Bush v. State

278 So. 2d 741, 50 Ala. App. 293, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1276
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMay 29, 1973
Docket6 Div. 334
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 278 So. 2d 741 (Bush 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
Bush v. State, 278 So. 2d 741, 50 Ala. App. 293, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1276 (Ala. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

CECIL H. STRAWBRIDGE, Circuit Judge.

Proceeding on petition for writ of error coram nobis, Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama, Honorable Wallace Gibson denied the petition, and the petitioner appealed.

The petitioner, Jack A. Bush, was charged, tried and convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary on, to-wit, October 15, 1965, in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama. The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed the lower court on April 4, 1968, and denied a hearing on same on May 2, 1968, Bush v. State, 282 Ala. 134, 209 So.2d 416.

In this proceeding the said petitioner petitioned the court for relief under a writ of error coram nobis for reasons or grounds hereafter set out and the court findings on each ground.

(1) Petitioner alleges that the state did not prove there was a murder committed.

[295]*295This Court finds that the state met this burden and the same has also been ruled upon by the courts heretofore. The writ of error coram nobis will not lie to enable the petitioner to question merits of case. Butler v. State, 279 Ala. 311, 184 So.2d 823.

(2) Petitioner alleges that the testimony given by J. L. Brock was not admissible as evidence.

This Court finds that this evidence was accepted by the lower court as well as the Supreme Court and rightfully so. It is a well-settled principle of law that expert evidence or opinion evidence can be taken and considered along with all the other evidence. The petitioner also alleges under this ground that his attorneys were inadequate and ineffective in not objecting to Brock’s testimony. This question has also been settled by the court heretofore. Ruling on ground number one, supra, applies here. The Supreme Court found and so ruled that the counsel for appellant’s contention that the court erred in permitting the state’s attorney to cross examine J. L. Brock, witness for the appellant, as to contradictions between his testimony on direct examination and statement in writing in question and answer form that he had given to the Birmingham police later in the morning following the shooting was not error. Brock testified that he had made such a statement in the City Hall to the police officers at such time prior to being examined as to the statement, he was permitted to read it in full, while the state’s attorney asserted that he was questioning Brock as to the statement in order to refresh his recollection, the trial court observed that he was permitting the examination both for the purpose of refreshing Brock’s recollection and for the purpose of impeachment. The Supreme Court found no error in this ruling.

Applying the law to the facts as found under this ground, this Court finds that a writ of coram nobis is not available to again review questions of fact which have been tried before, Henderson v. State, 45 Ala.App. 143, 227 So.2d 140.

The Court now cannot find that the petitioner has been denied his constitutional rights and has not been denied a fair and impartial trial under these grounds as the same was ruled upon by Alabama Supreme Court.

(3) The petitioner alleges' the trial court erred in letting the testimony of Mrs. Elizabeth Hilyer stand in court.

This Court finds that the same ruling made in ground number two, supra, applies here and takes care of this ground as it was passed upon by the Supreme Court. We might add that Dr. Johnson, in describing the alcohol level, used the words, “normally a person”, etc. and, “they would normally be expected”, etc. The Court further finds and understands that what might be normal for one person might not be normal to another person.

(4) The petitioner alleges that the trial court erred in allowing the testimony of Mr. Clarence L. White to stand in court as evidence against him.

This Court finds that the same findings and ruling made in and under ground number two, supra, legally applies to this ground.

(5) The petitioner alleges that exhibits numbers four (4) and five (5) were copies of reports kept in the office of the State Toxicologist. The trial judge clearly ruled that the petitioner’s constitutional rights were not violated and that he was not denied a fair and impartial trial by the court sustaining the state’s objections to their introduction. The toxicologist was present and testified and no claim of impeachment in rebuttal to his (Dr. Johnson) testimony was suggested and therefore no error and no constitutional rights violated and did not deny or deprive him of a fair and impartial trial.

[296]*296 (6) The petitioner alleges and contends that the lower court erred in admitting over his objections, four statements in writing, such being designated as state’s exhibits B, C, D, and E.

The Supreme Court held that exhibits B and D were not inculpatory in any sense, on page 139 of the Alabama Report, and merely showed the name, address and telephone number of appellant’s father and there was no probable injury to any substantial right of the appellant which could have resulted from such admission of these exhibits. The Court further stated in considering whether error to reverse resulted from the admission of exhibits C and D, which are inculpatory, it must first be noted the trial of this case was begun on the 11th of October, 1965, with verdict being returned on the 15th day of October, 1965, the judgment being entered on that same day.

The rules laid down in Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, do not apply. See also Johnson v. State of New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719, 86 S.Ct. 1772, 16 L.Ed.2d 882. Also, before the admission of these exhibits, a full voir dire examination was had out of the presence of the jury.

The petitioner attacks the admission of these exhibits in two aspects: first, that the physical condition of the appellant at the time prevented their being voluntary, and second, that the state failed to show the required predicate of voluntariness.

Relative to the appellant’s physical condition, Officers Glenn and Chambers testified that at the apartment, the appellant appeared to be in deep shock, and was in this condition in the hospital room when they saw him write the notes which he gave to Detective Pierce.

On the other hand, Mrs. McMeans, the nurse, testified that at the time appellant wrote the note which he gave to her (exhibit D), and at the time he wrote the notes which he gave to Pierce (exhibits C and B), the appellant was not, in her opinion, in a state of shock, nor under the influence of any sedative.

Dr. Leon C. Hamrick, of the Lloyd Nolan Clinic, testified that he saw the appellant around 11:00 A.M. on the 25th of October, 1965, following his admission to the clinic during the early hours of the same morning. Dr. Hamrick testified on direct examination in response to a question as to whether a wound such as the appellant had suffered could have been fatal, replied that it could have been. Dr. Hamrick then added, “I think the question would be impossible to answer. In the general region, it could have been fatal.”

Dr. Hamrick’s remaining testimony shed no light on appellant’s condition at the time he wrote the notes in question.

Appellant places much reliance on the Florida case of Reddish v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ex Parte Ellison
410 So. 2d 130 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1982)
Summers v. State
366 So. 2d 336 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
278 So. 2d 741, 50 Ala. App. 293, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bush-v-state-alacrimapp-1973.