Pettiway v. State

539 So. 2d 368
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 22, 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 539 So. 2d 368 (Pettiway 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
Pettiway v. State, 539 So. 2d 368 (Ala. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

Timothy Dean Pettiway was convicted for two crimes of sexual misconduct and for kidnapping in the second degree. Sentence was twelve months' imprisonment in the county jail on each conviction for sexual misconduct and three years' imprisonment in the state penitentiary for kidnapping. All three sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Three issues are raised on this appeal from those convictions. *Page 369

I
Pettiway argues that the refusal of the trial judge to instruct the jury on unlawful imprisonment constitutes error because unlawful imprisonment in the second degree is a lesser included offense of kidnapping in the second degree.

The test for determining whether one offense is a lesser included offense of another offense is statutory. "An offense is an included one if: (1) It is established by proof of the same or fewer than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged." Alabama Code 1975, §13A-1-9(a)(1).

"A person commits the crime of kidnapping in the second degree if he abducts another person." § 13A-6-44(a). "A person commits the crime of unlawful imprisonment in the second degree if he restrains another person." § 13A-6-42(a). "Restrain" is defined in § 13A-6-40(1). "Abduct" is defined in § 13A-6-40(2) as "[t]o restrain. . . ." Therefore, it follows that unlawful imprisonment in the second degree does constitute a lesser included offense of kidnapping in the second degree. See Peoplev. Tillman, 69 A.D.2d 975, 416 N.Y.S.2d 102, 103 (1979) (unlawful imprisonment in the first degree is a lesser included offense of kidnapping in the second degree). See also the commentary following § 13A-6-44 ("Even if defendant releases the victim in a safe place . . ., he may be convicted of kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment in either degree.").

However, "[t]he court shall not charge the jury with respect to an included offense unless there is a rational basis for a verdict convicting the defendant of the included offense." § 13A-1-9(b). "A defendant is not entitled to charges on lesser included offenses where the only reasonable conclusion from the testimony is that he is guilty of the crime charged or no crime at all." Ex parte Kennedy, 472 So.2d 1106, 1114 (Ala.), cert. denied, Kennedy v. Alabama, 474 U.S. 975, 106 S.Ct. 340,88 L.Ed.2d 325 (1985). See also Ex parte Pruitt, 457 So.2d 456,457 (Ala. 1984); Chavers v. State, 361 So.2d 1106, 1107 (Ala. 1978). See also Ex parte Jones, 521 So.2d 1063 (Ala. 1988);Ex parte Stephens, 512 So.2d 786 (Ala. 1987).

The charges against Pettiway were consolidated for trial with the cases against Daniel Hollenquest and Andra Carter. The victim testified that, around 12:30 on the morning of December 13, 1985, she was forcibly taken from her motel room by Pettiway and Carter, who was armed with a knife. She said she was beaten and taken to a house where she was repeatedly raped and sodomized by Pettiway, Carter, Hollenquest, and Walter Ware throughout the 12- to 13-hour period of her confinement. Sometime that day Pettiway left the house and did not return. That afternoon, Carter returned the victim to her motel room. Pettiway admitted his sexual contact with the victim, but maintained she was not forced to go anywhere or do anything. "The defense . . . was essentially that the victim was a prostitute and this was a sex for pay type of transaction. The defense was there was an agreement to pay the victim an amount of money for sex and it was not paid. In effect, there was a fraud or deception on the part of the defendants." Appellant's brief, p. 37.

The trial court granted Pettiway's motion for a judgment of acquittal as to kidnapping in the first degree, with which the defendant had been indicted, because the victim was "voluntarily release[d] alive, and not suffering from serious physical injury, in a safe place." § 13A-6-44. However, apart from this, the victim's testimony alone establishes a prima facie case of kidnapping in the first degree because it shows that she was abducted so that she could be sexually abused. The evidence clearly shows that the victim was abducted because she was restrained, held in a place where she was not likely to be found, and threatened with the use of deadly physical force.

Under the facts and circumstances of this case, Pettiway was either guilty of second degree kidnapping or innocent. Consequently, he was not entitled to a jury instruction on unlawful imprisonment as a lesser included offense of kidnapping. *Page 370

II
The trial began on June 24, 1986. At trial, prosecution witness M.E., a prostitute, testified that, on November 24, 1985, she had been kidnapped and raped by Pettiway and Carter under circumstances very similar to those of the present victim's case. Pettiway argues that the prosecution violated the trial court's order of discovery by not giving the defendant a copy of the statement of M.E. until immediately before she testified at trial. Although the statement is dated February 5, 1986, at trial an assistant district attorney represented to the court that the witness was "obtained only over the lunch break. We did not know if we were going to have them there."

The facts surrounding this issue are ambiguous, one reason being that the judge who ordered discovery was not the trial judge. The record does show that Pettiway filed a motion for discovery requesting, among other items, all reports of similar occurrences and any statements of witnesses. This motion was granted "insofar as any documents, records, et cetera to which defendant is constitutionally entitled." M.E.'s testimony was not favorable to Pettiway and, consequently, Pettiway was not constitutionally entitled to examine her pretrial statement. United States v. Bagley,473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985); Brady v.Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). "[T]he general rule [is] that an accused is not entitled to discover statements of government witnesses before trial." Exparte Pate, 415 So.2d 1140, 1144 (Ala. 1981). Rule 18.1(c)(1), A.R.Cr.P. (Temp.), provides that "the defendant shall not be permitted to discover or inspect . . . statements made by state witnesses or prospective state witnesses."

At trial, an assistant district attorney stated, "Judge Phelps had told them that we would allow them to have these statements if in fact we intended to call them.

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Related

Ritchie v. State
808 So. 2d 71 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2001)
Hampton v. State
620 So. 2d 99 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1992)
Musgrave v. State
555 So. 2d 1190 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1989)
Bates v. State
549 So. 2d 601 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1989)
Ex Parte Pettiway
539 So. 2d 372 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
539 So. 2d 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pettiway-v-state-alacrimapp-1988.