Fowler v. State

364 So. 2d 1205, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1389
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedOctober 31, 1978
Docket4 Div. 641
StatusPublished

This text of 364 So. 2d 1205 (Fowler 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
Fowler v. State, 364 So. 2d 1205, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1389 (Ala. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

LEIGH M. CLARK, Retired Circuit Judge.

The indictment upon which appellant was tried is as follows:

“The Grand Jury of said County Charge that, before the finding of this Indict-[1206]*1206rnent, Charles Fowler, alias Charles D. Fowler, whose name is to the Grand Jury otherwise unknown, unlawfully and with malice aforethought, did assault Brenda J. Lee with the intent to murder her in said County against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.
“Count II
“The Grand Jury of said County Further Charge that, before the finding of this Indictment, Charles Fowler, alias Charles D. Fowler, whose name is to the Grand Jury otherwise unknown, the driver of a motor vehicle, in Houston County, Alabama, involved in an accident resulting in injury to Brenda J. Lee, wherein the said, Brenda J. Lee was bruised and was injured internally, and received other bodily injuries, did fail to immediately stop such vehicle at the scene of such accident, and did fail to give his name and address, and the registration license number of his vehicle, and did fail to render to Brenda J. Lee, the person injured in such accident, such reasonable assistance, including the carrying of such injured person to a physician or surgeon for medical or surgical treatment, it being apparent that such treatment was necessary, as required by law in the State of Alabama.” The jury returned a verdict as follows:
“We, the Jury, find the defendant, Charles Fowler, guilty of Leaving Scene of Accident as charged in the Indictment. We fix his fine at $250.00.” The court imposed additional punishment of “12 months hard labor for Houston County, Alabama,” and sentenced appellant accordingly.

At the conclusion of the evidence for the State, defendant moved to exclude the evidence. The motion was overruled. Defendant requested in writing the affirmative charge in favor of defendant as to each count of the indictment. The court refused both of such charges.

The sole question presented on appeal is whether the evidence supports the verdict of the jury and the judgment rendered thereon.

It seems clear, and there is no contention otherwise, that the verdict is not referable to the first count of the indictment, that, if referable to either count, it is to Count II only.

Witnesses for the State were Dan Bag-well, Brenda Lee, Tana Harris, Jeanette Weeks, Nathan Stanton and Dan McGriff. Defendant did not testify and called no witnesses in his behalf. There was little, if any, material conflict in the evidence.

Dan Bagwell testified that he had been driving a 1973 Cheyenne Pickup truck on the night of December 9,1977, when he was asked for a ride by defendant, whom Bag-well knew as a student in high school in Houston County, they both being approximately seventeen years of age. With Bag-well’s permission, defendant boarded the truck and sat down on the passenger’s side of the seat of the truck. They drove to the Jr. Food Store on the Montgomery Highway in Dothan. The truck was brought to a stop in the parking lot of the store, about thirty-five yards from the highway, and in front of the store. Instead of driving to the curb in front of the store, the truck was stopped about “a length and a half from the curb,” because there was a car parked at the curb, and enough room was left for the car to get out. In stopping the truck, Bag-well placed the gear in park but did not apply the parking brakes. He left the engine running and left the car to talk with Brenda Lee whom he saw in front of the store. During all the time that Bagwell observed defendant, defendant was sitting on the passenger’s side of the seat of the truck. Defendant was highly intoxicated. Bagwell had drunk two or three beers that night. He talked with Brenda for about five minutes while they were standing between the truck and the side of the store. During that time, the automobile between the truck and the store had pulled out. The next thing Bagwell remembered was as he and Brenda were hit by the truck as it moved forward across the curb, the sidewalk of the store and drove into the store through its plate glass window. He had some torn ligaments, a sprained ankle and [1207]*1207some cuts and bruises, was rendered unconscious, but partly regained consciousness on his way to the hospital in an ambulance. He said he left the engine running because of cold weather. He said the truck would idle “kind of high,” that it had never moved out of its park status automatically. He considered the truck as belonging to him from a practical standpoint, though it had to be in his father’s name on account of Bagwell’s age.

Brenda Lee’s testimony was substantially in accord with that of Bagwell. She had ridden up to the store a short time before Bagwell and defendant arrived. She talked with Bagwell in front of the store and as they were walking into the store, the “truck hit us.” She woke up in the hospital, where she remained for about two weeks, having sustained a fractured pelvis and a fractured hip socket and lacerations to her head. She knew defendant as well as Bagwell and had been on good terms with him. There had never been any ill feelings between them. She knew defendant was in the truck, sitting on the passenger’s side; she never observed him in any other position, but had not paid any particular attention to him.

Tana Harris and Mrs. Jeanette Weeks both observed the accident, and there was little difference, if any, in their testimony. Each said that she saw the truck as it drove up and parked, that defendant remained seated on the passenger’s side until after the accident occurred. Miss Harris was a schoolmate of defendant and had known him about four years. They were of about the same age. She said she heard a loud noise like a motor racing and saw the truck move, going real fast. The truck hit the glass “and the glass was going everywhere when it went into the store.” Defendant ran out “the door” and “started running up that way.” Defendant got out of the truck' on the passenger’s side, “kind of ran around the parking lot and then ran off through the woods.” He was wandering around and after a while ran off “opposite from where he ran to start with.” Defendant was walking up the side of the road when the police arrived. She said:

“Well, when he first left, he ran off to the right of the store and headed through the woods there and came back walking down the highway and walked through the front part of the parking lot there and started heading down the grassy part there up front.”

She said that was when the police arrived and that the grassy spot was about the same distance from the front door of the Jr. Food Store as it was from where she was sitting “to the back of the Courtroom, . maybe a little farther.”

Mrs. Weeks testified that she was sitting in her automobile while her husband was inside the store. She noticed defendant as he sat in the truck after Bagwell had left it and commenced his conversation with Brenda Lee. She said defendant “was turning in the seat, he would look out the window and he would raise his arms back on the back of the truck and then he would lean forward like that and then he would turn. He was not still at all. He was constantly moving.” He was sitting toward the driver’s side, but he was closer to the door on the passenger’s side than he was the driver’s side. She said:

“He came forward, I remember that. And when he did, the truck came forward with him.”

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Bluebook (online)
364 So. 2d 1205, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fowler-v-state-alacrimapp-1978.