Lang v. State

202 So. 2d 556, 44 Ala. App. 70, 1967 Ala. App. LEXIS 422
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 29, 1967
Docket8 Div. 108
StatusPublished

This text of 202 So. 2d 556 (Lang v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alabama Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lang v. State, 202 So. 2d 556, 44 Ala. App. 70, 1967 Ala. App. LEXIS 422 (Ala. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Judge.

Appellant was indicted at the1 special October, 1966, session of the Grand Jury of Marshall County, Alabama, and charged with the following offense: “ * * * while serving a sentence of thirty years in the State penitentiary for' robbery, said sentence emanating from the Circuit Court of Marshall County, Alabama, on1 the 17th day of February, 1965, and while said, sentence had hot expired, and while the .defendant was being temporarily held in the, County Jail of Marshall County, Alabama, under the authority of law and in the custody of L. P. Dickson, as Sheriff of Marshall County, Alabama, and while the defendant was awaiting a hearing on a petition for a Writ of Error Coram Nobis in the Circuit Court of Marshall County, Alabama,-the defendant escaped from L. P. Dickson, as Sheriff of Marshall County, Alabama, the person having him in charge and tinder authority of law, contrary to law and against the peace and dignity of the. State, of Alabama”.

[72]*72Appellant was arraigned on January 10, 1967, at which time he pled not guilty and his trial was set for February 20, 1967, at which time he demurred to the indictment and also filed a motion for continuance charging that he could not receive a fair and impartial trial dressed in prison clothes. The demurrer and the motion for continuance were overruled. Appellant’s demurrer to the indictment reads as follows:

“Defendant most respectfully demurs to the indictment in this case upon the grounds that he has already been punished for the offense charged in the indictment by the Alabama Board of Corrections when it forfeited 9 months and 18 days statutory good time of defendant on October 21, 1966 for the same offense.
“The disciplinary action by the Alabama Board of Corrections in which it forfeited 9 months and 18 days of defendant’s statutory good time as punishment for the crime of escape charged in this indictment in effect was equivalent to sentencing defendant in the penitentiary for a period of 1 year and 1 day. Nine months and eighteen days will serve a one year and one day sentence when good time credits are deducted from the sentence.
“Defendant respectfully submits that he has once been placed in jeopardy by the punitive action of the Board of Corrections; and this Honorable Court, therefore, has no jurisdiction to cause defendant to be placed in jeopardy again for the same crime.
“Amendment 5 of the United States and Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution provides that no person shall be subject for the same offense to be twice placed in jeopardy of life and limb.
“For the foregoing reasons, defendant moves this Honorable Court to quash the indictment and dismiss the case.”

The court’s ruling on this demurrer was as follows:

“On this day in open court the defendant’s demurrers this day filed in this case coming on to be heard and being argued by counsel and understood by the Court, it is therefore considered, ordered and adjudged by the Court that defendants demurrer this day filed in this case be and is hereby overruled, the defendant having already entered a plea of not guilty.”

Appellant was tried by a jury on February 20, 1967, and found guilty as charged and sentenced to a term of five years in the penitentiary therefor. His motion for a new trial was overruled. Hence, this appeal.

The State’s first witness, Circuit Clerk James L. Albert, testified that he knew appellant and knew about his conviction and sentence and that he had the records on his conviction on a robbery charge.

Sheriff L. P. Dickson of Marshall County testified that in October of 1966 he had appellant in custody and he did escape.

Mr. Troy Hughes, the jailer, testified that it was his duty to lock prisoners up and let them out and that about the month of October, 1966, he saw appellant in prison; that on October 16, 1966, when he went up to open the door, appellant and two other prisoners grabbed him and dragged him into the cell where they locked him up and where he stayed for the next two hours. Pie said that none of the three said anything to him, that they drew no weapons, nor did he see any weapons in their hands. On cross-examination, Mr. Hughes said that a prisoner by the name of Lovell grabbed him first and then the other two came up and also grabbed him. He said that he had opened the cell to put some groceries in and to get a prisoner out. Mr. Hughes testified that the glass was broken out of one of the doors in the court house on the second floor; that the court house was closed and the doors locked because it was on a Sunday; and that he did not know how the glass was broken.

Deputy Sheriff Rex Drain testified that he saw appellant on the date in question [73]*73under the “old Ogle Electric Building right behind Hammer’s”; that this building was one block from the court house; that under the building with appellant were two other men and that it was about 8:00 A.M., which was some 30 to 40 minutes after they began searching for the escaped prisoners. The witness stated that he had a shotgun when he saw the prisoners lying on their backs; that he ordered them to come out and that they did so and that he then took them back to jail. He also stated that there were two doors broken out in the court house, one on the front and the other on the second or third floor and, on cross, stated that he did not know who broke them. The witness stated that there were only two ways to enter the jail, one, down the elevator, and the other, through the door that had the broken glass.

Sheriff L. P. Dickson testified that appellant was back from Kilby Prison and in the Marshall County jail about October 16 of “last year” trying to get a new trial and that he had received appellant from prison authorities and put him in jail to await his hearing. He stated that he did not see appellant escape.

Jailer Troy Hughes was recalled and testified that he received a “puff-knot and a little hit on the head” in the scuffle but that he did not know which prisoner was responsible.

Leonard J. Harris testified that he was in jail with appellant in October, 1966, and in the same cell and that a Mr. Lovell was also in the cell. He said that he saw Mr. Hughes several times during that day; that on the 16th of October Mr. Hughes came and opened the cell and that he had a package for appellant; that Lovell grabbed the jailer and appellant was shoved aside because he was in the way. The witness testified that he and Lovell had planned to escape but did not tell appellant, that at no time did appellant grab Mr. Hughes in their presence; that he did not know where appellant was when he and Lovell started running down the steps and that he (the witness) broke the first door and he thought both he and Lovell broke out the second door. He said that appellant did not break either door but followed them about a block where they all got under the building where they were found.

Wallace K. Otwell, another fellow prisoner, testified that he was in the same cell with appellant and Harris on October 16; that when the jailer opened the cell door he saw Lovell grab him; that he (the witness) became nervous and moved to the back of the cell; that Harris grabbed the jailer next; and that appellant was the third one to come towards the door.

James A.

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

Related

McMurtrey v. State
74 So. 2d 528 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1954)
Johnson v. State
5 So. 2d 632 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1941)
Brown v. State
22 So. 2d 445 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1945)
Jackson v. State
155 So. 581 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1934)
Robinson v. State
11 So. 2d 732 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1943)
Lee v. State
13 So. 2d 583 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1943)
Daniels v. State
11 So. 2d 756 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1943)
Wilkins v. State
197 So. 75 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1940)
Brasher v. State
30 So. 2d 31 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1947)
Lee v. State
18 So. 2d 706 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1944)
Lee v. State
13 So. 2d 590 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1943)
Houpt v. State
140 S.W. 294 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1911)
State v. Pishner
81 S.E. 1046 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1914)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
202 So. 2d 556, 44 Ala. App. 70, 1967 Ala. App. LEXIS 422, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lang-v-state-alactapp-1967.