Gosha v. State

389 So. 2d 563, 1980 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1370
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedOctober 7, 1980
Docket4 Div. 807
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 389 So. 2d 563 (Gosha 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
Gosha v. State, 389 So. 2d 563, 1980 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1370 (Ala. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

TYSON, Judge.

Lamar Gosha, also known as Mark Gosha, was indicted in Coffee County for the robbery of a grocery store in Enterprise. Go-sha pled not guilty to the charge and his petition for treatment as a youthful offender, pursuant to § 15-19-1 et seq., Code of Alabama 1975, was denied by the trial court. At trial Gosha was found guilty as charged by a jury, and sentenced by the court to serve fifty years in the state penitentiary. Section 13-3-110, Code of Alabama 1975. He prosecutes this appeal in forma pauperis, and challenges only the sufficiency of the evidence upon which he was convicted.

Ruth Motley was called as the first witness for the State, and she testified that she was the co-owner with her husband of the Southside Curb Market, a grocery store in Enterprise, and had been present in the store with her daughter, Joanne Hutchinson, on the night of December 20, 1979. She stated that she and Mrs. Hutchinson were seated at one of the cash registers watching television when, around 9:30, a lone black male entered the store and walked around to the store’s drug counter where he paused to pick up a product. He brought the item to the counter where Mrs. Motley and Mrs. Hutchinson were and asked Mrs. Motley to read the label for him and tell him if that was what he was looking for. Mrs. Motley stated that at that point “he was getting closer to me than he should” (R. 10), and that he then slapped the item out of her hand and said, “This is a holdup and I want your money and all of it” (R. 11). As the man was saying this, Mrs. Motley testified, he grabbed her around her neck with one of his arms and held a knife to her throat. Mrs. Motley stated that Mrs. Hutchinson then pulled a gun on the man but “he told her to give him that gun” (R. 11), and “if she didn’t give him the gun that-he would cut my throat” (R. 12). The man then forced Mrs. Motley between him and Mrs. Hutchinson, and demanded only the money and not food stamps; when he had received the money, he released Mrs. Motley and ran out of the front door of the store.

Mrs. Motley further testified that the assailant was black and was wearing a green army field jacket, but that she could not identify him nor had she ever gotten a look at the knife. She stated that he escaped out the door but that she did not know in which direction he had run. She estimated that approximately $120.00 in cash had been taken by the man.

On cross- -examination Mrs. Motley reiterated that she had not been able to get a good look at the man because of the manner in which he had held her. She further stated that the man had been wearing a dark toboggan and a white glove, and “more or less faded” blue jeans.

Joanne Hutchinson, Mrs. Motley’s daughter, testified that she helped her mother at the Southside Curb Market, and was doing so on the night of December 20. She was continuously present in the store from approximately 8:50 until 9:30 that night and was seated with Mrs. Motley at one of the cash register stations. Mrs. Hutchinson tes[565]*565tified that, around 9:30, a single black male, whom she identified in court as appellant, entered the store and stopped at the drug counter. Mrs. Hutchinson stated that he stood at the counter for a while and then picked up a box of Sine-Off after she asked him if he needed assistance. Upon reaching the cash register and being told the price of the item, the man identified as appellant grabbed Mrs. Motley. Mrs. Hutchinson testified that she then pulled out the loaded pistol that was customarily kept under the cash register and “told him to get away from her” (R. 23). To this appellant replied, “If you make a move, I’ll cut her throat” (R. 24), and, “If you shoot that gun I’ll cut her throat” (R. 25). The witness further stated that, though she could see the blade of the knife held by appellant, she could not see the handle. At this point, Mrs. Hutchinson testified, she removed the cash from the register, as appellant told her to leave the food stamps and checks, and “told him to take it and leave” (R. 25); she estimated the amount of money to be $100.00 in one, five and ten dollar bills.

Mrs. Hutchinson further stated that appellant refused to pick up the money “because I still had the gun” and “was afraid I would shoot him”; appellant told her to give the gun to him and “he would throw it in the store when he left” (R. 26). The witness stated that she refused to do this “because I knew that would be the end of both of us” (R. 27), but she offered to put the gun on the floor. After doing this, the man ran out of the door. Mrs. Hutchinson further testified that the man was wearing a green army field jacket, and that she did not know where he went after leaving the store.

The witness stated on cross-examination that she was unable to identify the type of knife used in the robbery, and that, although she saw appellant wearing the jacket and a toboggan, she would be unable to identify those items. She further testified that she had a good view of appellant’s face and that she had not noticed any unusual or identifying marks. She also stated that he had been wearing a white glove on his left hand. Mrs. Hutchinson further stated that she picked appellant’s picture out of a “mug” book, but that she had not identified him in any type of line-up.

Bruce Devane, an investigator with the district attorney’s office, testified that, on December 27, he had participated in a search of the area adjacent to the Southside Curb Market pursuant to his investigation of the December 20 robbery at the store. The witness identified several photographs as depicting the area in which he searched, and identified one photograph as showing a green army field jacket which he had located in some underbrush about 450 feet from the Southside Curb Market. Mr. Devane further identified the actual jacket as the one he had taken into possession on that day, and stated that it was under his constant control until he submitted it to the Enterprise crime laboratory. The witness stated that, in the pockets of the jacket, he recovered a number of items, including a “pocketknife with a white plastic handle with a four inch blade” (R. 43), and similarly maintained these within his control until their submission to the crime laboratory.

On cross-examination Mr. Devane acknowledged that he had not discovered anything in or on the jacket linking it to appellant. Under further questioning from the prosecutor, the witness stated that he had discovered the jacket in an area of very dense undergrowth along a trail , which led to the cotton mill.

Charles Brooks, a crime laboratory analyst employed in the Enterprise laboratory of the Department of Forensic Sciences, stated that, on December 27, he had received a green army field jacket and a package of items from the pockets of the coat from Mr. Bruce Devane. Mr. Brooks testified that he examined these items for fingerprints, but discovered none suitable for comparison on any of the items. He further stated that he shook the coat for fibers and hairs, and analyzed some hairs retrieved thereby as of negroid origin.

Mr. Brooks acknowledged on cross-examination that, though he had found a partial fingerprint, another fingerprint examiner [566]*566returned it labeled unusable for comparison purposes. He further acknowledged that he would be unable to link the hairs found on the jacket to any particular person, and that he had not taken samples of appellant’s hair to attempt any sort of comparison.

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Related

Pugh v. State
587 So. 2d 1283 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1991)
Jones v. State
418 So. 2d 955 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
389 So. 2d 563, 1980 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1370, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gosha-v-state-alacrimapp-1980.