Chapman v. State

64 So. 3d 1133, 2010 Ala. LEXIS 195, 2010 WL 3797903
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 30, 2010
Docket1090277
StatusPublished

This text of 64 So. 3d 1133 (Chapman v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chapman v. State, 64 So. 3d 1133, 2010 Ala. LEXIS 195, 2010 WL 3797903 (Ala. 2010).

Opinions

SMITH, Justice.

Tyler Richard Chapman was convicted of burglary in the third degree, a violation of § 13A-7-7, Ala.Code 1975, and of attempted criminal surveillance, a violation of §§ 13A-4-2 and 13A-11-32, Ala.Code 1975. He was sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment on the burglary conviction1 and to 90 days’ imprisonment in the Baldwin County Corrections Center for the attempted-eriminal-surveillance conviction. Chapman appealed his convictions and sentences to the Court of Criminal Appeals. That court affirmed the conviction and sentence for third-degree burglary but reversed Chapman’s conviction and sentence for attempted criminal surveillance. Chapman v. State, 64 So.3d 1120 (Ala. [1134]*1134Crim.App.2009). The State petitioned for the writ of certiorari, and we granted the State’s petition to review the Court of Criminal Appeals’ reversal of Chapman’s conviction for attempted criminal surveillance. We reverse and remand.

Facts and Procedural History

Chapman was indicted on one count of burglary in the third degree, a violation of § 13A-7-7, Ala.Code 1975, and one count of criminal surveillance, a violation of § 13A-11-32, Ala.Code 1975. The opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals states the following relevant facts:

“The evidence presented at trial tended to show the following. Sarah Bodle lived in an apartment in the Robertsdale Village Apartments with her husband, Josh Bodle; they moved into the apartment in March 2004. The apartment they lived in had two stories, and there was an attic space above the apartment. Sarah testified that Chapman had never been invited into their apartment and that he had not been given permission to enter the attic space above their apartment.
“Sarah testified that she heard noises frequently during the months she and Josh lived in the apartment, usually on weekday mornings after Josh had left for work and while she was in the shower. The noises sounded to her like someone was in the room with her. Josh testified that Sarah told him almost daily that she had heard noises while she was getting ready in the morning after he had left for work. Sarah stated that on one occasion while she and Josh were in bed, she heard a loud noise and made Josh check the apartment. Josh heard the noise, too, and he testified that he checked the apartment but found no intruders.
“Josh and Sarah testified that the air conditioning did not work well on the second floor of their apartment. Sarah contacted the apartment manager about the problem, but the problem was never resolved before the incident underlying Chapman’s convictions occurred.
“When Josh and Sarah returned to the apartment one evening in August 2004, they noticed a footprint-shaped hole or crack in their ceiling at the top of the stairs to the second floor. Sarah testified that she then also observed ‘popcorn’ ceiling material from around the ceiling vents in the bathroom and the master bedroom on the floor beneath the vents. Josh looked in the attic space that evening to determine whether the attic space above their apartment was connected to Chapman’s attic space; Josh said the spaces were not connected. The next day, Sarah contacted the apartment manager, Kim Barnett, about the crack in the ceiling. Sarah testified on cross-examination that they did not know whether their apartment lease included the attic space but that she thought they were allowed to store items in the attic.
“Barnett testified that she went to the Bodies’ apartment and saw the footprint-shaped crack in the ceiling. She testified that the lease agreement did not include the attic space above the Bodies’ apartment but that tenants sometimes stored items in the attic space above their apartments. On cross-examination, Barnett testified that the Bodies had ‘rented that entire apartment’ and that tenants were not told that they could not put anything in the attic above their apartments. On redirect examination, Barnett testified that a tenant could reasonably believe that the attic space above the apartment was the tenant’s.
[1135]*1135“Barnett testified that a firewall in the attic separated the attic area of one apartment from the [attic area of the] apartment next door and that because of that firewall, no other tenant would have had access to the attic space above the Bodies’ apartment unless the Bodies allowed the tenant into the attic or unless the tenant broke through the firewall.
“The maintenance employee for the apartment complex, Basil Chavers, testified that the attic space and the duct-work above the Bodies’ apartment was intact and undisturbed when the Bodies moved in. Chavers testified that only the tenants living in the apartment below their attic spaces would have access to the attic space, unless someone broke through the firewall that separates the attic space of the apartments. Chavers testified that, before this incident, the Bodies had complained that the air conditioning did not work properly and that the second floor of the apartment did not cool as well as the first floor. Sarah had also reported to Chavers that some ceiling insulation had fallen on several occasions. Chavers testified that he saw some of the insulation that had fallen in the areas of the bathroom, hall, and master bedroom.
“After the Bodies complained about the footprint-shaped crack in their ceiling, he went to the apartment and saw what appeared to be the imprint of ‘a perfect footprint’ in the ceiling. The Bodies said that they had not been in the attic. Chavers looked in the attic and saw a large hole in the firewall between the Bodies’ apartment and the apartment next door; he also saw that the ductwork in the areas above the bathroom and the master bedroom had been loosened. Chavers also saw that the insulation from the firewall to the areas above the bedroom and master bathroom of the Bodies’ apartment had been compressed so that it had trails through it. It was apparent to him that the firewall between the two attic spaces had been broken from Chapman’s side of the attic, Chavers said. When he looked down through the ductwork and vents he could see most of the Bodies’ bathroom and approximately three-quarters of their bedroom.
“Chavers said that he and Barnett went next door to Chapman’s apartment. It was apparent to him that someone had been walking on Chapman’s ceding also, because the ceiling was cracked in the area around the attic access. Chav-ers said that he and Barnett then contacted the police.
“Anthony Dobson of the Robertsdale Police Department testified that he was called to the Bodies’ apartment and that he went into the attic space above their apartment. Investigator Dobson testified that the firewall that separated the apartments, which is made out of drywall, had been cut and knocked down and that it appeared that the damage originated from Chapman’s side of the attic. Investigator Dobson also stated that he observed trails in the insulation that went from the firewall to two ceiling vents in the Bodies’ apartment. The ductwork could easily be moved, he said, and when he moved it he could see through the vents into the bathroom and bedroom below.
“Sergeant Rex Bishop of the Roberts-dale Police Department testified that he spoke to Chapman at the police department after the evidence in the attic was discovered.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 So. 3d 1133, 2010 Ala. LEXIS 195, 2010 WL 3797903, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chapman-v-state-ala-2010.