Edwards v. State

344 So. 2d 807, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1495
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 1, 1977
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 344 So. 2d 807 (Edwards 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
Edwards v. State, 344 So. 2d 807, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1495 (Ala. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

344 So.2d 807 (1977)

Ervin EDWARDS
v.
STATE.

3 Div. 599.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

March 1, 1977.
Rehearing Denied March 29, 1977.

David B. Byrne, Jr., Montgomery, for appellant.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen. and Eric A. Bowen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

MOORE, Retired Circuit Judge.

The indictment in this case contained two counts. Count 1 charged the appellant with burglary in the second degree and Count 2 charged him with grand larceny. The verdict of the jury is as follows:

"We the jury find the defendant guilty as charged."

The trial Court accordingly adjudged, "that the said defendant is guilty as charged in the indictment". The trial court also sentenced the defendant to imprisonment in the penitentiary of the State of Alabama for a term of four years. The appellant's motion for a new trial being denied, the appellant brings this appeal.

*808 On the trial of this case C. J. Evans, a policeman of Montgomery, Alabama, testified, in substance, that he was on duty on February 4, 1976, and while patrolling on Federal Drive at about 4:00 o'clock A.M. he came to the Jamboree Club; that he saw a 1972 blue LTD there; that he got out of his car to check the building and found a hole in the back of the building; that the hole was about 14 by 21 inches in size; that he found some bottle miniatures of whiskey on the ground about the hole; that he called for back up officers and they came; that Detective Herbert Norton was one of the officers that came to the club; Norton came about fifteen minutes after the witness got to the club; that in about fifteen minutes after the other officers arrived at the club, we found Larry Powe in some woods at the east side of the building about 50 yards from the building; that they arrested Powe; that about 6:30 o'clock that morning, he saw the appellant at Lower Wetumpka Road and Broadway Street, which was about seven or eight miles from the Jamboree Club; that the detective came up and took appellant to headquarters; that appellant had on a blue leather jacket and beige pants and a green flowered shirt; that prior to the time he saw the appellant at the place above mentioned, he had a description of the clothing he would wear; that he had been told that; that the description of appellant's clothing as told to him was a blue leather jacket, beige pants and flowered printed shirt.

On cross-examination, this witness testified he was told the description of appellant's clothing from the other subject (the only other subject was Larry Powe); that the other subject did not give him appellant's name; that the car he saw parked at the Jamboree Club building had a Michigan license plates on it and Larry Powe is from Michigan; that he found a pick behind the car; that the club was painted green; that it was muddy behind the club where the hole in the building was; that the appellant's shoes were muddy when he saw him at Lower Wetumpka Road and Broadway; that appellant did not have on his person any miniatures at the time of his arrest.

Charles Brown testified, in substance, that he was president of Jamboree Club, a corporation, located at 2015 Federal Drive in Montgomery; that he had owned the club since January 11, 1976; that on the morning of February 4, 1976, at about 5:30 o'clock, he arrived at the club; that the police were there and he saw a hole in the back wall; that the wall was concrete blocks on the outside with paneling on the inside; that he unlocked the front door and went inside with the officers; that 984 miniatures of whiskey were missing of a value of $480.00; that some miniatures were on the ground near the hole in the wall and we found a case in the back seat of the car parked there; there were four or five cases in the car trunk; that the jukebox and cigarette machine in the building had been broken into and the money in them taken out; that we found a cloth bag with change in it; that it was the same type bag his jukebox had; that his place of business was in Montgomery County; that they recovered about all of the whiskey taken from the car and on the ground at the hole in the wall.

Detective H. C. Norton testified, in substance, that on February 4, 1976, he investigated the burglary at the Jamboree Club; that they got Larry Powe out of the woods near the club and talked to him and a description of a second subject that was described to us was put out; that the description of the second subject was a black male, about 35 years of age, wearing a black leather-looking jacket and some brownish-beige looking pants; that he later saw appellant at police station and removed his clothing, which we wrapped and took to the toxicologist's office; that as appellant disrobed, he was standing on some paper and little pieces of what we call rock cement was all through his clothes and fell on the paper; these pieces and the clothes were wrapped up and sent to the toxicologist's office; that there were particles at the hole in the rear of the building, rocks, dust and paint we took and wrapped individually and sent to the toxicologist's office; that he did not find any of appellant's *809 fingerprints at the scene of the burglary on anything there.

On cross-examination, this witness testified that the motor on the car parked at the club was not running when he got to the club; that officer Evans or somebody had turned it off; that we found the crowbar in the car and the pick was at the rear of the car.

Richard A. Roper, a toxicologist employed by State Department of Toxicology and Criminal Investigation, Montgomery Laboratory, testified, in substance, that he received some evidence in the case; that the items received by him were a pick, one pair of black leather gloves, a pair of work gloves, a pry bar, samples of cement blocks from Jamboree Club, clothing, including shoes; that he found some plaster-like material on the shaft of the pry bar; that he found some orange-colored powdery paint-like material on the handle and end of the handle of the pick; that he examined that material and compared it with the material that came from the club and found them similar in color and texture, and that they displayed similar properties in solvents, and they had the same chemical elements; that he found no inconsistency in any respect; that he examined the clothing; that he compared the small pieces of concrete block in the bag with the clothing which had some paint on the surfaces; that he compared the paint found on those pieces of concrete blocks with the paint on the material that came from the Jamboree Club and said materials were similar in color and texture, displayed similar properties when placed in various solvents, and contained the same composition of chemical elements; that the same was true of the pieces of concrete found with clothing compared with the concrete block material from the Jamboree Club; that he examined these materials with a microscope and they had the same visual properties; that these materials could have had a common source of origin but he could not say unequivocally they did have a common source of origin; and that he found no inconsistencies.

This witness further testified that fingerprints would not show through gloves with the texture of the two pairs of gloves he received. (State's Exhibits 1 and 2)

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Related

West v. State
623 So. 2d 380 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1993)
Arthur v. State
575 So. 2d 1165 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1990)
Carpenter v. State
404 So. 2d 89 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
344 So. 2d 807, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edwards-v-state-alacrimapp-1977.