Crawford v. State

548 So. 2d 615, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 12, 1989 WL 31873
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 24, 1989
Docket1 Div. 605
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 548 So. 2d 615 (Crawford 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
Crawford v. State, 548 So. 2d 615, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 12, 1989 WL 31873 (Ala. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

McMILLAN, Judge.

The appellant was found guilty of peiju-ry in the first degree, in violation of § 13A-10-101, Code of Alabama (1975). He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, with the sentence to be split so that three years would be served and seven years suspended, during which the appellant would be placed on supervised probation for a period of five years.

The appellant testified at a hearing on a motion for new trial following the murder trial of Eugene Moye. He testified at that hearing that the district attorney and his investigator walked into the jury room during the jury deliberations on the Eugene Moye case. He testified that the district attorney opened the door for someone carrying in soft drinks and was inside the room for less than a minute. He also testified that the investigator was in the room for two or three minutes. The present peijury charge arose out of that previous testimony of the appellant. During his trial for perjury, both the district attorney and his investigator denied having entered the jury’s room during the deliberations. Although the district attorney admitted that he walked up and down the corridor outside the jury room and may have sat next to the bailiff across from the room, he said he never actually walked into the jury room. Eight of the jurors who sat on the Eugene Moye trial testified that neither the district attorney nor his investigator ever entered the jury room during deliberations. The bailiff also so testified.

I

The appellant argues that the trial court erred by denying him a rebuttal hearing on the prosecutor’s use of his peremptory challenges of potential jurors. The record indicates that defense counsel’s objection to the prosecutor’s strikes was not made until after the jury was impanelled and sworn.

“[S]uch an objection is untimely if made after the jury has been sworn to hear the case. See Williams v. State, [Ms. 3 Div. 305, March 8, 1988] 530 So.2d 881 (Ala.Crim.App.1988), and the cases cited therein_ [I]n order to preserve the issue for appellate review, a Batson objection, in a case in which the death penalty has not been imposed, must be made prior to the jury’s being sworn. We [617]*617hold, therefore, that the defendant’s objection came too late in this case....”

In re Bell, 535 So.2d 210 (Ala.1988).

Because the appellant’s objection was untimely made, this matter is not preserved for our review.

II

The appellant argues that the trial court erred in instructing and allowing the jury to view the evidence scene, i.e., the corridor, unsupervised. The jury room and connecting corridor used in the deliberations of the appellant’s trial for perjury were the same facilities used in the trial of Eugene Moye. The appellant, as a witness in the hearing on Moye’s motion for new trial, testified that he saw the district attorney and his investigator enter the jury room during the deliberations by the jury. Defense counsel asked the judge to allow the jury to step out into the corridor with the trial judge. The trial judge responded that he was going to give the jury a break and would then allow them to observe the “crime scene.” No objection was raised by the appellant. When the trial court next gave the jury a break, he stated, “You might take a look down the hall and see what you can see down there. Don’t talk about this case though.” Again, no objection was made by defense counsel. Although the appellant now argues that it was error to allow the jury to view the scene without court supervision, no objection or adverse ruling appears in the record concerning the method in which the jury was allowed to view the scene. The appellant failed to properly preserve the alleged error for review. Williams v. State, 410 So.2d 911, 913 (Ala.Cr.App.1982), and cases cited therein.

III

The appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal based on his claim that the case brought against him was a selective, vindictive, and bad faith prosecution by the district attorney. The appellant argues that the district attorney’s testimony at trial proved that there are other people who have participated in the same activities as the appellant, who were not prosecuted for their actions. The appellant further argues that the decision to prosecute him was based on the district attorney’s feelings that he had been personally attacked. The only proof of the appellant’s claim lies in the district attorney’s testimony that it is quite common in a criminal trial for witnesses to contradict each other, so that “it is clear that one of these witnesses is either mistaken or lying.” The district attorney further testified that he had, however, prosecuted only a very few witnesses for perjury and admitted that such a prosecution was “an extraordinary situation.”

However, the appellant has failed to prove that he was subjected to a purposeful and intentional discrimination, violative of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, by being prosecuted for perjury. Elmore v. State, 445 So.2d 943, 948 (Ala.Cr.App.1983); Starley v. City of Birmingham, 377 So.2d 1131 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 377 So.2d 1134 (Ala.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 956, 100 S.Ct. 2929, 64 L.Ed.2d 815 (1980).

“This court has previously held that, although no clear standards exist for quantum or type of proof sufficient to illustrate discriminatory enforcement of a statute or municipal ordinance, three elements must generally be proved: selectivity in enforcement; selectivity that is intentional; and selectivity based upon some invidious or unjustifiable standard such as race, religion, or other arbitrary classification. It is insufficient merely to show that other violators have not been prosecuted, that there has been laxity in enforcement, or that there has been conscious exercise of some selectivity in enforcement.”

DeShazo v. City of Huntsville, 416 So.2d 1100, 1103 (Ala.Cr.App.1982). See also Calhoun v. State, 530 So.2d 259, 264 (Ala.Cr.App.1988); Love v. State, 507 So.2d 976, 978 (Ala.Cr.App.1986), affirmed, Ex parte Love, 507 So.2d 979 (Ala.1987).

In Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598, 105 S.Ct. 1524, 84 L.Ed.2d 547 (1985), the United States Supreme Court held that se[618]*618lective prosecution claims may appropriately be judged according to ordinary equal protection standards, which require the petitioner to show both that the passive enforcement policy had a discriminatory effect and that it was motivated by discriminatory purpose. The appellant has not shown that the policy of passive enforcement had a discriminatory effect, nor that the prosecution intended such a result. Wayte v. United States, supra, at 610, 105 S.Ct. at 1532.

“In our criminal justice system, the Government retains ‘broad discretion’ as to whom to prosecute. [Citations omitted.] ‘[S]o long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statute, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before a grand jury, generally rests entirely in his discretion.’ Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 364 [98 S.Ct. 663, 668, 54 L.Ed.2d 604] (1978).

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Bluebook (online)
548 So. 2d 615, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 12, 1989 WL 31873, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crawford-v-state-alacrimapp-1989.