Peal v. State

491 So. 2d 991
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJune 10, 1986
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 491 So. 2d 991 (Peal 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
Peal v. State, 491 So. 2d 991 (Ala. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

491 So.2d 991 (1985)

Willie Henry PEAL
v.
STATE.

6 Div. 176.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

May 14, 1985.
On Return to Remand June 10, 1986.

Gary C. Pears, Vestavia Hills, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Bernard B. Carr, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TAYLOR, Judge.

Willie Henry Peal was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. On appeal, he presents certain preliminary matters for our consideration.

Defense counsel, Gary C. Pears, contends that appellant was denied a fair trial because a taped confession, which he had no knowledge of prior to trial, was played over his objection for the jury. Mr. Pears alleges "misconduct" and "misrepresentations" by Deputy District Attorney Scott Boudreaux and Deputy District Attorney Don Colee in regard to this incident. Mr. Pears implied that an agreement was reached between himself and these attorneys which agreement was in lieu of a trial court ruling on his discovery motion. As part of this alleged agreement, these attorneys allegedly made representations to Mr. Pears that he would be allowed to see all material evidence regarding this cause and that there existed no material such as the taped statement now in question.

The record is also totally devoid of the contents of the taped statement which was played for the jury. The record contains only the statement, "tape recording played for the jury."

It is apparent that the record is deficient in these respects. Therefore, we *992 invoke Rule 10(f), Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, on our own motion as to the omitted tape. The trial court should determine the contents of the statement played for the jury and forward a transcript of such statement to this court.

At the suggestion of defense counsel and upon our own motion it becomes incumbent upon us to further invoke Rule 10(f) and order that a hearing be held in order to determine of what the discovery agreement in lieu of court order consisted and whether this agreement was in fact violated.

REMANDED UNDER RULE 10(f), A.R. A.P., WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

All the Judges concur.

ON RETURN TO REMAND

This case was remanded upon our application of Rule 10(f), Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, to supplement a deficient record. The record as originally received, instead of reciting the contents of a tape recorded statement of the defendant which was played to the jury, contained only the statement "tape recording played for the jury." We sought to add the contents of the statement to the record.

Further, counsel for the appellant, Gary C. Pears, alleged the breach of an agreement between himself and assistant district attorneys on the subject matter of a discovery motion. The "Motion for Production and Disclosure" requested, as the first things asked for:

"1. a. Any and all statements purporting to be those of the Defendant, whether made before or after his or her arrest and whether oral, written, transcribed, or otherwise recorded.
b. Any and all reports, notes, or memoranda purporting to relate to such alleged statements of the Defendant which are in the possession of the District Attorney's Office or available to the District Attorney's Office."

Upon remand, the circuit court held a hearing at our behest on the questions of whether or not there had been an agreement between the parties, in lieu of court action on the discovery motion, and, if so, what that agreement was. The assistant district attorney stated for the record, before any testimony was taken, what he understood was to be done in the hearing, and then waived the right to be present and excused himself from the hearing and the courtroom as follows:

"MR. McGREGOR: ....
"As far as I'm concerned and the District Attorney's Office is concerned, I would by Your Honor's indulgence. We have a staff meeting at 11:00 o'clock. If my presence is not required specifically, we can go ahead and go to that and have these matters put on record. And if any party wants me down here to ask questions of a witness, then obviously we will do so.
"THE COURT: All right. No problem.
....
"MR. PEARS: Judge, in light of the fact that Mr. McGregor and Mr. Anderson were not members of the District Attorney's Office on the occasion in question, we have no objection."

Mr. Pears took the stand, under oath, and testified:

"I had two or more discussions with Mr. Boudreaux about discovery, at which time he presented to me documents and letters and graphs and charts from Forensic Science and the Coroner's Office....
"Mr. Boudreaux indicated to me at that time that there would probably be pictures of the victim forthcoming later. I asked whether or not there were any statements or confessions or admissions of the Defendant that I needed to see. At that time he wasn't aware of any such information."

Pears testified that then the case was transferred from Boudreaux to Mr. Don Colee for trial. Mr. Colee, according to Pears:

*993 "... simply reiterated the information that Mr. Boudreaux had already given me, plus he showed me colored pictures of the victim as he lay slain in the house where the shooting took place. There was never any mention of any confession or statements, or admissions....
"... I was fully aware of spontaneous remarks of the Defendant and oral admissions of the Defendant made to the police officers and to the ambulance attendants.... However, at no time prior to trial was I aware that there was a tape recorded confession of the Defendant that was in the possession of the police officers, which was ultimately placed in the possession of Mr. Colee and the District Attorney's Office, which ultimately was introduced in evidence against the Defendant at trial."

He testified that at trial, "... Mr. Colee started asking Lieutenant Knight about a taped confession, something I had no knowledge of. At that time I asked the court to excuse the jury—."

Pears then testified as to what was said outside the presence of the jury:

"The court asked Mr. Colee, regarding the tape, basically what is in the tape. And Mr. Colee said nothing much more than his confession to the crime, the fact that he shot Raymond. And the Court basically asked Mr. Colee will there be any surprises. And Mr. Colee said no.
"Now there were two black jurors on the jury. Judge Crowder said well, in light of that, we are not going to play the tape ahead of time. We will just simply play it in front of the jury.
"The jury came back and the tape was placed [sic] in the presence of the jury."

In the statement of Willie Peal, he repeatedly told the officers that he was guilty, interrupting their efforts to explain to him his Miranda rights. There then ensued the sorry and sordid story of the shooting itself, which apparently resulted from these drunken men flipping coins to see which of them would shoot the other, with the loser to be the shooter. In the course of the interrogation, the following occurred:

"SERGEANT MELTON: Had you had any trouble with anybody earlier today?
"THE DEFENDANT: Hey, I had trouble last night, now. Wait a minute. I got blood going down the alley, two god damn colored guys. I shot at them twice.
"SERGEANT MELTON: Naw. Trying to break in your garage. That's another time.

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

Related

Jennings v. State
965 So. 2d 1112 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2006)
Taylor v. State
585 So. 2d 251 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1991)
Gaston v. State
581 So. 2d 548 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1991)
Leonard v. State
551 So. 2d 1143 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1989)
Clifton v. State
545 So. 2d 173 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
491 So. 2d 991, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peal-v-state-alacrimapp-1986.