Bean v. State

492 So. 2d 647, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6011
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedApril 8, 1986
Docket3 Div. 15
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 492 So. 2d 647 (Bean 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
Bean v. State, 492 So. 2d 647, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6011 (Ala. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinions

LEIGH M. CLARK, Retired Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence in a trial on an indictment charging the defendant-appellant with having “intentionally” caused “the death of another person, Soal Haynes, by shooting him with a pistol, in violation of § 13A-6-2 of the Code of Alabama.” At a duly conducted sentencing hearing after the State had given timely notice to defendant of its intention to proceed against him pursuant to the Habitual Felony Offender Act and proof being made at the sentencing hearing that the defendant had been previously convicted of three or more felonies, the Court sentenced him to imprisonment for life without parole. The indigence of defendant having been shown to the satisfaction of the trial court, an attorney was appointed for him, who represented him throughout the proceedings of the trial court and continues to represent him by a brief in which two issues are presented. The first issue is captioned as follows:

“WHETHER THE STATE FAILED TO PROVE A PRIMA FACIE CASE OF MURDER BECAUSE:
(A) THE KILLING WAS PROVOKED BY THE DECEASED;
(B) THE APPELLANT WAS NOT GUILTY BY REASON OF SELF DEFENSE?”

The victim of the homicide was the husband of defendant’s sister, with whom the victim had engaged in a quarrel at the home of the married couple; the widow testified as to the death of her husband, which occurred on July 24,1983. We quote from her testimony, as a witness for the State, as follows:

“Q. What if anything unusual happened on that day?
“A. Well, my husband came home; he had been drinking. And he went into the house and we got into an argument. We started fighting. He hit me in the head with a pistol, and I was bleeding and I asked him and told him to let me call the paramedics so that I could get something done for myself. Then he pushed me back up against the wall. He left out of the house and went on the outside. And—
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“Q. Just answer the questions. At that time when you got outside, what happened? What did you observe?
“A. When I got outside?
“Q. Yes.
“A. I was in the house.
“Q. Okay. And what did you do after that?
“A. My daughter was wiping my head. She was wiping some of the blood out of my head. And I walked out into the living room.
“Q. What did you observe in the living room area?
“A. My brother and my husband were standing face to face, seemed to be talking or arguing. But anyway, I heard a shot. My husband ran—
“Q. Now, excuse me. You say you heard a shot. Did you see it?
“A. Yes.
“Q. Okay. Can you tell me what happened then?
“A. Then my husband grabbed his stomach and he said, man you done shot me. And he ran toward the — out the—
“Q. What happened next? What did Mr. Bean do that time, if anything?
“A. He was still standing beside the car.
“Q. What happened?
“A. Well, he fired two more shots.
“Q. Okay. You say he fired two more shots. What kind of time frame are we talking about? Fast or—
“A. Fast.
“Q. Where did he shoot Mr. Haynes? I mean, what part of his body?
“A. The only one that I know of was when he hit him in the stomach, lower part of his stomach. The other bullets, where they hit, I don’t know.
[649]*649“Q. Okay. At this time, you say there was a total of three shots; is that right?
“A. Well, that’s all I know of.
“Q. All right. Now, did you hear any conversation between Mr. Bean and Mr. Haynes at that time?
“A." .Yes.
“Q. Did you hear any conversation?
“A. Yes.
“Q. What was the nature of that conversation?
“A. My brother told him that he had sat back and he had watched and he had took all he could take of him beating me.
“Q. What happened then?
“A. That’s when the shooting occurred.
“Q. Okay. Now, did Mr. Bean do anything after the shooting? Did anybody try to stop him, in other words?
“A. I hollered to him, yes.
“Q. What happened?
“A. He left.”

One of the witnesses for the defendant was the daughter of his sister and her husband, the victim, who testified that, before the encounter between defendant and the victim, the mother and the father of the witness were fussing out in the yard, and the following occurred:

“Q. And then as your mother walked on in the house, your father got up, and did he say, bitch, don’t you know I’ll kill you?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Now, is it your testimony that they fought in the yard? Did they fight in the yard before they went in the house?
“A. No, sir.
“Q. What happened after they went in the house?
“A. I don’t know; I was still standing outside. I just heard a lot of talking and arguing. And I guess my mama, she went in the bathroom. We had a bathroom in the hallway and one in my mother’s bedroom. And she went in the one in her bedroom. And when she was coming out, he [her father] was standing up on the bed. And he jumped down and hit her in the head with the pistol. And she was bleeding, and she was walking around. I heard her walking around hollering to ask my uncle [the defendant] to help her. And he was saying he ain’t having nothing to do with it.
“Q. And what happened after that?
“A. After he said he ain’t having nothing to do with it, my daddy said, Law can’t help your G- damn a- and he was fussing and talking about my uncle wasn’t going to do nothing to him, too. And so my mama, she just kept on hollering to take him away, take him away from there.
“Q. What did your father do at that time?
“A. He ain’t done nothing he just — he went outside then. That’s when he picked up this pipe.
“Q. What did he do after he picked up the pipe?
“A. And then my mama was telling him, hollering, talking about she had to go to the hospital. So he threw the pipe down. And he had his shirt — he had it laying on the chair by the tree. And he went out there to put his shirt back on. And when he was headed back in my house, my uncle, I guess he thought he was fixing to mess with mama again when he was going in the house.

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Related

Carter v. State
843 So. 2d 812 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2002)
Bethune v. State
502 So. 2d 386 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
492 So. 2d 647, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6011, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bean-v-state-alacrimapp-1986.