McCall v. State

278 So. 2d 225, 50 Ala. App. 223, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1264
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMay 15, 1973
Docket1 Div. 256
StatusPublished

This text of 278 So. 2d 225 (McCall 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
McCall v. State, 278 So. 2d 225, 50 Ala. App. 223, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1264 (Ala. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

SCRUGGS, Circuit Judge.

The defendant was indicted by the February, 1971, session of the Mobile County [224]*224Grand Jury for the offense of robbery. On February 25, 1971, the defendant waived the reading of the indictment and pled not guilty. His trial was held on October 20, 1971, and the defendant was at that time convicted and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary, pursuant to the verdict of the Jury. Notice of appeal was given, an attorney was appointed to represent the defendant on the appeal, and he was given a free transcript.

A Kayo Oil Company service station in Mobile was robbed on August 7, 1970. Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Martin, the attendant and his wife, arrived at the station around four o’clock that morning. While the attendant was working upon his records he heard his wife scream, looked through a fifteen foot wide front window, and saw the defendant near him on the outside approaching with a rifle. Therandell Moore and another approached the station at about the same time. Moore v. State, 49 Ala.App. 408, 272 So.2d 615. The outside and inside lights of the station were on. The defendant pointed the rifle at the Martins and told them not to move. Cigarettes exceeding three thousand dollars in value were kept in cases in the storeroom. Moore came inside the station and threw some of the cigarette cases through the front door and the other person outside was gathering them up. The defendant yelled to Moore, “Get the money,” and Moore took eighteen one-dollar bills in United States currency from Mr. Martin’s pants pocket.

Apparently during the entire encounter, the defendant was standing in the lighted area outside the large window with the rifle pointed toward the Martins, who each definitely identified the defendant.

The attendant then observed a police patrol car approaching, pushed Moore through the open door and whistled. Simultaneously, the defendant said, “Here comes the fuzz, let’s go.” The three robbers ran, Moore going in the opposite direction from the other two. The patrol car stopped momentarily directly in front of the station while the defendant was still running down the street. Mr. Moore ran a short distance, turned around, and started back toward the station and collided with Mr. Martin, who had gone outside the station. Mr. Martin held Moore, and Officer Seals immediately arrived in the patrol car and arrested Mr. Moore. The following occurred during Officer Seals’ testimony:

Q You advised Mr. Moore that he was under arrest?
A Yes, sir.
Q At that time did Mr. Moore say anything to you?
A Yes, sir.
Q What did he say ?
MR. SEALE: We object, not in the presence or the hearing of the defendant.
THE COURT: Sustain the objection.
MR. DOYLE: Judge, anything that Mr. Moore would say at this time would come within the res gestae of the robbery taking place.
MR. SEALE: No, its all over.
MR. DOYLE: Judge, the man is running away from the station and the attendant’s chasing him. The policeman sees him, he drives up, walks up to him and the man makes a statement.
MR. SEALE: I believe Mr. Doyle knows that that is not the law. Its not a part of the res gestae after the matter’s over with.
THE COURT: You are asking him about what Moore said, is that your question ?
MR. DOYLE: Yes, Your Honor. It would also be admissible under the spontaneous exclamation rule.
MR. SEALE: No, sir.
[225]*225THE COURT: I am going to overrule your objection, Mr. Harry.
MR. SEALE: We respectfully reserve an exception. I’d like to be heard further on that.
THE COURT: If we are going into the law, I would want to exclude the Jury, Mr. Harry.
MR. SEALE: Well, . . .
THE COURT: But I’m not going to change my ruling.
MR. SEALE: You’re not going to change it?
THE COURT: No.
MR. SEALE: All right.
THE COURT: Note your exception for the record.
MR. DOYLE: All right, sir, . . .
THE COURT: What’s your answer now?
WITNESS: He stated that he wasn’t going to jail, that he didn’t have anything to do with it, that Jack McCall was the one with the gun and the one that did the robbery. Then me and him started fighting
MR. DOYLE: He said that Jack McCall was the one that had the gun?
A Yes, sir.

Officer Howell of the Pritchard Police Department testified that around 4:15 or 4:20 o’clock on the morning in question, he received a call about the robbery and proceeded toward the scene. Approximately eight blocks from the station, the officer intercepted a person who was running towards him. There was a scuffle over the officer’s gun. The officer fired two unaimed shots, and the person staggered backwards and ran. He was unable to identify such person.

Officer Sells of the Pritchard Police Department arrested the defendant at his mother’s home early on the morning of August 7, 1970. The defendant was in bed with a sheet over him and appeared to have been shot in the right arm which was bleeding, broken, and dangling.

The defense was an alibi. The defendant, as his sole witness, testified that, at the time the robbery took place, he was with his girl friend, that he had been with his girl friend all evening, their having attended a teen-age club, where a number of his friends were present, until midnight or 1:00 a. m. when they went home. He stated that he remained at her home until approximately 4:00 a. m.

According to his evidence, he did not know his girl friend’s last name, but her first name was Delores and he thought that her last name was Williams. He had known her for three or four months. At the time of the trial, he thought that she lived in Philadelphia, but she had been in Mobile on the Friday before the trial and he swore that she told him that she would be present at his trial, but she did not appear. He testified that the whereabouts of Delores was unknown to him at the time of the trial. Apparently a subpoena returnable instanter had been issued for her, but she was not located.

The defendant further testified that when he was approximately two blocks from Delores’ home, he was shot, without warning or provocation, by a person with whom he had previously argued over a minor injury received by the defendant while playing football. After being shot, he walked from two to five miles to his home. Upon arriving at home, he did not tell his mother about being shot, and his mother and step-father did not discover that he had been injured until about an hour before the officers arrived. His parents did not contact a physician for him.

[226]*226During the closing argument by the Assistant District Attorney, the following occurred :

MR.

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Bluebook (online)
278 So. 2d 225, 50 Ala. App. 223, 1973 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccall-v-state-alacrimapp-1973.