Faircloth v. State

208 So. 2d 66, 44 Ala. App. 295, 1968 Ala. App. LEXIS 441
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 16, 1968
Docket1 Div. 244
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 208 So. 2d 66 (Faircloth 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
Faircloth v. State, 208 So. 2d 66, 44 Ala. App. 295, 1968 Ala. App. LEXIS 441 (Ala. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Judge.

Appellant was indicted by the 1966 Fall Session of the Grand Jury of Baldwin County, Alabama, for the offense of robbery. The indictment charged that he “feloniously took one Bulova Wrist Watch, of the value of $75.00, the property of Hubert Smith, from his person, and against his will, by violence to his person, or by putting him in such fear as unwillingly to part with the same, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.” Appellant, represented by counsel, entered a plea of not guilty, and upon trial in the Circuit Court of Baldwin County, he was found guilty by a jury and his punishment fixed at ten years imprisonment in the State Penitentiary. From said judgment and sentence, this appeal is made.

The State’s first witness was Mr. Hubert Smith who stated that he was 43 years of age and a resident of Mobile, Alabama; that on August. 11, 1966, at approximately. [296]*2969:30 P.M. he and Mrs. Marjorie Kirkland were parked at the Club Oasis listening to a song on the radio; that appellant and Andrew J. Wiggins were parked behind him; that when he “reached behind and unlatched the door” appellant “snatched the door and laid a knife around my [his] neck”; that he (the witness) jerked the door open, saw the knife and twisted appellant’s arm; that he asked appellant what he wanted and appellant replied, “Give me your cash”; that, while he was holding appellant’s right hand which contained the knife, appellant took his (appellant’s) left hand and tried to put it into his (the witnesses’s) pocket and said, “Get out”; that he told appellant that he would not get out of the car; that the woman with him got out of the car to summon the police; and that Wiggins reached in the car and got his wrist watch and “jumped in the [Wiggins’] car and told this other one to come on and he pulled the car up side of the highway”. The witness further testified that he was holding appellant’s arm and that when he left he took the knife from him, after which the woman returned with the bouncer. He stated that the bouncer hit appellant on the forehead with a “slap jack” and helped him (the witness) hold the two men there until the deputy sheriff arrived. The witness testified that his watch was a self-winding Bulova, valued at $75.00.

The State’s next witness, Mrs. Marjorie Kirkland, testified that she was parked with Hubert Smith on the night in question; that he had picked her up at 9:00 P.M. when she got off from work; that they drove to the Sportsman’s Lounge where she had “one beer”; that they then drove to the Club Oasis where they stopped out front to hear a “piece playing on the radio”; that appellant and Wiggins walked up and appellant said, “Give me your cash” and “stuck his right hand in the car with a knife in it”. The witness stated that appellant was trying to reach into Smith’s pocket with his left hand while Smith held appellant’s right hand which held the knife, and that Wiggins came over and jerked at Smith’s watch and broke the watch band and then “jumped in his car and left”, returning later to ask appellant to leave with him. Mrs. Kirkland stated further that she went into the Club to call the police and when she returned Smith was outside the car; that when the deputy sheriff arrived Smith had given the knife to the bouncer; and that the knife was a large, white, switchblade knife with “little colored handles”.

The State’s next witness was Deputy Sheriff Roy Randall who testified that he answered a call to go to the Club Oasis on the night in question; that when he arrived appellant and Wiggins were there; that he “believed” it was Smith who gave the knife to him in the presence of the appellant and Wiggins; and that he brought the knife to the Court from the Baldwin County Jail where it had been kept since the night in question.

On cross-examination, Deputy Sheriff Randall stated that, in addition to Smith’s and Wiggins’ cars, he saw quite a few automobiles parked around the Club Oasis; that he talked with the waitress at the Club, whose name he did not remember; that she (the waitress) told him she knew nothing about the incident of the alleged robbery; that Wiggins and appellant had brought her to work; that she did not say anything about appellant and Wiggins causing any trouble inside the Club; and that she stated that if a “ruckus” took place, it was on the outside. Deputy Randall stated that when he arrived appellant was sitting on the ground and Wiggins was sitting beside him; that the bouncer did not tell him he had used a blackjack, nor did anyone else; and that no one turned a blackjack over to him. He stated that Exhibits Nos. 1 and 2, pictures of appellant with head and facial injuries, “looked like” appellant, but that he could not tell that night that appellant had been beaten in the head even though he was the one who brought appellant to the jail at Bay Minette; and that when he saw appellant he did not look like those pictures.

[297]*297The Deputy further testified that he was not furnished with the watch in question; that he, Smith, Mrs. Kirkland and the man who ran the Club Oasis made a very thorough search of one hour for the watch with flashlights, looking on the ground, at the point to which the car was driven and on the median strip, but that he personally did not look in the automobile which Wiggins had gotten out of and did not know who did. He stated that he was by himself and had no other officers with him.

Appellant’s first witness was Mr. Barnard Farley who testified to the good character of Wiggins but stated that he did not know appellant.

Appellant’s second witness was Mrs. Judy Hudson who testified that she knew appellant and Wiggins, and that on the night in question they brought her to the Club Oasis where she worked as a waitress; that when they drove up to the Club there were other cars parked there; that she went into the Club to report for work and that appellant and Wiggins came in behind her and sat down; that she served them a pitcher of draft beer which they drank; that she normally worked the east side of the Club but that this night she worked the west side where the men were seated because they were short of help; and that while she was giving an order appellant came up and told her they were leaving and she thanked him for bringing her to work and he followed Wiggins out of the door. She stated that the next time she saw them the Sheriff had them in the “police car” and that Defendant’s Exhibit No. 1 looked the way appellant looked at that time.

On cross-examination, the waitress stated that she had asked the manager if he would cash a check for appellant but was told that he could not. She also stated that the beer which the two men consumed was paid for by appellant with $1.50 though actually the cost of it was $2.50. She stated that she put a dollar with this money, since appellant had not let her pay for the gas for his car.

Appellant’s next witness was Mrs. Jewel Maxine Childer who stated that she was under subpoena; that she was outside the., Club Oasis when a “ruckus” occurred on the night in question; that she did not see what occurred but that the disturbance occurred shortly after she saw Wiggins come out of the Club and go toward his car; that there were “four or five” people involved; that there were more than three individuals involved other than the man who claims he was robbed and the woman he was with, though she could not identify them; and that she could not say whether appellant had come out of the Club at the time the trouble started. Mrs.

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Related

Burns v. State
518 So. 2d 860 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1987)
Faircloth v. State
208 So. 2d 71 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
208 So. 2d 66, 44 Ala. App. 295, 1968 Ala. App. LEXIS 441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faircloth-v-state-alactapp-1968.