Smiley v. State

52 So. 3d 565, 2010 Ala. LEXIS 78, 2010 WL 1837801
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 7, 2010
Docket1081502
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 52 So. 3d 565 (Smiley v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smiley v. State, 52 So. 3d 565, 2010 Ala. LEXIS 78, 2010 WL 1837801 (Ala. 2010).

Opinion

BOLIN, Justice.

The State of Alabama, pursuant to Rule 39, Ala. RApp. P., petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review whether the Court of Criminal Appeals erred in reversing the trial court’s judgment revoking Troy Andrew Smiley’s probation. We [567]*567hold that it did, and we reverse and remand.

Underlying Facts and Procedural History

On June 13, 2008, Smiley pleaded guilty in the Lee Circuit Court to the unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment; however, the trial court suspended the sentence and placed Smiley on supervised probation for one year. Almost three months before his sentencing on the unlawful-possession conviction, Smiley was involved in the murder of Jeffery Blake Stone. The following facts detailing Smiley’s involvement in the murder are outlined chronologically in a statement he made to an investigator at the Etowah County Sheriffs Office:1 On March 24, 2008, Smiley’s friend and neighbor, Nathan Lee, used Smiley’s 9mm Ruger brand handgun to kill Stone. Smiley’s participation in the murder began approximately two weeks before the murder when Lee discussed with Smiley his desire to kill Stone. After Lee shot Stone on March 24, 2008, he and Smiley disposed of the body that same day by burying it beside a logging road. A few months later, Smiley contacted Lee and told him that he needed the gun back because the girl he had purchased it from told him that if she did not get the gun back, a drug dealer was going to kill her. Lee and Smiley at some point thereafter retrieved the gun, which Lee had buried. “About a month later,” Smiley stopped by the site where they had buried Stone and discovered that Stone’s legs were sticking out of the ground. Smiley contacted Lee and they subsequently dug up the body. Smiley and Lee placed the body in Smiley’s truck and went back to Smiley’s house. Lee then transferred the body in his truck and eventually placed it in a freezer at his house. On July 1, 2008, Smiley confessed to the events surrounding the murder of Stone.

On July 24, 2008, the trial court issued a “probation tolling order” and issued a warrant for Smiley’s arrest based on Smiley’s alleged commission of a new offense — murder. On September 4, 2008, the trial court conducted a probation-revocation hearing. Jeff Hopper, a criminal investigator with the Etowah County Sheriffs Office, testified at the hearing regarding his interviews with Smiley. Smiley’s statement to Hopper detailing the events surrounding the murder was also read into evidence at the hearing. On September 18, 2008, the trial court entered the following order revoking Smiley’s probation:

“[A]lthough the Etowah County murder took place prior to the time of [Smiley’s] June 13, 2008, plea, conviction, and probation in Lee County for [the unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia], [Smiley] violated his probation. According to [Smiley’s] statement, he participated in contemporaneous events intended to cover up the murder, which would be part of the res gestae of the charged crime, up until his confession on July 1, 2008.”

(Emphasis added.)

Smiley appealed his probation revocation to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which reversed the trial court’s order revoking Smiley’s probation. Smiley v. State, 52 So.3d 563 (Ala.Crim.App.2009). The Court of Criminal Appeals, relying on Rutledge v. State, 512 So.2d 824 (Ala.Crim.App.1987), concluded that “[b]ecause the [trial] court relied on alleged misconduct by Smiley that occurred almost three [568]*568months before the court sentenced him and placed him on probation, the [trial] court’s order revoking Smiley’s probation is due to be reversed.” In Rutledge, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that charges based on conduct occurring before sentence is imposed and probation ordered cannot form the basis for revoking a defendant’s probation on the ground that the defendant has committed a new offense. In its petition to this Court for the writ of certiorari, the State contends, in part, that the Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision conflicts with Ex parte Cater, 772 So.2d 1117 (Ala.2000), Ex parte Yelverton, 929 So.2d 438 (Ala.2005), and Friedman v. Friedman, 971 So.2d 23 (Ala.2007), because, it says, the Court of Criminal Appeals improperly reweighed the evidence and did not give effect to the presumption of correctness afforded a trial court’s judgment in cases in which evidence is presented ore tenus.

Standard of Review

The trial court in this case entered its judgment after hearing testimony from Investigator Hopper regarding his interviews with Smiley and after hearing the details contained in Smiley’s statement to Hopper, which was read into evidence. Hence, the ore tenus rule applies to the trial court’s findings of fact.

“ ‘The ore tenus rule provides that a trial court’s findings of fact based on oral testimony “have the effect of a jury’s verdict,” and that “[a] judgment, grounded on such findings, is accorded, on appeal, a presumption of correctness which will not be disturbed unless plainly erroneous or manifestly unjust.” Noland Co. v. Southern Dev. Co., 445 So.2d 266, 268 (Ala.1984). “The ore tenus rule is grounded upon the principle that when the trial court hears oral testimony it has an opportunity to evaluate the demeanor and credibility of witnesses.” Hall v. Mazzone, 486 So.2d 408, 410 (Ala.1986).’
“Ex parte Anonymous, 803 So.2d 542, 546 (Ala.2001). ‘The trial court’s judgment in cases where the evidence is heard ore tenus will be affirmed, if, under any reasonable aspect of the testimony, there is credible evidence to support the judgment.’ River Conservancy Co., L.L.C. v. Gulf States Paper Corp., 837 So.2d 801, 806 (Ala.2002). Accord Clark v. Albertville Nursing Home, Inc., 545 So.2d 9, 13 (Ala.1989). ‘In ore tenus proceedings, the trial court is the sole judge of the facts and of the credibility of the witnesses, and it should accept only that testimony which it considers worthy of belief.’ Clemons v. Clemons, 627 So.2d 431, 434 (Ala.Civ.App.1993).
“ ‘ “Appellate courts do not sit in judgment of disputed evidence that was presented ore tenus before the trial court....’” Ex parte Roberts, 796 So.2d 349, 351 (Ala.2001) (quoting Ex parte Bryowsky, 676 So.2d 1322, 1324 (Ala.1996)). ‘When the evidence in a case is in conflict, the trier of fact has to resolve the conflicts in the testimony, and it is not within the province of the appellate court to reweigh the testimony and substitute its own judgment for that of the trier of fact.’ Delbridge v. Civil Serv. Bd. of Tuscaloosa, 481 So.2d 911, 913 (Ala.Civ.App.1985).”

Ex parte R.E.C., 899 So.2d 272, 279 (Ala.2004).

“A probation-revocation hearing is a bench trial and the trial court is the sole fact-finder.” Ex parte Abrams, 3 So.3d 819, 823 (Ala.2008).

Analysis

In its brief before this Court, the State points out that the evidence at the probation-revocation hearing regarding the [569]*569chronological order of events occurring after the murder and before Smiley’s confession was conflicting. As previously noted, the murder in this case occurred on March 2k, 2008; Smiley was placed on probation for possession of drug paraphernalia on June 13, 2008;

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Related

Legendre v. State
242 So. 3d 1028 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2017)
Julio Mantez v. State of Alabama.
83 So. 3d 583 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2011)
Smiley v. State
52 So. 3d 570 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 So. 3d 565, 2010 Ala. LEXIS 78, 2010 WL 1837801, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smiley-v-state-ala-2010.