Dozier v. State

455 So. 2d 987, 1984 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 5163
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJune 12, 1984
Docket4 Div. 262
StatusPublished

This text of 455 So. 2d 987 (Dozier 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
Dozier v. State, 455 So. 2d 987, 1984 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 5163 (Ala. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

LEIGH M. CLARK, Retired Circuit Judge.

A jury found defendant-appellant guilty under an indictment for theft of property in the second degree that alleged:

“Johnny Lee Dozier ... did knowingly obtain or exert unauthorized control over one camera, the property of James Bol-den, of the value of, to-wit: $300.00, with the intent to deprive the owner of said property, in violation of 13A-8-4 of the Code of Alabama.”

James David Bolden testified that when he went to work about 7:00 A.M. on November 27,1982, he left his camera described in the indictment, valued at “around $250.00,” in the right front seat of his automobile and locked his automobile. He put the car keys on his desk. As he returned to his automobile at about 11:30, the car was still locked but the camera was missing. The defendant was a coworker of Bolden, whom Bolden testified he saw at their place of work on November 27, 1982.

Rhonda Hoover testified that she worked at the same place as James David Bolden and Johny Lee Dozier on November 27, 1982, that about 10:00 that morning she drove into the parking area, where she saw Bolden’s automobile. She testified that at that time she saw the defendant “at the car” and that he “had a car door open and he was standing between the car door and the front seat of the car,” that “the car door was open and his back was to the car door.”

Most of the other evidence as to who took the camera from the automobile and as to where it was taken is thereafter not as definite as it should have been and as it probably would have been if questions and answers had been more carefully worded, particularly as to the identity of the antecedents of some personal pronouns. However, it is reasonably clear from the testimony of Bolden that on the afternoon of the date of the disappearance of his camera from his automobile there was a telephone conversation between him and the defendant, that on the following day there was another telephone conversation between them and that in one of said telephone conversations defendant told Bolden that one Greg Floyd had the camera. A part of Bolden’s testimony as to the telephone conversation was as follows:

“Q. Do you know Greg Floyd?
“A. I have seen him. I don’t know him personally, no, sir. But, he told me he had the camera and that it was going to [989]*989take seventy dollars to get the camera back.
“Q. All right.
“A. And, he said I have fifty dollars of my own money and said I have talked to my mother and as soon as the bank opens Monday morning, I will get the other twenty dollars and we will go get your camera back. And, I told him okay, that is fine. You know, as long as I have the camera back Monday morning, I won’t press charges.
“Q. Did you have a conversation with him later?
“A. Yes, sir. I had another conversation. Basically the same kind conversation on the following day. He called me again and wanted to know would I take him to the pawn shop in Dothan to get the camera Monday morning. And, I told him no, I wouldn’t. It wasn’t my responsibility, you know, to take him to the pawn shop. And, he said that is where it is, the camera is at the pawn shop in Dothan.
“Q. But, he offered his own money, fifty dollars of it, to go get it?
“A. Right. And, I also asked him if he didn’t have anything to do with it, why was he going to pay for it. And, he said to keep from going to jail. Then I stated that I wouldn’t press charges against him, if he didn’t have anything to do with it.”

Officer Neal Forrester of the Police Department of Headland, testified that in investigating the reported theft, he talked with the defendant, and after explaining to him his rights, he learned from the defendant the following:

“I talked with Johnny Lee Dozier on the 29th of November of 1982, and asked him about a camera that was supposedly taken out of a vehicle belonging to James David Bolden that works at Wex Tex. Mr. Dozier advised me he did not take the camera. That he thought that Greg Floyd took the camera. And, that Johny was trying to raise seventy dollars to buy the camera from Greg to give it back to Mr. Bolden.
“Q. Who is Greg Floyd? Do you know him?
“A. Yes, sir. He is a colored, Black male, colored male approximately in his 20s. He is mentally incompetent.
“Q. Did you discuss this with Greg Floyd?
“A. Yes, sir. I talked with Greg.”

At the conclusion of the evidence for the State, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal on the ground that the State had not presented a prima facie case against defendant, which motion was overruled by the court, and the defendant then rested without calling any witnesses, other than his recall of James David Bolden and questioning him as to the value of the camera.

We agree with the trial court in its denial of defendant’s motion for an acquittal on the ground that “the State has failed to make a prima facie case against the Defendant.” Although the evidence of defendant’s guilt was entirely circumstantial, it constituted strong, substantial evidence of defendant’s guilt either as a principal or as an aider and abettor. Therefore, we disagree with appellant’s contention that the “verdict was contrary to the great weight of the evidence” and his contention that the “State failed to prove a prima facie case of theft in the second degree.”

Another contention of appellant for a reversal is predicated upon a ruling of the trial court overruling defendant’s objection to the testimony of Officer Neal For-rester, as quoted above, as to what Johnny Lee Dozier told Officer Forrester with reference to the disappearance of the camera from the vehicle belonging to Bolden. The ruling complained of was over an objection by defendant’s attorney as follows:

“MR. CRESPI: May it please the Court, I would like to renew my objection on the further ground that there is a pending Discovery Motion in this case for a discovery of statements. And, I don’t have one in my records, Your Honor. And, I object to its admissibility on that ground.
[990]*990“THE COURT: Okay. I overrule you.”

Appellant asserts that he was not furnished with a copy of the statement made by defendant to Officer Forrester or any information as to the substance of such statement, and relies upon Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), to bolster his contention. The essence of that which was held in Brady v. Maryland to which appellant refers is the following at 373 U.S. 87, 83 S.Ct. 1196, 10 L.Ed.2d 218:

“We now hold that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused [favorable to and upon request by an accused] violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution. [Emphasis supplied].”

In the instant case, the evidence presented by the State was not favorable to defendant in its entirety.

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Barker v. Wingo
407 U.S. 514 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Byrd v. State
421 So. 2d 1344 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
455 So. 2d 987, 1984 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 5163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dozier-v-state-alacrimapp-1984.