Crumley v. State

220 So. 2d 862, 44 Ala. App. 692, 1969 Ala. App. LEXIS 393
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 7, 1969
Docket4 Div. 613
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 220 So. 2d 862 (Crumley v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alabama Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crumley v. State, 220 So. 2d 862, 44 Ala. App. 692, 1969 Ala. App. LEXIS 393 (Ala. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

CATES, Judge.

Crumley was convicted of second degree burglary for breaking and entering with larcenous intent into a building of Adams Supply Company, a corporation. His sentence was seven years in the penitentiary.

Motion for new trial was filed too late. Code 1940, T. 13, § 119.

I.

Before evidence was elicited, the defendant moved for a continuance because he claimed prejudice from his photograph being posted on a bulletin board in the sheriff’s office. Noting that no proof was adduced that any of the jury had seen this picture, the court overruled the motion for continuance. The ruling was correct.

II.

About 8:55 on the night of January 11, 1967, Mr. Ronald Hendrickson, who worked for Adams Supply Company in Dothan, went there to get some material for a plumber. In the warehouse he found a small safe which had been opened. This safe came from the office.

A door on the inside of the “yard” had been pried open. In the office another safe had been broken open and a brick wall around a vault door had been partially dismounted.

In brief the Attorney General has given the following summary:

“On the night of January 11, 1967, the Adams Supply Company of Dothan was burglarized. A Dothan city policeman testified that on that night he saw parked across the street from the Adams Supply Company a two tone blue 1965 Plymouth automobile bearing tag number 67 Ala. 11 county, 23-114; and that inside this car he saw a keyhole saw, hack saw, some blades, a hat, some clothing and some fruit. On January 13, 1967, he saw the same car in Andalusia, behind the sheriff’s office and at the same time he saw the same contents of the car.
“A Dothan city detective testified that on the night of the burglary of the Adams Supply Company, he went to the site of the burglary and dusted for fingerprints but found only some smudges which were in his opinion made by a person wearing gloves.
“Another city detective testified that on the morning of January 12, 1967, he went to the Adams Supply Company and discovered footprints in the back of the building; also he discovered a couple of iron tools and a sledge hammer, the handle of which had been sawed off. He further testified that he received a boot from a deputy sheriff in Andalusia, and that he sent this boot along with a sample of dirt from the back of the Adams Supply Company to the office of the State Toxicologist. This witness identified a shoe box, three pairs of gloves, a map of the State of Florida, a map of Georgia and Alabama, and a newspaper which he also received from the deputy sheriff in Andalusia.
“ * * * a member of the Montgomery Police Department * * * testified that on the day of January 12, 1967, he saw the two tone blue 1965 Plymouth in Andalusia and that it had four men in it..
“An Alabama State Trooper [John'Harold] testified that he saw the appellant on the night of January 12, 1967, in Andalusia with Earl Ivy Bayless and Floyd Ray Goodwin, in front of a motel'about [694]*694one hundred yards from the M. L. Moore Motors, * * * the appellant got into a car and left * * *. [Harold] followed the appellant and later engaged him in conversation at a truck stop where appellant stated that he was going to a night club where his car was parked out of gas. The witness stated that he went with the appellant to the night club and that when they arrived the appellant stated that he might as well be honest about it because he had no car at the night club, at which time the appellant was arrested. [Harold] further stated that before they reached the night club they saw the Plymouth car [which bore the same tag as the one seen in Dothan across from Adams Supply]. * * * at the time of his arrest of the appellant he was wearing two pair of pants.
“Sheriff Gantt of Covington County, testified that he first saw the appellant on January 12, 1967, about two miles out of Andalusia and that later on that same night he learned that the M. L. Moore Motors had been burglarized, and that at the scene of this burglary they found a screw driver, two heavy tire tools and a sledge hammer, the handle of which had been sawed off. He further testified that under the authority of a search warrant he searched the 1965 Plymouth automobile and discovered several items which he turned over to Deputy Sheriff Berry or Lt. Dent. He further testified that the appellant was wearing two pair of pants, and white tennis shoes. The Sheriff further testified that he was in the party that went with the appellant to the night club and that as they pulled in the 1965 Plymouth drove off, and that this car was less than one-half mile away when the appellant was placed under arrest.
“The State’s witness Dubose testified that on January 12, 1967, he sold to Earl Ivy Bayless and Floyd Ray Goodwin several tools and he identified one of the tools recovered from the 1965 Plymouth and two found at the M. L. Moore Motor Company at Andalusia the day' it was burglarized as tools which he sold to Bayless and Goodwin.
“Deputy Sheriff Berry of Covington County testified that on the morning of January 13, 1967, he saw the appellant in the Covington County Jail and that also on that day he removed certain articles from the 1965 Plymouth and that the appellant asked him what he was doing with the stuff that he was taking out of the car. (Italics added.)
“The items removed from the 1965 Plymouth included a hacksaw, two punches, a pair of boots, a shoe box, three pair of gloves, a map of Florida, a map of Alabama, a newspaper, a calendar, Hathcock Lumber Company sales slip. The witness also identified a picture of several tools as tools removed from the 1965 Plymouth, these included a lug wrench, a heavy chisel, a keyhole saw, two punches, a hawkbill knife, a hacksaw and two blades. Some of the tools were in court and some were not.
“Investigator Pate of the Department of Public Safety testified that he made the picture of the tools testified to by Deputy Berry and that the picture accurately and correctly depicted them as they were on January 13, 1967. The witness testified that he also took the picture of the tools recovered by Sheriff Gantt at the burglarized Moore Motor Company and that the picture accurately and correctly depicts them as they appeared on January 13, 1967.
“Dr. Purnell of the State Department of Toxicology testified that he received the pair of boots and dirt samples from Lt. Deal and that after comparing the dirt from the boot and the test sample it was his opinion that the dirt came from the same general area.
“The evidence presents a clear and convincing chain of circumstances leading to only one conclusion — the guilt of the appellant.
[695]*695“It would indeed be pleasant to have" eye witness testimony to each crime which is committed in Alabama. ’ However, such is not.the case and oftén the State must proceed on circumstances. This does not render this evidence second class or inferior.
“The chain in the instant case was thoroughly connected and tied directly to the appellant by his own words .[to Deputy Berry] — ‘What are you doing with the stuff [* * * from] the car.’ ”

III.

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Related

State v. Atkins
377 A.2d 718 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1977)
Steidl v. State
239 So. 2d 226 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 So. 2d 862, 44 Ala. App. 692, 1969 Ala. App. LEXIS 393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crumley-v-state-alactapp-1969.