Holt v. State

343 So. 2d 582, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1460
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 8, 1977
Docket8 Div. 903
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 343 So. 2d 582 (Holt 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
Holt v. State, 343 So. 2d 582, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1460 (Ala. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

TYSON, Presiding Judge.

Jasper Holt and his wife, Geraldine, were indicted for the grand larceny of $80.00 in coins, the personal property of Phillip Davis. The jury found the appellant guilty as charged, and judgment fixed punishment at three years imprisonment.

Mrs. Forrestine Rorex testified that she was a lifetime resident of Stevenson, Alabama, and on Friday, April 14, 1972, she had gone to the Ideal Beauty Shop on Main Street in Stevenson. She stated that about 2:30 that afternoon she observed Mr. and Mrs. Holt pull up in front of the beauty [583]*583shop and then circle around the block. She noted that they were talking with each other in the car and pointing toward her sister’s home. Mrs. Rorex said she was seated in the front dryer in the beauty shop which faces the front door, and that she had a clear view of Mr. and Mrs. Holt. She saw Geraldine Holt get out of the car and walk across Mountain Street to the side of her sister’s home. Mrs. Rorex stated that she then got up out of the chair, went out the front door, and around the corner to watch them. She saw Mrs. Holt go straight to the Davis home. At this point Mrs. Rorex went back inside the beauty shop and stood just inside the door where she could observe Mrs. Holt. She stated that the appellant was seated in the automobile looking about, and that she then saw Mrs. Holt come back by the beauty shop carrying a brown paper bag under her arm and that she ran toward the car. As Mrs. Holt got in, Mr. Holt hurriedly turned around and drove off. She stated that Mrs. Holt “was not out of her sight for more than about a minute.”

On cross-examination Mrs. Rorex stated that the Holts were driving a 1963 or 1964 maroon Chevrolet. She stated that the beauty shop was just a short distance from the home of Mr. Phillip Davis where she saw Mrs. Holt go. She further stated that the brown bag which Mrs. Holt was carrying “was about the size of a lunch sack.”

Mrs. Faye Meeker testified that she lived at Route 1, Stevenson, Alabama on April 14-15, 1972. She stated that Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Holt lived in an apartment next to her. She stated that she was renting her apartment from one Mrs. Jimmy Meeker, a first cousin of her husband. She stated that she was in her back yard on Saturday, April 15, when she observed the appellant, Jasper Holt, walk out the back door of his apartment with a “blue and white plastic piggy bank in the shape of a pig.” She stated that she watched him as he took the piggy bank and walked across the back yard toward a minnow tank where he kept minnows. She stated that this tank was a concrete block structure and had some boards to cover it. She stated that she saw him return to the apartment and that he did not have anything in his hand. She stated she talked with her husband later that afternoon about this. She stated that she had no interest in the outcome of the matter and was not related to any of the parties involved.

On cross-examination, she said the minnow tank had some old lumber on top of it and was “sort of used for storage.” She also stated that she had a very similar plastic piggy bank, and that she had gone inside to see if hers was still in her home, and that it was.

Phillip Davis testified that he lived at 102 Hamilton Street in Stevenson, Alabama, on April 14, 1972. He stated that he had signed a warrant on Saturday, April 15, 1972, charging the appellant, Jasper Holt, with grand larceny. He stated that on Friday, April 14, his sister-in-law had telephoned his wife, and that he went home and found that a blue and white plastic piggy bank that belonged to him and had $80.00 in coins in it was missing. He stated that on Saturday, April 15, he and his wife, Imogene, accompanied by Billy Glenn Odon and Sue Odon, drove over to the home of Jasper Holt. He related the following:

“Q. Go ahead, Mr. Davis.
“A. I told Jasper that I had witnesses seeing Jasper’s wife taking the money, the bank; I told Jasper, I said, ‘If you will bring the bank back,’ I told Jasper that I wanted the bank back is what I told Jasper. And he told me, Jasper asked me, he says, ‘How much money do you think is in the bank?’ And I told him, I said, ‘There is about $80.00 in the bank.’ And he told me he would come talk to me.
“Q. Did he ever come talk to you about it?
“A. No, sir.
“Q. Was that all that was said on that occasion?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. The next day was a Saturday?
“A. The next day was Saturday.
“Q. You didn’t have your bank or money back on that occasion?
[584]*584“A. No, sir.
“Q. Did you go over to where Jasper Holt lived sometime on Saturday?
“A. Saturday afternoon.
“Q. And what, if anything, did you do over there on that occasion?
“A. Freeman Meeker called me.
“Q. You can’t testify about Freeman Meeker or what he told you. You tell what Jasper and you said.
“A. I went over and found the piggy bank.
“Q. Where did you find it?
“A. In a concrete block thing with water in it.
“Q. Did you find any of your money? “A. No. sir.
“Q. And that was your personal property?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. All of that took place in Stevenson, Jackson County?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Did you see Jasper Holt on that occasion on the Saturday you went over there?
“A. No, sir.
“Q. Where did you find, exactly where did you find the piggy bank over at Jasper’s?
“A. I found it on the side of the building, in this concrete thing; and it was under some boards.
“Q. Under some boards?
“A. Yes.
“Q. And this piggy bank you found, could you identify it as having been yours?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. It was yours?
“A. Yes, sir.”

Jasper Holt testified that he was twenty-three years of age and had lived for about four years in Jackson County out Alabama Highway 117, which runs from Stevenson to Flat Rock, across the river, and on across Sand Mountain. He testified he lived there in April, 1972, and that he knew Mr. Phillip Davis as his brother had worked with him. He stated that his home was about five miles from downtown Stevenson. He stated that in April, 1972, he owned a red 1961 Mercury automobile, and that he did not own a Chevrolet at that time. He admitted that on Friday, April 14, he and his wife had driven into downtown Stevenson and had been near the beauty parlor, but that he did not know Mrs. Rorex personally. He stated that later his wife had gone to Stevenson and taken his sister-in-law to the post office. He stated that he and his brother, Vinson Leon Holt, had gone fishing that afternoon. He said that his brother had been staying with them, but that he now lived in St.

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Bluebook (online)
343 So. 2d 582, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holt-v-state-alacrimapp-1977.