Busey v. State

320 So. 2d 709, 56 Ala. App. 205, 1975 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1313
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJune 30, 1975
Docket6 Div. 950
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 320 So. 2d 709 (Busey 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
Busey v. State, 320 So. 2d 709, 56 Ala. App. 205, 1975 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1313 (Ala. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

BOOKOUT, Judge.

Appeal from denial of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus.

The appellant was indicted for felonious fraud on September 24, 1974, by the grand jury of Bernallillo County, New Mexico. A bench warrant was issued by the judge of the district court of said county on September 27, 1974, for his arrest. On October 7, 1974, an application for the extradition of appellant was made by the Governor of New Mexico. On October 24, 1974, the Governor of Alabama signed the rendition warrant releasing appellant to the State of New Mexico. On February 28, 1975, evidence was taken as to the habeas corpus petition, and the circuit court denied appellant relief.

The appellant, Kimleigh Michael Busey, was called as a witness and testified that he lived in Birmingham, Alabama, and knew Ms. Carol Ann Cox of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Appellant’s testimony further stated that he became engaged to be married to Ms. Cox. He admitted that on the evening of December 8, 1973, when they became engaged, he told Ms. Cox that he and a friend were thinking of going into business together and that if they did, they would not have much to live on. After this, Ms. Cox told the appellant that she had some money of her own. On December 10, 1973, Ms. Cox wrote a letter to her stockbroker in New York directing him to sell all her stock commencing January 2, 1974. Appellant was present when Ms. Cox typed the letter and after she signed it, appellant mailed it himself.

On January 7, 1974, Ms. Cox received a check from her stockbroker for a sum just over $11,000.00. Appellant was present that evening when she opened her mail, and the next morning, he went with Ms. Cox to her bank to have a bank draft made out in his name. Appellant further stated that the money was deposited in a bank account in appellant’s name in the amount of $10,700.00. He also admitted that the money was to be used for the business he planned with his friend, partly as a down payment on a mobile home for appellant and Ms. Cox, and the rest for an undetermined use. There was no written contract or promissory note relative to this money.

Appellant testified that Ms. Cox’s brother-in-law threatened him, and on January 18, 1974, he left New Mexico and came to Alabama. Appellant stated further that Ms. Cox told him that “she was going to take care of that problem,” but the next morning he let New Mexico taking all of Ms. Cox’s money with him. Appellant was arrested on a warrant in September 1974 by three officers from the Birmingham Police Department accompanied by a Pinkerton agent and the brother-in-law.

Appellant claimed to have talked to Ms. Cox subsequent to the arrest at which time she supposedly told the appellant that the only thing she wanted was her money back, that she didn’t want to make any trouble, but that she had to have her money back. After talking to Ms. Cox, the appellant stated that he never saw her again. Appellant spent all of the money that he acquired from Ms. Cox.

I

It was appellant’s contention that the extradition proceedings by the State of New Mexico, directly or indirectly, sought to aid in the collection of a debt, demand or claim, and are prohibited by Title 15, § 68, Code of Alabama 1940, which reads as follows :

“Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as authorizing the extradition of any person in this state to any other [207]*207state where the extradition proceedings, directly or indirectly, seek to aid in the collection of any debt, demand or claim against the party sought to be extradited.”

Appellant insists that the subsequent conduct of the complainant and her brother-in-law in telephone and personal conversation with appellant have shown satisfaction of a debt, demand or claim to be the intention of the complainant.

We are not convinced that the evidence of the instant case establishes that these extradition proceedings were instituted for the purpose or purposes denounced by the provisions of Title 15, § 68, supra.

The three cases cited by the appellant in support of his position very amply illustrates the law in Alabama in regard to the refusal of extradition when the evidence is such that the proceeding is a method of collection of a debt, demand or claim. However, it is this Count’s opinion that these cases can be distinguished from the instant case. In the first case cited by the appellant, Scott v. State, 33 Ala.App. 328, 33 So.2d 390 (1948), Presiding Judge Bricken stated:

“Where the governor’s warrant recited that accused was charged in Georgia with ‘the crime of Misdemeanor (bad check),’ and the undisputed evidence disclosed that check was returned with the notation ‘Drawn against uncollectible funds,’ and that payee has instituted civil or equitable proceedings, which are pending, and has threatened accused with arrest and extradition if money was not promptly paid, and that extradition proceedings were instituted, directly or indirectly, to aid in the collection of such a check, extradition could not be had. ...”

In the instant case, there is no evidence that civil litigation is pending against the appellant, nor that anyone threatened the appellant that if he did not pay, criminal action and extradition would ensue. It is difficult to envision that the alleged statement of the complainant could be construed as an agreement to drop criminal charges if the appellant were to repay the money.

The second case cited, Bishop v. State, 38 Ala.App. 667, 92 So.2d 323 (1957), is easily distinguishable since the trial court in Bishop, supra, refused to admit evidence tending to show that the alleged warrant was for the purpose of collecting a debt in a foreign state. In Bishop, supra, Presiding Judge Harwood stated:

“By its rulings the court below precluded this appellant from attempting a showing which, if established to the required degree, would have entitled him to his discharge. His efforts along this line may, or may not, have been meritorious. He at least however was entitled to an attempt to show that the extradition proceedings were in aid of collecting a debt.”

The trial court in the instant case did allow the appellant to testify as to proof of his “collection of a debt or claim theory.”

The third case cited by the appellant, Chatham v. State, 46 Ala.App. 729, 248 So.2d 768 (1971), can also be distinguished from the instant case. In that case Chatham was charged with embezzlement by his former employers. This Court reversed that case and discharged the appellant, stating:

“But upon the whole of the evidence we are compelled to the conclusion that this extradition was sought either directly or indirectly to aid in the collection of a debt demand or claim against the party sought to be extradited and falls within the inhibitition (sic) of Sec. 68, supra.”

That case differs from the instant case in that there was testimony from the employers, as complainants, which tended to show that if Chatham were to repay his employers the money he owed them, they in return would not pursue criminal [208]*208charges and extradition. The testimony appears as follows:

“A. And we asked him if he could give us some money or rather give us the seventeen hundred, whatever that check was, if he could repay us that because our books should show that we had spent some fifteen or sixteen hundred dollars of our money repairing the house.

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Related

Pierce v. State
217 So. 3d 64 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2016)
Cox v. State
710 So. 2d 525 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1997)
Woodall v. State
382 So. 2d 624 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1980)
Cole v. State
337 So. 2d 40 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1976)
Busey v. State
320 So. 2d 713 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
320 So. 2d 709, 56 Ala. App. 205, 1975 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/busey-v-state-alacrimapp-1975.