was in the process of unlocking it, she turned and saw the black male "approaching me"; the man then pulled a knife with a blade length of "six inches" (R. 18). She testified that the man did not pull the knife until he was "a couple of feet away from me" (R. 18). She testified that the male was holding the knife with both hands, the blade being pointed upward. At this point, Miss Waters stated, she backed to her car, and the man followed, but got no closer to her than he had been initially. She then ran around the side of her car, and as the man continued his approach, she began screaming, at which point the man broke and ran. Miss Waters stated that she ran back to the grocery store, still screaming. The witness identified appellant as the black male she had seen that night.

When she returned to the front of the store, two employees of the A & P, identified as Keith Holloway and Robert Saxby, came out and chased the man. Miss Waters stated that she reported the incident to the police and later examined some photographs at police headquarters. On cross-examination, the following testimony was had:

"Q. Okay. When you walked by him to try the door and then turned back toward the parking lot, were any words exchanged at all?
"A. No, sir.
"Q. He didn't say anything to you and you—didn't say anything to him, you just turned and headed back towards your car when you found that the door was locked? As you headed back towards your car, were any words spoken?
"A. No, sir.
"Q. When you got to the vehicle itself, did anybody say anything, other than the fact that you screamed, and you were placed in fear, were any words spoken?
"A. At my car?
"Q. Yes, ma'am.
"A. No, sir."
(R. 25)

Miss Waters further stated that she had been very nervous during the incident, and that on the night of the incident, she had picked out a photograph of appellant from a group of pictures at police headquarters. She further stated that "I thought he wanted my purse" (R. 28). Finally the following testimony was elicited from Miss Waters:

"Q. Was the knife ever pointed at you?
"A. It was presented at me.
"Q. It was held up in front of him?
"A. Yes.
"Q. But it was never advanced at you?
"A. No, sir.
"Q. Did anyone, other than the young men that came out of the store, touch you at all; did this man touch you at all?
"A. No, sir.
"Q. What was the closest that he came to you?
"A. Approximately two feet.
"Q. And he never said anything to you that you recall?
"A. No, sir."

*102 (R. 28)

Keith Holloway, a high school student in Auburn and a part-time employee of the A & P supermarket, testified that, on the night of November 11, 1979, he had been working at the A & P, preparing for the store's 7:00 o'clock closing time. He stated that he heard a scream and followed Robert Saxby out of the store, where they discovered Shirley Ann Waters crying. He further testified that he and Saxby gave chase to an individual fleeing the scene, and, though the witness could not identify the individual, he did state that the person was wearing a light tan "cloth windbreaker type" jacket and dark pants, and had a "combed down" hair style. Later on the same night, the witness testified, he was in a Zippy Mart convenience store a few miles from the A & P store when he saw an individual he identified as appellant. He stated that the individual was dressed identically to the individual he had chased from the A & P parking lot earlier in the evening. Mr. Holloway stated that he walked around appellant to assure himself and noted the number on the license plate of the car as appellant left the store. This information was conveyed to the police.

Robert Saxby, an Auburn University student and also a part-time employee of the A & P, testified that, on the night of November 11, 1979, he had also heard the screams and had investigated with Keith Holloway. He stated that Shirley Ann Waters indicated the direction in which the individual had run and that he and Holloway gave chase. The witness stated that he did not see the individual again.

The final state witness was Lieutenant Edwin Downing, a member of the Auburn Police Department, who had been in the detective division of that department at the time of the events in question. The officer testified that he had not been one of the officers who had arrested appellant, but that he interviewed appellant at Police Headquarters two days later. He stated that he had read appellant his Miranda rights from a standard form, and that he further read the standard waiver form to appellant as appellant could not read or write. Lieutenant Downing stated that appellant said he understood his rights, and agreed to waive them, and that appellant signed his name to the waiver form (apparently this was the extent of appellant's ability to write).

The witness testified that he then proceeded to interview appellant, though he could not tell if appellant understood his questions. Lieutenant Downing further stated that the statement of appellant, the result of questions propounded by Downing, was not recorded or transcribed, but that he (Downing) made notes as the interview progressed. The witness stated that, when asked, "Did he want to have sex with the girl," appellant answered, "That's all, I didn't rape her" (R. 76). Further, appellant purportedly admitted having had a knife with a three inch blade, which he had discarded. Lieutenant Downing also testified that appellant said that "he told her to get into the car or he would cut her" (R. 76).

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404 So. 2d 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-state-alacrimapp-1980.