Nesbitt v. State

531 So. 2d 37, 1988 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 607
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedAugust 23, 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 531 So. 2d 37 (Nesbitt 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
Nesbitt v. State, 531 So. 2d 37, 1988 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 607 (Ala. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

531 So.2d 37 (1987)

Julius NESBITT
v.
STATE.

1 Div. 431.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

June 9, 1987.
Rehearing Denied July 28, 1987.
Certiorari Denied November 20, 1987.
On Return to Remand August 23, 1988.

*38 Lynn E. Quinley, Daphne, for appellant.

Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Gerrilyn V. Grant, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Alabama Supreme Court 86-1423.

TYSON, Judge.

Julius Nesbitt was charged by indictment with the first degree theft of certain property belonging to one John Maye in violation of § 13A-7-7, Code of Alabama 1975.

At trial the appellant was found "guilty of the offense of third degree burglary" by the jury and sentenced, following a sentencing hearing, to 20 years' imprisonment as a habitual felony offender and ordered to pay $25 to the Alabama Crime Victim's Compensation Fund.

Daphne, Alabama Police Officer Donald Bettner stated that, on the night of July 17, 1986, he was called to investigate an alleged burglary at the residence of one John Maye, who lived on the south side of Pollard Street in Daphne, Alabama. Upon arrival, Maye advised Officer Bettner that someone had entered his mobile home, that the coffee table was overturned, a VCR, a stereo and a black and white television had been removed. Further, a framed photograph of his son, which contained some cash, also was taken. On the kitchen table adjacent to the window was a blanket which did not belong to Mr. Maye. Maye lived at this address with his common law wife, one Idell Rudolph. The officer noted some footprints on the ground outside the window which appeared to be made by "tennis type" shoes. He endeavored to lift these.

Shortly thereafter he talked with a neighbor, Joel Bradley, who stated that he had seen a brown Chevrolet Nova between 12:00 and 1:00 o'clock on July 17, 1986, pull into Maye's yard and later drive off and that he recognized the driver. He stated that the automobile belonged to one Eugenia Reed but he did not give the officer the tag number.

Officer Bettner then drove to the residence of Eugenia Reed and observed the brown Chevrolet Nova and wrote down the tag number. He then knocked at the door and talked with Ms. Reed, who identified the blanket which had been taken from the home of John Maye by the officer, as belonging to her and that she had left it in the trunk of the automobile. She stated that she had not been anywhere in her car that day but had lent her automobile to Julius Nesbitt who lived with her. She was asked to open the trunk of the vehicle and inside was a piece of plastic which was a part of the top of a turntable which belonged to a stereo set.

This item of plastic was identified as State's Exhibit 2 and the blanket in question was Exhibit 1.

A set of fingerprints belonging to appellant, Julius Nesbitt, was then identified by Officer Bettner. Bettner stated he arrested appellant after first advising him of his Miranda rights. Officer Bettner identified the appellant in court as the party he arrested and whose fingerprints he had taken that date.

John Maye stated that on July 17, 1986, he lived on Pollard Street in Daphne, Alabama; that he left for work at about 9:00 in the morning and got home something after 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon. When he unlocked the door he saw that the window was open and his stereo, VCR and his son's picture, which had a five dollar bill in it, were gone. He identified the plastic stereo top as being the top of his stereo. He stated that he spoke to a neighbor named Joel Bradley who told him of seeing a brown Chevrolet Nova parked in front of the house and then, later, drive off; that Bradley recognized the car as belonging to one Eugene Reed. He stated he then gave this information to Officer Bettner. Maye stated that he later visited the jail in Daphne and talked with Julius Nesbitt, the appellant, whom he positively identified in court.

From the record: (R. 52-54)

"Q. Did you have an occasion to talk to Mr. Nesbitt after he had been arrested and was being detained?
"A. Oh, yeah.
"Q. Where was that?
"A. In the Daphne jailhouse.
*39 "Q. What was the purpose of your conversation with him?
"A. Well, really, I wanted to know what he did with my son's picture because we had lost him a couple of weeks before Christmas.
"Q. Okay. You said, `your son's picture,' did you also have a picture missing from the house?
"A. Yeah, the one that $5 was in it.
"Q. Your son?
"A. Step-son.
"Q. Your step-son? Was anyone else present when you were talking to Mr. Nesbitt?
"A. No.
"Q. Were any law enforcement officers present when you talked with him?
"A. They was up in the front.
"Q. They weren't there in the conversation with you?
"A. No.
"Q. What did Mr. Nesbitt tell you?
"A. Well, I asked him first if he did it and he said, `no'. And then I asked him—it had to be him or his girlfriend because finding stuff in the trunk of her car, it wasn't but the two of them that drove the car. So she was at work so he had to have the car. So when I got ready to walk off, he told me, `Wait a minute.' And then he told me that he was sorry for doing it and that he needed the money to buy some drugs with.
"Q. Did he tell you that he had done it?
"A. Yep.
"Q. That he had taken those items?
"A. Uh-huh."

Joel Bradley, a neighbor of John Maye, stated that he was at his home on Pollard Street in Daphne on July 17, 1986. He recognized a brownish-gold Chevrolet Nova belonging to Eugenia Reed drive by and saw it pull up at the residence of John Maye. He later saw the car drive off somewhere around 1:00 o'clock. He stated that it was a clear day and that he recognized the appellant driving off in the car.

Marietta Prevost testified that she was a latent fingerprint examiner for the Alabama Department of Public Safety. She stated that she had examined many, many fingerprints over her career and found 11 points of comparison which she lifted from State's Exhibit 2 and compared these with the known fingerprints of the appellant and that they were a match.

James L. Small, an employee of the Alabama Department of Forensic Science, stated that he had in his possession on October 6, 1986 until the date of trial, a piece of plastic together with some small bits of plastic which had been delivered to him by Daphne Officer Bettner. Upon examination of the bits of plastic and the larger piece, he found that they were a "perfect fit" when put together.

Eugenia Reed testified that on July 17, 1986, she lent her brown Chevrolet automobile to Julius Nesbitt, this appellant, and she did not see it again until later that same night.

The appellant's motion for judgment of acquittal alleging that the State failed to prove a prima facie case of burglary in the third degree was overruled by the trial court.

The appellant called Eugenia Reed who testified that Idell Rudolph, the common law wife of John Maye, was her aunt.

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Bluebook (online)
531 So. 2d 37, 1988 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nesbitt-v-state-alacrimapp-1988.