Limbaugh v. State

549 So. 2d 582, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 170, 1989 WL 60810
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedApril 28, 1989
Docket7 Div. 945
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 549 So. 2d 582 (Limbaugh 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
Limbaugh v. State, 549 So. 2d 582, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 170, 1989 WL 60810 (Ala. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

TAYLOR, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, James Franklin Limbaugh, Jr., was convicted of murder, in violation of § 13A-6-2(a)(l), Code of Alabama 1975. The trial court sentenced Limbaugh to life imprisonment. The court ordered appellant to pay restitution and also assessed the maximum crime victim’s compensation allowed in such cases, $10,000.

The evidence as presented by the State tended to establish that on Friday night, January 23, 1987, Dennis Chandler was [583]*583killed. His mutilated body was thrown into the Tallasseehatchee Creek in an area known as the Blue Hole.

Earlier that evening, Chandler had picked up appellant “Junior” Limbaugh, Billy Helton, and Robert “Cub” Barnes, Jr. These four rode around drinking Jack Daniels whiskey and beer. There was testimony that the victim said and did various things to offend the other three, and that he was beaten, kicked, and stabbed by them, and that his throat was cut twice. Cub Barnes was seen wiping the blood from his knife blade saying, “He ain’t going to say nothing more.” They dragged Chandler’s corpse to the creek, took the money in his billfold, and made their way back to their homes to clean the blood off themselves and off their clothing.

A few days later, appellant, who had been unemployed for a long period of time prior to this incident, suddenly secured a job in Texas. He moved there quickly, leaving his new address with only his father, even withholding this information from his wife.

Both Cub Barnes and Billy Helton pleaded guilty to this gruesome murder, and they are currently serving time in prison. At the conclusion of the case for the defense, the State called Helton as a rebuttal witness. When the questions turned to serious inferences about his guilt and the guilt of the appellant, Helton refused to answer any further questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The court, however, ruled that the witness had no Fifth Amendment right, since “you can’t incriminate yourself if you have already been convicted or sentenced” and because the time for an appeal had expired. The court then instructed the witness to answer, but he continued to refuse. The prosecutor then attempted to read Helton’s statement, line by line, under the guise of questioning him. Many serious inferences and innuendoes of appellant’s guilt were read into the record under this guise — to the prejudice of appellant.

Appellant contends that the court erred in allowing such questioning. He argues that it would be impossible for his counsel to cross-examine a witness who never answered a question on direct examination. Appellant states that the jury may have treated the prosecutor’s many inferences as substantial evidence of appellant’s guilt, though the witness never answered any of those questions. Appellant asserts that he was, by this subterfuge, denied the right of cross-examination secured by the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment.

Although defense counsel initially objected that the qüestions were not legitimate “rebuttal” questions, he perceived the stra-tegem and stated, “He’s going down this whole statement....” The prosecutor, however, continued to go down the entire statement, reading each and every item and drawing an inference therefrom. Such “questioning,” permitted to continue over numerous objections, presents for review on appeal the issue of denial of a federal constitutional right. Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 421-22, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 1078-79, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965).

The following is an excerpt from the record:

“DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. RUMSEY:

Q: Would you state your name to the court, please?

“A: William Alfred Helton.

“Q: And you go by Billy?

“A: Yes, sir.

“Q: Billy, let me ask you this, if when you were leaving going to the Blue Hole with Cub Barnes and the defendant, Junior Limbaugh, and Dennis Chandler, if Junior Limbaugh didn’t say this, or this, in substance to you or to Cub, ‘You know what we are going to have to do, don’t you?’ And Junior said, ‘We are going to have to kill him.’

“A: I have been advised not to answer any questions.

“Q: Well, Judge, we don’t think — who have you been advised by?

“A: My lawyer and all.

“Q: Your lawyer and all?

“A: Well, I’m going to plead the 5th.

[584]*584“Q: Let me ask you this.. I believe you have been convicted in this case of murder and you pleaded guilty to it; didn’t you, Billy

“Q: And you got a life sentence; didn’t you? And you wanted to plead to 20 and you wanted to plead to 25 and you wanted to plead to 30 and I wouldn’t take that.

“MR. LOVE: Please the Court, I want to object to it—

“Q: Now, they went into it earlier.

“MR. LOVE: Well, the plea bargain — He can show the plea of guilt and the sentence, but he can’t go into any of this plea bargain.

“Q: Oh, yes, sir. You can’t even go into the fact that there is a plead guilty [sic], but Tom went into it a while ago. I reserved the right to be able to go into it.

“MR. LOVE: Well, we object to it.

“Q: And I rejected it; didn’t I, Billy?

“MR. LOVE: Wait a minute. I object to it, if it please the Court.

“THE COURT: I overrule.

“Q: And I told your lawyer that I would recommend the maximum sentence of life; didn’t I?

“MR. LOVE: I object to that. What took place in his trial.

“THE COURT: Overruled.

“MR. LOVE: We except.

“Q: You got the maximum sentence of life, didn't you, Billy?

“A: Yes.

“Q: Now, Judge — I believe you pleaded guilty in June; didn’t you, Billy?

“Q: The week of June 15, didn’t you, Billy?

“A: The 10th.

“Q: The 10th. Excuse me. And I believe you have not appealed your conviction, have you?

“A: No, sir, I didn’t.

“Q: Judge, we now show to the court that he has entered a plea of guilty. He’s been sentenced. In fact, you were sentenced on the day that you pleaded?

‘Q: And you were sentenced to life; weren’t you, Billy? He has been sentenced. He’s pled guilty. The 42 days to appeal has run. He does not have a 5th Amendment privilege — self incrimination. I think I have the right to ask him the questions and have Your Honor instruct him to answer them. If you want to take it up outside the jury, I’ll be glad to.

“THE COURT: I need you to go back to the jury room for just a few minutes. Don’t talk about the case while you are back there.

“(THE JURY GOES TO JURY ROOM AND THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE HAD WITH THE DEFENDANT AND HIS COUNSEL PRESENT ALL OUTSIDE THE PRESENCE AND HEARING OF THE JURY)

“MR. RUMSEY: Judge, our contention is that he does not have a 5th Amendment privilege. He has pleaded guilty. He has been sentenced and his appeal time has run and therefore, he does not any longer have a 5th Amendment privilege. ■

“THE COURT: You say you talked to your lawyer. Who is your lawyer?

“MR. RUMSEY: He doesn’t have a lawyer anymore. His services have been terminated.

“THE COURT: He said he talked to a lawyer.

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Related

Huff v. State
678 So. 2d 293 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1995)
Engberg v. Meyer
820 P.2d 70 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1991)
Limbaugh v. State
581 So. 2d 5 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
549 So. 2d 582, 1989 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 170, 1989 WL 60810, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/limbaugh-v-state-alacrimapp-1989.