Jones v. State

356 So. 2d 728, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1297
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 7, 1978
Docket6 Div. 433
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 356 So. 2d 728 (Jones 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
Jones v. State, 356 So. 2d 728, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1297 (Ala. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

HARRIS, Presiding Judge.

Appellants, who are identical twins, were separately indicted for murder in the first degree involving the death of Dennis By-num in Blount County, Alabama. They were represented by court-appointed counsel at arraignment and pleaded not guilty. Prior to trial it was made known to the Court that the family of appellants had employed Honorable Robert C. Sutton of the Birmingham Bar to represent them. By agreement of the parties the cases were consolidated for trial. The jury returned a verdict finding appellants guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed their sentences at life imprisonment in the penitentiary. After the sentences were imposed, they each gave notice of appeal and requested a free transcript. A free transcript was furnished appellants and trial counsel represents them on appeal.

The victim of this crime owned and operated a combination grocery store and gas station north of Oneonta, Alabama on Highway 75. He was sixty-six years old.

Mr. Bynum and his wife had breakfast together on the morning of March 24, 1976. He left to open his store and 6:15 that morning. This store was just across the road from the Bynum’s house. Mrs. Bynum testified that when he left the house, Mr. Bynum carried a greenish-gray tackle box in which he had “in the neighborhood of five or six hundred dollars.” She further stated the box also had some silver they used to make change. This was the last time Mrs. Bynum saw her husband alive. On the afternoon of March 25, 1976, Mrs. Bynum saw her husband’s body at King Funeral Home.

Doris Long testified that on March 24, 1976 she was employed by the Oneonta Police Department as the Radio Dispatcher. On that day, Mrs. Long stated, she received a phone call from Dennis Bynum at 9:07 a. m. Mr. Bynum told Mrs. Long that he operated a service station on Highway 75 East and asked that an ambulance be sent there. Mrs. Long asked Mr. Bynum “what the trouble was” there and Bynum replied that he had been robbed and stabbed by two black men, who were driving a “light two-tone late model Chevrolet car which had a Jefferson County tag; and the numbers . . was 4261.” When asked by Long for a description of the two men, Bynum said, “Lady, Please send that ambulance, I’m hurt real bad.”

She further testified that Chief Earl For-tenberry of the Oneonta Police Department was present when she received the call from Mr. Bynum and he called the ambulance.

Earl Fortenberry testified that he was Chief of the Oneonta Police Department on March 24, 1976. He stated that he was present at the station when the call from Mr. Bynum was received. Fortenberry testified further that he arrived at Bynum’s station at 9:16 a. m. At this time Bynum was still alive, slumped in a chair near the cash register. Mr. Bynum told Fortenberry that he had been robbed and stabbed by “two colored men,” and they were traveling in a light tan Chevrolet with a Jefferson County tag. Fortenberry testified that By-num then appeared to go into deep shock.

According to Fortenberry there was a great amount of blood about the interior of the store. The drawer of the cash register was open and empty with the exception of some loose change. The door of the store was open. Chief Fortenberry said that a tackle box was not found in the store. He further testified that the station was locked by Gerald Maynor, Bynum’s son-in-law, at the direction of the officers.

[730]*730Gerald Maynor testified that he was Dennis Bynum’s son-in-law. At about a quarter till nine a. m. on March 24,1976, Maynor stopped in at Bynum’s Store to visit. Maynor testified that he remained at the store, talking with Bynum until nine o’clock that morning.

Maynor stated that Bynum kept his charge tickets and money in a green tackle box. Maynor saw this box on March 24, 1976, while visiting his father-in-law. By-num took the box from underneath the counter to pay a milkman, and then put it back under the counter. Maynor testified that he did not notice a light tan Chevrolet as he was leaving the station that morning to go on his mail route.

About 9:20, Maynor received word that something had happened to Bynum. He stated that he then returned to the store. There he discovered that Bynum had already been taken to the hospital. Maynor testified that he locked the store in the presence of law enforcement officers. At noon, Maynor testified, he unlocked the store so that news media personnel could film the interior of the store. These cameramen did not go inside the store.

J. C. Carr testified that he was Sheriff of Blount County in March of 1976. Carr stated that, upon receiving a report of an incident at Bynum’s Store, he went to the emergency room of Blount Memorial Hospital. There he learned that Bynum was dead. Carr observed six stab wounds on Bynum’s body — three in front and three in back. Carr testified that he was present at Bynum’s store when Maynor locked it and that he returned to the store that night about ten o’clock. He was accompanied by Johnny Nesmith and Bob Hancock, both Sergeants with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, and Buddy Howell, a Fingerprint Technician with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. These three men “processed” the crime scene. Photographs were taken and fingerprints lifted. The photographs of the entire scene were introduced into evidence without objections.

Buddy Howell testified that he was employed by the Sheriff’s Office of Jefferson County as an Evidence Technician. Howell had been employed in that capacity for two years at the time of the trial. For six years previous to his present employment, Howell was employed by the City of Birmingham Police Department, as an Evidence Technician for three years. Howell also stated that he had attended the FBI’s latent fingerprint and photography school at Quanti-co, Virginia and that he worked for the FBI a year as a fingerprint technician.

On March 24, 1976, Howell testified, he investigated the scene of Bynum’s murder. There, Howell fingerprinted the store from “one end to the other,” lifting numerous prints. Howell explained the process of taking prints and stated that it took at least seven “points” to identify a print as belonging to a particular person.

Howell testified that a print lifted at Bynum’s Store was that of appellant Sammie Lee Jones. This print was lifted from the outside door of the store. When Howell first compared the latent print with the sample taken from Sammie Lee Jones, he found six points of identification. Subsequently Howell discovered three more points.

James Alfred Dunn testified that he resided in Cleveland in Blount County. On March 24, 1976, Dunn was employed by the Oneonta Police Department. He testified that he worked on the Bynum investigation and that on June 16,1976 he had occasion to be in Birmingham, Alabama.

Dunn had previously viewed two composite drawings of suspects in the Bynum case. These drawings had been made by a lab technician for the Police Department and by Phillip Duke. While in the Jefferson County Courthouse, Dunn saw someone resembling the person portrayed in the composites. He discovered that the person he saw at the courthouse was Jimmie Lee Jones. When asked to point out the person he had seen in Birmingham, Dunn stated it was hard to say and then noted that the two defendants were twins.

Phillip Roger Duke testified that on March 24, 1976 he resided in Oneonta, Ala[731]*731bama. Duke stated that he passed Bynum s Store every day.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Rogers v. State
417 So. 2d 241 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1982)
Durden v. State
394 So. 2d 967 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1980)
Borden v. State
371 So. 2d 82 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1979)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
356 So. 2d 728, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-state-alacrimapp-1978.