Paschal v. State

365 So. 2d 672, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1337
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMay 2, 1978
Docket7 Div. 577
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 365 So. 2d 672 (Paschal 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
Paschal v. State, 365 So. 2d 672, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1337 (Ala. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinions

TYSON, Judge.

On Saturday, April 2, 1977, Michael’s Jewelry Store in Gadsden, Alabama, was robbed. This robbery also involved several employees and customers within the store at the time of this incident.

In June of 1977, the Grand Jury returned five indictments, each charging the appellant with the robbery of different persons within the store. All five indictments were consolidated for trial at the request of the appellant, and the trial jury was instructed to return separate verdicts in each case. Each found the appellant guilty, as charged, and fixed punishment at ten years imprisonment in each case. The trial court [674]*674then set sentence accordingly in these cases to run concurrently.

Ronald Thomas testified that he was the watch repairman and manager of Michael’s Jewelers, located in Etowah County, Alabama, on the date in question. He stated that, around 9:00 a. m., a black male came in the store and inquired about picking up a watch. Mr. Thomas said that he went to the back of the store to look for this watch and noticed that the man had followed him to the rear of the building. He stated that, when he turned around, the man was holding a pistol on two female employees in the front part of the store. The robber forced everyone to the back of the store where they were required to completely undress. Then the robber required that everyone’s hands be tied behind their backs. Mr. Thomas stated that he remained in the back room, along with two female employees and several customers, for approximately twenty minutes. He testified that about $68,-000.00 worth of jewelry was missing from the store when he and the other victims came out of the back room. On cross-examination, Thomas testified that the appellant was not the man who robbed him that day.

Marie Gilbert stated that she was employed by Michael’s Jewelers on April 2, 1977. A black male came to the store and pulled a gun on her and forced each person therein to go to the back of the store. She indicated that everyone was instructed to undress, which they did, and the black man either tied their hands behind their backs or had other victims do so. Mrs. Gilbert related that $33.00 was missing from her purse when she came out of the back room, approximately thirty minutes later.

Sherry Teet testified that she also was employed by Michael’s Jewelers on April 2, 1977. She, too, indicated that a black male came in the store, pulled a gun out of a black bag, and forced everyone to go to the storeroom in the rear of the building. The robber instructed everyone to take off their clothes, and he forced her to tape Mrs. Gilbert’s and Mr. Thomas’ hands behind their backs. Then, she testified, he forced her to go to the front of the store and fill a suitcase with watches. During this time, the black male robber was emptying trays of rings into a pillowcase. Also, she stated, this man took $27.00 from her purse.

Clyde Tarvin testified that, on April 2, 1977, around 9:20 a. m., he was in Michael’s Jewelry Store. He stated that a man pulled a gun on him, took $200.00 from his wallet, and forced him to undress in the back room.

Roberta Harville testified that she was employed by Michael’s Jewelers on April 2, 1977. She stated that, on Friday, April 1, 1977, she noticed the appellant and another black male walking up and down the sidewalk in front of the jewelry store. The two men would stop in front of the store, look in through the glass window, and then walk away. This continued for approximately ten or fifteen minutes.1

Connie Grant testified that, on April 2, 1977, he went into Michael’s Jewelers to pick up a ring. He stated that a black male stood up from behind the counter and pointed a pistol at him. The black male, according to Mr. Grant, forced him to undress and go to a small room in the rear of the store. Also, he took approximately $35.00 from his wallet. Mr. Grant identified State’s Exhibit I, a .357 Colt Python, as the pistol used by the black male that day. On cross-examination, he stated that the appellant was not the black male in the jewelry store on April 2, 1977.

Charles Brown, a deputy sheriff with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, testified that, on April 2,1977, he had received information concerning a robbery in Gadsden, Alabama, earlier that day. This information concerned the description of an automobile believed to have been used by the robber. Deputy Brown stated that he saw an automobile that afternoon which matched this description at the O.K. Tire Shop in Guntersville, Alabama, on Highway [675]*675431. As Deputy Brown pulled up to the automobile, one of the occupants went inside the tire store. The other occupant, who he identified as the appellant, was patted down and placed in the patrol car. He testified that he looked underneath the driver’s seat and found a .357 Magnum Colt Python hand gun. Brown stated that he arrested the appellant for not having a driver’s license and also for carrying a pistol without a permit. The appellant’s vehicle was taken to a fenced-in parking lot just outside the Sheriff’s Office in Guntersville, and there it was searched. At this time, two pillowcases with plastic ring boxes inside were found in the trunk of the appellant’s automobile.

Jim Picket, Deputy Sheriff of Marshall County, testified that, on April 2, 1977, he arrived at the O. K. Tire Store parking lot just as Officer Brown was putting the appellant in the back of his patrol car. Picket stated that the automobile driven by the appellant matched the description given in a police radio broadcast, which he had received in a report concerning a robbery in Gadsden, Alabama, earlier that day. Picket described the appellant’s automobile as a “light green GTO Tempest with a white top and two stereo speakers in the rear.”2

W. A. O’Bryant, a police sergeant with the City of Gadsden, testified that he participated in the investigation of the robbery of Michael’s Jewelers. He stated that, late in the afternoon of April 2, 1977, the appellant was delivered to his custody by the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department. Sergeant O’Bryant stated that the appellant was read his Miranda warnings, once in his patrol car (R. p. 68), and again at Gadsden Police Headquarters (R. p. 69). The appellant then told O’Bryant that his brother, Jerry Paschal, was the man who had robbed the jewelry store, although he admitted that he owned the automobile and pistol found therein. Sergeant O’Bryant stated that the appellant told him that he and his brother had stopped in an alley earlier this same day and discussed disposing of the watch cases (R. p. 73). Also, the appellant had $231.00 in his wallet when he was arrested.

Sergeant O’Bryant also stated that the appellant admitted having purchased a bus ticket to Boston, Massachusetts, for his brother, Jerry, two days before the robbery. Jerry Paschal was arrested in Boston when he got off the bus, and he was carrying approximately $70,000.00 in cash at this time.

The appellant then made a motion to exclude the State’s evidence, which was overruled.

Jerry Paschal, the appellant’s brother, testified that he had plead guilty to the April 2,1977, robbery of Michael’s Jewelers. He stated that the appellant had no knowledge of the robbery and that he had taken appellant’s car and pistol that morning without informing his brother. According to Paschal, he was at Michael’s Jewelry Store the day before the robbery, but the black male with him then was not the appellant.

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Related

Spann v. State
494 So. 2d 716 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1985)
Pickett v. State
417 So. 2d 589 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1982)
Allen v. State
376 So. 2d 826 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1979)
Paschal v. State
365 So. 2d 681 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
365 So. 2d 672, 1978 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paschal-v-state-alacrimapp-1978.