Campbell v. State

249 So. 2d 877, 47 Ala. App. 57, 1971 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 462
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJune 29, 1971
Docket1 Div. 49
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 249 So. 2d 877 (Campbell 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
Campbell v. State, 249 So. 2d 877, 47 Ala. App. 57, 1971 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 462 (Ala. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a conviction by the Mobile County Circuit Court of robbery with punishment fixed at ten years imprisonment.

An outline of the testimony introduced by the State shows that on the night of February 13, 1969, the filling station operated by J. T. Levens in Mobile was entered by a colored male who at gun point forced Levens to give him an amount of cash on hand; that there was present besides Levens a young man, Paul Osborn, an employee at the station; that Levens was struck twice by the robber who remained in the station approximately three minutes before leaving with the cash; and that neither Levens nor his employee knew or recognized the robber.

Levens and his employee both attended a line-up where appellant was not represented by an attorney and recognized the appellant as the guilty person, but on voir dire examination conducted outside of the presence of the jury, the court suppressed all testimony of the employee pertaining to the lineup.

On further examination, the court suppressed the testimony of the employee with regard to the in-court identification of appellant and suppressed all testimony of Levens pertaining to the police lineup but admitted as to his in-court identification of appellant as the man who held up and robbed him at the filling station.

The defendant testified and denied any guilt whatever, or knowledge of the occurrence.

The adverse rulings of the trial court with regard to the in-court identification of appellant by witness Levens were properly reserved by timely objections by appellant.

Appellant argues in brief that the court was in error in admitting into evidence the-in-court identification of appellant by witness Levens because it was “not free from the taint of the identification made at the-lineup,” where appellant was not represented by counsel, and was not based on “an independent origin of identification.” (That is, facts independent of the lineup and free-from its influence.) He cites United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149, and Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 18 L.Ed.2d 1178, which hold that an in-court identification of the accused by a witness who has viewed the accused in a lineup before trial, without counsel, is not admissible unless an independent origin of the identification is established.

During the examination of the prosecuting witness Levens on voir dire, out of the presence of the jury, the following occurred :

“Q. Mr. Levens, you say someone came to your service station as you were counting the money ?
“A. Yes sir.
“Q. Who was that?
“A. That boy there.
“MR. BUTLER: We object, Your Hon- or, improper predicate.
“THE COURT: Sustained.
“Q. When you went to the lineup did you see this boy at the lineup?
“A. Yes sir.
“Q. Was this after you had been robbed ?
“A. It was.
[59]*59“Q. Can you identify this man, seated at the end of the table, the defendant ?
“A. I can.
“Q. Can you identify him as being the ■man that came into your service station that ■.night ?
“A. Yes sir. (Answer and objection • and motion made at same time)
“MR. BUTLER: I object, Your Honor, ■ and move to exclude the answer—
“THE COURT: I sustain the objection -and grant the motion.
“Q. Is your identification of him today, seeing him here in the courtroom today, 'based in any way on your having seen him •at the lineup?
“A. Yes, I saw him at the lineup.
“Q. Listen very carefully to my question. Is your identification of him today, ■seated here in Court, based in any way on having seen him at the lineup ?
“A. If I get the question right now, you , ■mean do I remember his face as the same?
“Q. I’m asking you whether or not you are basing your identification of him today ■on something that you saw at the lineup ?
“MR. BUTLER: Your Honor, I’m going to object to that question now, it calls for a conclusion, without any proper predicate having been laid for an answer.
“THE COURT: Overruled.
“A. Other than his face—I just remember his face.
“Q. Did you understand my question, Mr. Levens?
“A. Well, I don’t guess I did, if I’m not answering it right.
“Q. I know you are telling me that you remember him, but what I’m asking you is, do you remember him because of the lineup,—do you remember him because you saw him out there at the lineup in Prichard?
“A. Well, yes,-—that’s one way that I remember him—I know I did see him there.
“Q. Can you tell us whether or not you can identify this man as the man that came into your service station?
“A. He is.
“Q. Can you identify him in Court today as that man, without any reference in your own mind as having gone to a lineup?
“A. I do. (Answer and objection made at same time.)
“MR. BUTLER: I object, Your Honor, ■—he has no predicate laid for an in-court identification without reference to the illegal lineup.
“THE COURT: Sustained.
“Q. Were you robbed out there—did someone take something from you out there at your station,—in money that you had?
“A. You mean the night that I was robbed ?
. “Q. . Yes?
“A. Yes, he got the money.
“Q. Did you describe that person to the police ?
“A. Well, in a way,—just as it is,—I can see the boy now and I know he was the same boy,—same man.
“Q. Did you tell the police what he looked like?
“A. As near as I could. I believe I was some mistaken in his age and probably would be now. I judge he would be 19 or 20.
“Q. How big did you tell him he was ?
“A. I believe I told the Judge, or police in other words, he weighed right around—
“MR. BUTLER: Your Honor, I’m going to move to exclude the witness’s answer,— I think he said ‘He believed he told the Judge—’, and it is not responsive to the question, of what he told the officer.
‘THE COURT: Sustained.
[60]*60“Q. Did you tell the police officer right after it happened what the man looked like that robhed you?
"A.

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Related

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329 So. 2d 579 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1976)
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279 So. 2d 580 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
249 So. 2d 877, 47 Ala. App. 57, 1971 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-state-alacrimapp-1971.