Holloway v. State

378 So. 2d 761, 1979 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1563
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedDecember 4, 1979
Docket4 Div. 758
StatusPublished

This text of 378 So. 2d 761 (Holloway 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
Holloway v. State, 378 So. 2d 761, 1979 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1563 (Ala. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

LEIGH M. CLARK, Retired Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction of robbery and a sentence to imprisonment for twenty-one years.

The evidence as to the alleged crime is substantially the same as the evidence in Turner v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 4 Div. 752, 378 So.2d 1173 (1979), in which the appellant therein had been convicted of an assault with intent to murder one David Reid, while defendant Turner was accompanied by another man and while Reid, an innkeeper, was counting the day’s receipts with one who was employed as a night auditor at the Holiday Inn on the 280 ByPass in Phenix City. Mr. Reid testified on the trial of the instant case, saying that defendant and the man he accompanied (Turner) “came in the door” at about 11:00 P.M., about twenty minutes after they had previously been in the lobby, “and both of them pulled out a revolver — pulled out guns, and the other fellow says, ‘This is a stick-up — this is a hold-up.’ ” The witness further testified that as Turner picked up the money that the witness and another were counting, “Mr. Holloway was looking around, and he had his gun pointed at me and he was looking around the lobby like he was the lookout man.” Turner and the appellant did not linger after the money was seized and taken away by Turner.

[762]*762Reid was positive in his identification of defendant, but defendant testified that he was not the man accompanying Turner at the time. Defendant said that he was not in Phenix City, that he was in Jacksonville, Florida, the night of the robbery.

It appears that the only contested issue of fact on the trial was whether appellant was the other person with a pistol who was with Turner at the time of the robbery. The. issue was properly submitted to the jury, it being one primarily within the jury’s province. There is no contention to the contrary.

The only issue expressly presented on appeal is as to the court’s denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss, wherein defendant alleged that he had been denied a speedy trial in violation of his right under Article I, Section 6, of the Alabama Constitution and the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The identical issue was raised in Turner v. State, supra, and it was decided in favor of appellant, which resulted in a reversal of the judgment and conviction, and the rendition of a judgment dismissing the case.

As to the only issue presented, there are some glaring similarities in the facts in the instant case to those in Turner. On the other hand, there are several striking differences.

The cases are similar in that the crimes charged against both appellants were committed the same night, September 25, 1976, and at the same place, the Holiday Inn in Phenix City, Alabama, and in the fact that during a large part of the time intervening between the crimes and the trials of each defendant, each was in custody of the authorities in Georgia by reason of a felony charge or conviction in that state. They are similar also in the length of time intervening between the crimes and the trials, Turner’s trial taking place about twenty-nine months after the crime and this appellant’s trial about thirty-one months after the crime. We hereinafter state most of the dissimilarities, as well as some similarities not stated above.

On October 23, 1976, Turner was identified by Reid at a lineup held in Columbus, Georgia, where Turner was in custody of the Georgia authorities. It appears that at the same time, Holloway was in custody of the same authorities at the same place, but evidence indicates, if it does not conclusively show, that the Alabama authorities did not know the whereabouts of Holloway. Furthermore, he had not been identified in person by Reid, who had identified him by his photographs. A warrant had been sworn out for Holloway at the time, which, however, had not been verified by Reid. A warrant had been sworn out at the time by Reid for the arrest of Turner.

On January 11, 1977, the grand jury of Russell County returned a true bill charging Turner with the offense of assault with intent to murder; at that time no indictment had been returned against Holloway. No indictment was returned against Holloway until April 6, 1979.

According to the opinion in Turner, some time between May 31, 1977, and June 8, 1977, Turner had caused to be delivered to Russell County officials “certain forms requesting disposition of the indictments pending against him.” He had executed a “notice of place of imprisonment and request for disposition of indictments, information or complaints.” The formal request was dated May 31, 1977, and a receipt thereof was acknowledged by Russell County officials. The Court held that such documents “taken together, were sufficient to place the prosecuting authorities ‘on notice’ of appellant’s speedy trial claim.” No such documents were executed and transmitted by Holloway during 1976 .or 1977. In marked contrast with the facts in Turner, there was no showing in the instant case- that the prosecuting authorities in Russell County had any knowledge of the definite whereabouts of Holloway, or that Holloway desired a speedy trial, until April 11, 1978, when he, while in custody of the Georgia [763]*763authorities, signed and sent to Russell County (Alabáma) authorities a motion for a speedy trial. The Circuit Court promptly acted on the motion by forwarding a copy of it to the district attorney for appropriate action, who promptly commenced an investigation and on May 30, 1978, executed and sent a petition to the Governor of Alabama for the extradition of Holloway from Georgia. It appears that for the next three or four months effectuation of extradition procedure was delayed by reason of the inefficacy of the procedure employed, which had been superseded by the Alabama Uniform Mandatory Disposition Act, effective April 27, 1978. Code of Alabama 1975, § 15-9-80 through § 15-9-88.

There is great similarity between Turner and the instant case as to the procedure by the Russell County authorities to obtain custody from the Georgia authorities. In each case, procedure was instituted on May 30, 1978, to obtain custody under a method that had been superseded, which resulted in the necessity for a new commencement of efforts to obtain custody, pursuant to said Act, by the use in each case of “Form V, Request for Temporary Custody,” which was submitted to the Georgia authorities in each case in October 1978. It was promptly honored by the Georgia authorities, namely, Georgia Department of Offender Rehabilitation, Macon Correctional Center, on November 6, 1978. In the last part of the form of the acceptance, just after the signature of a Georgia official, there was the following legend:

“A. My counsel is (none) inmate is attempting to hire an attorney. name of counsel.
B. I request the court to appoint counsel.
Refused to sign.
(inmate’s signature)
Presented and explained to the inmate by Don Arnett, Deputy Warden of Security.”

Pursuant to the documents authorizing the transfer of temporary custody of defendant Holloway, he was brought by Russell County (Alabama) authorities to Phenix City on January 25,1979, contemporaneously with the transfer to Alabama of the custody of Turner.

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Related

Barker v. Wingo
407 U.S. 514 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Ex Parte Slaughter
377 So. 2d 632 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1979)
Turner v. State
378 So. 2d 1173 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1979)

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Bluebook (online)
378 So. 2d 761, 1979 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holloway-v-state-alacrimapp-1979.