Bowman v. State

208 So. 2d 241, 44 Ala. App. 331, 1968 Ala. App. LEXIS 455
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 20, 1968
Docket4 Div. 604
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 208 So. 2d 241 (Bowman v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alabama Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowman v. State, 208 So. 2d 241, 44 Ala. App. 331, 1968 Ala. App. LEXIS 455 (Ala. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Judge.

Appellant was indicted for robbery by the Grand Jury of Barbour County, Alabama. Subsequent to a plea of not guilty, he was tried, found guilty as charged, and sentenced to a term of fourteen years in the penitentiary. Appellant filed a motion for a new trial which .was- denied and he now appeals.

Gerald Bennett, the State’s first witness, testified that on December 6, 1966, he was working as a clerk at the Qwilc Mart Grocery on Highway 431 South of Eufaula; and that the appellant and another man entered the store, picked up some items and walked up to the cash register in front of the checkout stand. Bennett testified that the appellant handed him a dollar bill and that he rang up the sale on the register and had the change in his hand when appellant’s companion pulled a gun on him and told him to get to the back of the store. Bennett stated that he was placed in a walk-in cooler and that the door was shut; that he was unable to see the checkout stand through glass doors which were built into the side of the cooler; and that he did not see either appellant or his companion thereafter. Bennett stated that he stayed in the cooler for about two minutes and then came out. At this time neither appellant nor his companion was in the store. He said that at the time of the alleged robbery no one else was in the store. Bennett further testified that later in the evening he went to the courthouse at Clayton with two law enforcement officers where he identified appellant and one other man as the two men who robbed him.

Elizabeth Ballard testified for the State that she was with appellant and two others in an automobile; that she did not remember the date; that they stopped outside of a store and went inside; that “when they went in the store they come back out Johnny had 3 cartons of cigarettes, 2 cartons of Winstons and a carton of Pall Mall.” She further testified in part as follows:

“Q. Did they take the gun in the store with them?
“A. When they come ' hack they brought the gun out with them.
"Q. You say the gun?
“A. Yes sir I saw it all of the time we was with them.
*333 “Q. After they came hack out of the store with the cigarettes where did you go?
“A. Went down a dirtroad.
“Q. What happened there?
“A. Johnny took the greens out and put it in his billfold and took the change out and put it in a bag and put it in the car pocket.
“Q. When you say ‘greens’ what do you mean?
“A. Dollars, bills, paper money.
“Q, Did what with the change?
“A. Took it out of his pocket and put it in a bag and put it in the car pocket.
“Q. That is this defendant, John Bowman, he had the money in his pocket. Is that correct?
“A. Yes sir.
“Q. Then where did you go?
“A. After we come off of the dirt-road we went down the road and that is when the road was blocked.
“Q. Who was blocking the road?
“A. I don’t know. The police. I don’t even know the policemen.
“Q. Was it the police?
"A. Yes sir it was police.
“Q. Was that when you were arrested?
“A. Yes sir.”

The defense offered no evidence.

Appellant objected to the identification of appellant and his companion by the witness Bennett on the ground that the identification made by Bennett at the Clayton County Courthouse was illegal. Appellant contends that at the time Bennett identified him, he and his companion were the only two negroes in the room and, therefore, there was an unlawful lineup.

The rules set out in U. S. v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149, 87 S.Ct. 1926; Gilbert v. State of California, 388 U.S. 263, 18 L.Ed.2d 1178, 87 S.Ct. 1951, do not apply to pre-trial identifications made prior to June 12, 1967. Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199.

Pre-trial identifications are not always made from a lineup. Beavers v. State, 103 Ala. 36, 15 So. 616; Aaron v. State, 273 Ala. 337, 139 So.2d 309.

In the case at bar the record shows that the victim of the alleged robbery was shown several other suspects prior to being shown the appellant and his companion and stated that he did not recognize any of them. The testimony regarding this identification was as follows:

“Q. Tell us what you found when you went to the room there. Just tell us what happened when you got there?
“A. Well, they just asked me to go in and identify these two — would they be the ones that made the robbery at the store. So I went in and did identify them as the two that did the robbing.
“Q. Isn’t it true that before you made the identity that one or more of the police officers had told you we have got your boys or words to that effect?
“A. Not to that effect no sir. They didn’t know whether they were the' ones or not. They wanted me to see if they were the ones that they had.”

We find nothing in this testimony indicating that the witness was influenced.

Appellant contends that he was not provided a preliminary hearing nor did he waive same. There is no necessity for a preliminary hearing in order to satisfy the requisites of due process and whether or not there was a preliminary hearing would have no bearing on the validity of the indictment and subsequent proceedings incident thereto. Queor v. State, 278 Ala. 10, *334 174 So.2d 687; Manning v. State, 43 Ala. App. 182, 185 So.2d 145.

Code of Alabama, 1940, Tit. 30, Sec. 63, states as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
208 So. 2d 241, 44 Ala. App. 331, 1968 Ala. App. LEXIS 455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowman-v-state-alactapp-1968.