Carlton v. State

507 So. 2d 998, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6865
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 9, 1986
Docket3 Div. 358
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 507 So. 2d 998 (Carlton 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
Carlton v. State, 507 So. 2d 998, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6865 (Ala. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

TAYLOR, Judge.

Camathan Baily1 Carlton III was originally charged with criminally negligent homicide in the beating death of a game warden. After arraignment, but before any trial, the attorney general entered the case, the criminally negligent homicide charges were nol-prossed and Carlton was indicted for manslaughter under § 13A-6-3, Code of Alabama 1975. He was charged with beating an off-duty conservation officer to death with his fists. He then was granted treatment as a youthful offender and pleaded guilty pursuant to a written and signed plea-bargain agreement and after a full colloquy, on September 20, 1984. He was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment; the sentence was suspended, and he was placed on one year’s probation. A condition of his suspended sentence was that he spend seven weekends in the Lowndes County Jail.

A motion to revoke probation was filed on July 25, 1985, after Carlton was convicted in the Municipal Court of Montgomery, Alabama, of harassment and of driving under the influence of alcohol. Notice of the motion to revoke was served and a probation revocation hearing scheduled.

The motion to revoke probation stated, in pertinent part, as follows:

“4. The defendant Carnathan Bailey Carlton, III has violated the conditions of his probation by being arrested by the Montgomery Police Department on June 3,1985 at 4:15 a.m., and charged with the crimes of harassment and driving under the influence of alcohol. The defendant cursed and threatened the Montgomery police officers and stated that he was a killer and would stab the police officers in the back with a knife.
“....
“6. The defendant has shown on two separate occasions that he is of a violent nature and that he will attack police officers (see attached Exhibits A, B, and C).”

The charges contained in the above motion are the only ones Carlton had notice of.

At the revocation hearing in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County, the two Montgomery police officers who arrested Carlton appeared and testified to the facts of his driving under the influence and his threatening them.

[1000]*1000The harassment charge was based on threats made by the appellant to the arresting officers that he would stab them in the back with a knife, that he was a cop killer, that he would get them, together with a profusion of the routine profanities and obscenities. The appellant tested harassment, the municipal judge sentenced him to 90 days in jail. He was sentenced to 10 days, suspended, and given a $250 fine on the DUI charge. He was also convicted of having an improper taillight and ordered to pay a small fine.

At the revocation hearing, appellant was represented by counsel; he testified in his own behalf, and presented character witnesses. Thereafter, the following order was entered:

“This cause came on to be heard on the State of Alabama’s motion to revoke the Defendant’s probation, the Probation Officer’s delinquency report and the testimony taken orally before the Court. Upon consideration of the same, the Court finds as follows:
“That the Defendant was placed on probation by this Court after pleading guilty as a youthful offender on September 20, 1984. That on May 10, 1985, the Defendant was found guilty of the offense of speeding in the District Court of Butler County, Alabama; that on June 3, 1985, the Defendant was arrested in the City of Montgomery, Alabama and charged with the offenses of harassment and D.U.I.; that the Defendant was later found guilty in the Montgomery Municipal Court of these offenses; that the Defendant has used alcoholic beverages excessively during his probationary period.
“The Court further finds that the Defendant or his attorney [was] furnished with proper notice of the date of the revocation hearing and the charges against the Defendant.
“Upon consideration of all of which, the Court is of the opinion that the Defendant’s probation should be revoked and the original sentence ordered to be served.
“It is, therefore, ORDERED AND ADJUDGED by the Court that the Defendant’s probation be and the same is hereby revoked and he is ORDERED to serve the original sentence. That the Defendant be given credit for the time previously served as a part of this sentence.
“It is further ORDERED by the Court that the Defendant surrender himself to the proper authorities on or before the 15th day of September, 1985.
“DONE this 5th day of September, 1985.”

Carlton appeals from that revocation order.

I

The accused and the state, represented by the attorney general’s office, had entered into a written sentencing agreement after negotiation. Their agreed sentence became the sentence imposed by the court: namely, imprisonment for a year, sentence then suspended, and appellant placed on a year of supervised probation, with seven weekends to be spent in the county jail. In his brief, appellant complains of alleged misconduct of the prosecutors regarding the violation of the confidentiality of the proceedings and, therefore, of the spirit of the Youthful Offender Act. He urges that their conduct was so improper as to deny him a fair trial. He offered into evidence quoted statements of the assistant attorneys general that they were “flabbergasted — shocked” at the leniency of the sentence. This is not the forum for such complaints.

II

When he pleaded guilty to a violation of the Youthful Offender Act, appellee contends, the appellant waived the right to assert any violation of his protection against double jeopardy, such as that which he now makes. It is not necessary however, to rely on waiver to address the former jeopardy question. No trial was ever commenced on the original charge of criminally negligent homicide. Consequently, jeopardy did not attach. Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 83 S.Ct. 1033, 10 [1001]*1001L.Ed.2d 100 (1963); Collins v. State, 385 So.2d 1005 (Ala.1980); Spencer v. State, 48 Ala.App. 646, 266 So.2d 902 (1972).

III

Appellant next contends that the probation revocation is due to be reversed because the revocation order relied on a criminal charge in Montgomery Municipal Court which was subsequently dismissed by agreement.

At the revocation hearing, during cross-examination of the appellant, the following occurred:

“Q [By Mr. Montiel]: Now, you just stated to the Court that you kept your part of the bargain, Mr. Carlton. What part of the bargain did you keep, sir?
“A: Going to jail and being on a year’s probation.
"Q: All right. What were the conditions of your probation?
“A: That I was not to break the law. “Q: Did you remember something about behaving under good behavior, does that ring a bell?
“A: Mr. Waller just, he told me that I just could not break the law. If I got a traffic ticket he would hear about it."

The due process requirements of a probation revocation hearing are set out in Armstrong v. State, 294 Ala.

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Related

Ex Parte Patterson
70 So. 3d 435 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2011)
McCaskey v. State
589 So. 2d 790 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
507 So. 2d 998, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 6865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlton-v-state-alacrimapp-1986.