Hall v. State

527 So. 2d 1333, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 7331, 1986 WL 127
Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama·Decided November 25, 1986·No. 3 Div. 417·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinions

TYSON, Judge.

L.C. Hall, Jr. was indicted for attempted murder and burglary in the first degree. The two indictments were consolidated for trial. The appellant was found guilty of the burglary charge and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was also found guilty of menacing as a lesser included offense of attempted murder and sentenced to one year in the county jail for this.

After the trial of this case, the appellant filed two pro se motions to arrest judgment. In his motions the appellant contends he was denied the effective assistance of counsel alleging, among other things, that his trial counsel failed to ascertain that one of the jurors in this case was related to the victims and that his attorney would not let him testify at his trial in his own behalf. Both of the appellant’s motions were denied without a hearing.

The allegations contained in the appellant’s motions are serious and will most likely be raised again at a later time (i.e., by a petition for collateral post-conviction relief) if they are not addressed here. However, there are insufficient facts contained in this record to allow us to adequately address these allegations. Thus, in light of the above facts, we find it necessary to remand this cause to the trial court with directions that an evidentiary hearing be held concerning the allegations raised in the appellant’s pro se motions to arrest judgment.

After such a hearing has been held, the trial court shall forward to this court for review a transcript of the hearing and the trial court’s written findings of fact concerning the appellant’s allegations. Deerman v. State, 466 So.2d 1013, 1018 (Ala.Crim.App.1984), cert. denied, 466 So.2d 1020 (Ala.1985); Bennett v. State, 410 So.2d 138 (Ala.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 410 So.2d 139 (Ala.1981); Delevie v. State, 454 So.2d 1044, 1048 (Ala.Crim.App.1984).

We must also note that the motions were denied by the same trial judge who several months earlier presided over the appellant’s trial. Thus, the trial judge may well have denied these motions based on facts within his own personal knowledge of this case. If such was the case, the trial court should make a written statement of those findings and forward such to this court. Hayes v. State, 417 So.2d 579, 580 (Ala.Crim.App.1982). In this event, an eviden-tiary hearing on the appellant’s allegations may be unnecessary.

This cause is remanded to the trial court with the instructions as outlined above.

REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.

All the Judges concur.

On Return to Remand

We remanded this case to the trial court with directions to make findings on the appellant’s allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court has complied with our instructions and made due return. The first two sections of this opinion deal with the issues on return from remand. The remaining sections in this opinion examine the issues which this appellant raised in his initial brief.

[1335]*1335I

The appellant argues that the trial judge erred in not granting the appellant a new trial based upon the allegation that the appellant’s trial attorney did not call certain potential defense witnesses to testify at his trial.

The appellant contends he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney did not call several alibi witnesses and did not allow this appellant to testify.

After the evidentiary hearing held concerning these allegations raised by the appellant, the court issued the following order:

“ORDER
“This matter coming on to be heard on a Motion to Arrest Judgment and various other motions filed by the Defendant, the Court makes the following findings of fact:
“Based on the testimony presented at the hearing, the Court concludes that the alibi witnesses that the Defendant might have had were known at the time of trial and that no witnesses existed. The Court also finds that the testimony of the Defendant and the defense witnesses at the hearing was incredible. Finally, the Court finds that defense counsel did not prevent the Defendant from testifying; rather, based on a legitimate trial tactic, defense counsel merely advised the Defendant not to testify and the Defendant followed this advice.
“Therefore, based on the foregoing, the Court hereby orders that the motions are denied.
“Done this the 3rd day of April, 1987.
/s/ H. Randall Thomas
Circuit Judge”

(R. 87, Return to Remand).

Regarding the allegation that the appellant’s trial attorney, Mr. Sankey, did not interview and call alibi witnesses, Mr. Sankey testified that the appellant had told him that he, the appellant, was at home alone when the break-in at Willie Streety’s home occurred. Mr. Sankey also stated if he had been told about any alibi witnesses he would have interviewed them and called them to testify at the appellant’s trial.

As to the allegation that the appellant’s trial attorney failed to call the appellant to testify, it was shown the appellant had a prior conviction for first degree murder. Mr. Sankey thought the prior conviction would have greatly prejudiced the jury against this appellant especially since the pending charge was attempted murder. The appellant admitted that Mr. Sankey had discussed his prior conviction with this appellant in preparing for the appellant’s trial.

“The Alabama Supreme Court in Ex Parte Baldwin, 456 So.2d 129 (Ala.1984), stated that the burden of proof is on the accused to show that he has been denied effective assistance of counsel.
“ ‘First, petitioner must show that counsel’s performance was so deficient as to fall below an objective standard of reasonableness. Counsel’s conduct must be considered within the context of the facts of the particular case and as of the time of the alleged misconduct. Second, petitioner must show that counsel’s deficient performance prejudiced the defense and deprived petitioner of a fair trial. Prejudice is shown when, absent the errors, there is a reasonable probability that the jury would have had a reasonable doubt respecting guilt.’ ”

Tate v. State, 456 So.2d 1145, 1147 (Ala.Cr.App.1984); See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).

After careful review of the trial court’s order and the transcript of the hearing, we find the appellant did not meet his burden of proof in showing the first part of the two part standard set out in Ex Parte Baldmn, supra, on either of the above-mentioned allegations.

Therefore, the findings of the trial judge were correct in denying the motions based on these allegations. The record supports the trial judge’s findings.

[1336]*1336II

The appellant contends the trial judge erred in denying the appellant’s motion to set aside this conviction based on the fact that a juror was related to the victim of the crime.

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Hall v. State, 527 So. 2d 1333, 1986 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 7331, 1986 WL 127 (Ala. Ct. App. 1986).

527 So. 2d 1333 (Hall v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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