Chavers v. State

714 So. 2d 341, 1997 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 381, 1997 WL 779055
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedDecember 19, 1997
DocketCR-96-0571
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 714 So. 2d 341 (Chavers 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
Chavers v. State, 714 So. 2d 341, 1997 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 381, 1997 WL 779055 (Ala. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

COBB, Judge.

Based on several indictments, Demarcus Chavers was convicted of three counts of robbery in the first degree, two counts of kidnapping in the first degree, one count of kidnapping the second degree, two counts of rape in the first degree, and four counts of sodomy in the first degree. For all the convictions other than the conviction for kidnapping in the second degree, he was sentenced to life imprisonment; all 11 sentences were to be served consecutively. For the conviction for kidnapping in the second degree, he received a 10-year sentence to be served consecutively with the life sentences. He raises four issues on appeal.

FACTS

Kathleen Maria Moore testified that at approximately 7:15 p.m. on May 29, 1996, Chavers abducted her at gunpoint from a parking lot at the University of South Alabama where she was a student. Moore testified that Chavers threatened to shoot her if she did not return to her automobile. He forced her to get into the driver’s seat of her blue Geo Metro automobile, and he sat in the front passenger seat, pointing the gun at her. Chavers instructed her to follow a white Cadillac that was leaving the parking lot. The Cadillac was being driven by Melvin Smith. Terrence Taylor, George Robinson, and Lee Harris were all in the car with Smith. Those individuals and Chavers had been riding with Smith in his Cadillac before the abduction, carjacking and robbery involving Moore.1 Smith testified at Chavers’s trial and recounted that he had seen Chavers approach [343]*343Moore and also recounted the events involving Moore that followed. Chavers ordered Moore to stop at a bank automatic teller machine and withdraw $50. Approximately 30 minutes from the time of the abduction, Chavers ordered Moore out of the car and left with the blue Geo Metro, $50, and her purse.

At approximately 10 p.m. that same evening, J.K. and B.C.,2 both of whom were 21 years old, drove J.K.’s blue Saturn automobile into a well-lighted parking lot behind “Take Five,” a dance club and bar located on Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile. Two black males approached J.K. and B.C. One male accosted B.C., holding her at gunpoint while both men ordered the girls to “get back in the fucking car.” R. 122. The girls got in the front seats, with J.K. in the driver’s seat. The two black males got into the backseat. J.K. was instructed to drive to a deserted park near the Mobile Infirmary. Both girls unequivocally identified Chavers as the male who sat behind J.K. A Geo Metro, which was later identified as the car stolen from Moore earlier in the evening, followed behind. Two black males were in the Geo Metro.

At the park, the two girls were repeatedly raped and sodomized by four black males. At times during the ordeal, the victims were forced to perform fellatio on one male while a second male was raping them. J.K. testified that one of the males exclaimed, “We’re running a motherfucking train.” R. 131. During one specifically brutal episode, J.K. was taken behind the Geo and told to bend over and grab her ankles. The male then anally sodomized her. At this time she memorized the vehicle’s tag number, which she later gave to the police. The males then took J.K.’s and B.C.’s jewelry. As noted above, both women unequivocally identified Chavers as one of the four males who participated in the sexual assaults.

When the four males had ended their assaults, the man who was holding the gun told the women to walk toward the creek that separated the park from the Mobile Infirmary. The women testified that at some point they started running and that they ended up in a parking lot at the Mobile Infirmary, where they were aided by security personnel. The police were summoned to the crime scene where J.K.’s blue Saturn remained. Evidence was gathered from the scene and rape kits were completed on the victims.

At approximately 8 a.m. the following morning, Officer Eddie James Blakely, of the Prichard Police Department, saw the Geo Metro with the tag number J.K. supplied. Officer Blakely saw George Robinson and Terrance Taylor run from the Geo into a house; B.C.’s stolen jewelry was later discovered in the house. The car was impounded and semen samples were taken from the seats for forensic evaluation.

Ultimately, blood samples were taken from Chavers, George Robinson, Terrance Taylor, and Lee Harris for use in DNA comparisons. Eleven separate tests, comparing DNA in the semen stain found in the Geo with DNA from blood samples taken from Chavers, revealed a positive match. R. A364.3

George Robinson, Terrance Taylor, and Lee Harris all gave statements admitting their participation in the crimes.

I.

Chavers contends that the trial court erred in allowing Police Officer Wayne Farmer to testify, over hearsay and Confrontation Clause objections, that each of Chav-ers’s accomplices admitted their guilt to the charged offenses. He argues that he was not being tried with the alleged accomplices and that, therefore, their extrajudicial admissions were hearsay and violated his constitutional right to confront witnesses against him. The State argues that the testimony was properly admitted because it was limited solely to counter impeachment of the victims’ identification of the perpetrators and did not implicate Chavers in any criminal behavior.

The trial court allowed the State to ask Farmer the following question about each accomplice. “Q. Did Terrance Taylor [Lee Harris and George Robinson] indicate that [344]*344he had taken part in the rape and kidnapping of [B.C.] and [J.K.]?” R. 458-59. Officer Farmer responded “yes” to each question. R. 458-59.

The testimony was hearsay. See Kennard v. State, 531 So.2d 934, 937, (Ala.1986) (on cross-examination defense counsel asked the arresting police officer if an accomplice had admitted to him that he had committed the robbery and the officer answered “yes.”), cert. denied 484 U.S. 861, 108 S.Ct. 176, 98 L.Ed.2d 129 (1987). However, “[t]he admission of hearsay evidence in violation of the accused’s constitutional right of confrontation is not automatically a ground for reversal.” Rouse v. State, 548 So.2d 643, 647 (Ala.Cr.App.1989) (citing Schneble v. Florida, 405 U.S. 427, 92 S.Ct. 1056, 31 L.Ed.2d 340 (1972); Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969); Motes v. United States, 178 U.S. 458, 20 S.Ct. 993, 44 L.Ed. 1150 (1900)).

“In order for a constitutional error to be deemed harmless under Chapman [v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)], the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the error did not contribute to the verdict and/or sentence. In order for a nonconstitutional error to be deemed harmless, the appellate court must determine with ‘fair assurance ... that the judgment was not substantially swayed by the error.’ ... In order for the error to be deemed harmless under Ala.R.App.P. 45, the state must establish that the error did not or probably did not injuriously affect the appellant’s substantial rights. ...

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

Related

William Kiwanis Carroll v. State of Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2026
McCray v. State
88 So. 3d 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2010)
Beavers v. State
952 So. 2d 467 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
714 So. 2d 341, 1997 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 381, 1997 WL 779055, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chavers-v-state-alacrimapp-1997.