Vincent v. State

224 So. 2d 601, 284 Ala. 242, 1969 Ala. LEXIS 1067
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 12, 1969
Docket1 Div. 485
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 224 So. 2d 601 (Vincent 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
Vincent v. State, 224 So. 2d 601, 284 Ala. 242, 1969 Ala. LEXIS 1067 (Ala. 1969).

Opinion

MERRILL, Justice.

Appellant Vincent was indicted for and tried on a charge of robbery and was sentenced to twenty-five years in the penitentiary on March 27, 1967.

Counsel was appointed to represent appellant after his indictment and before arraignment, and counsel filed a plea in abatement and a demurrer to the indictment, both of which were overruled. The record shows a notice of appeal given by counsel who represented the defendant on the robbery charge and there is also a notation by the clerk that counsel “notified this office that he withdrew his Appeal.”

Appellant filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis and the hearing on it was held on August 30, 1967. Different counsel was appointed to represent the defendant on his petition.

The trial court should have dismissed the petition for writ of error coram ■ *244 nobis because it was filed within the time that an appeal could have been taken. Ex parte Roberson, 43 Ala.App. 354, 190 So.2d 566. The reason for this rule is stated in Brown v. State, 250 Ala. 444, 35 So.2d 518, where this court said: “We think that to permit such a proceeding (writ of error coram nobis) to progress in the circuit court pending an appeal to the Court of Appeals or to this Court is contrary to the orderly procedure in such matters, as we noted in Kinney v. White, 215 Ala. 247, 110 So. 394, and others cited above.”

But here, the parties and the trial court considered that there was no appeal and a full hearing was had just as if the time for taking an appeal had expired. The trial court ordered transcripts of the original trial and the hearing on the coram nobis proceeding to be prepared and they are before us in one record.

We digress to say that the instant case is not to be cited as a precedent that we have approved the filing and hearing of petitions for writs of error coram nobis prior to the expiration of the time to appeal in the case where judgment of conviction and sentence was had. But here, since all the records and the evidence are before us, we treat the instant case as sui generis, and dispose of the matter. That means that we deny the State’s motion to dismiss the appeal.

The evidence on the original trial shows that Green Cooper, 66 years old, was working at a store on the night of January 18, 1967. He testified that appellant and two other men wanted to purchase gasoline; that when he attempted to get the gasoline, the appellant grabbed him from behind and held a knife to his throat and told the others to go into the store and get the money from the cash register; that appellant took his billfold, containing the sum of $808.00, which he identified; that they also took a plastic drawer from the cash register and three cartons of Salem cigarettes ; that he was actually cut by the knife held to his throat; that appellant left along with the others but that he saw them later on that night at the Gulf Shores Police Department, where he identified appellant.

Charles Reed, a patrolman at Gulf Shores, Alabama, testified that he stopped a car containing three men and identified the appellant as one of them; that at the time he stopped his car he had learned of the robbery; that other officers came up,- including Officer Stewart and Deputy-Joe Eastburn; that one of the officers shined a light in the car and the plastic money drawer was on the console between the two bucket seats and three cartons of Salem cigarettes were on the floor board; that he was present when other officers took the plastic cash box and three cartons of Salem cigarettes from the automobile.

Officer Willis testified that he found a knife with blood on it near the spot where Officer Reed stopped the automobile. Deputy Joe Eastburn testified as to finding the victim’s wallet, and on cross-examination to the voluntariness of the statements of the defendant, and then on redirect, to a confession.

. The defendant offered no evidence after the State rested.

The only error argued by counsel on appeal is that the trial court erred in denying the defendant the right to examine Deputy Joe Eastburn on voir dire. The situation arose when Eastburn, on the stand as a witness for the State, was shown a wallet which he identified and stated that he had found it. (It. had been identified as the property of the man robbed.) Then the following occurred:

“Q. Where did you find it?
“A. Along the road side where this man told me it was thrown out.
“Q. Godfrey I. Vincent?
“A. Yes sir.
“Q. When did you talk to him?
“A. This bill fold I found later that day; it was about dark — .
“MR. COOPER: I want to take this officer on voir dire examination to see *245 if he has made a statement — what this man told him and before he goes any further I want to know if he advised this man of his rights before he did that.
“THE COURT: Deny that.
“MR. COOPER: Except.”

Obviously the answer to the first quoted question was responsive in the first four words but was not responsive “where this man told me it was thrown out.” Probably the better course of action would have been to object to the unresponsive part of the answer and move that it be excluded as was done in Lee v. State, 265 Ala. 623, 93 So.2d 757.

However, since the answer contained information obtained from the defendant, his counsel had the right to inquire as to the voluntariness of the statement and whether the defendant had been properly warned of his rights. And it has been held reversible error for the trial court to deny defense counsel opportunity to cross-examine the witness on voir dire with reference to circumstances surrounding a purported confession for the purpose of determining whether or not it was voluntarily made. Theile v. State, 44 Ala. App. 375, 209 So.2d 854, and cases there cited.

Conceding that the court erred, we cannot hold that the error probably injuriously affected any substantial right of the defendant. After the quoted part from the record took place, the wallet and its contents were introduced and the State rested. Counsel for the defendant began his cross-examination asking when he first saw the automobile and then when he first saw and talked with defendant. We quote:

“Q. You say you talked to this defendant?
“A. Right.
“Q. Where was he when you talked to him?
“A. In the cell. '
“Q. Was any one in there with him?
“A. No one was in the cell with him.
“Q. Who was with you, if any one, when you talked to this man ?
“A. Chief of Police, Floyd Phillips and Officer Stuart of Gulf Shores.
“Q. You all went to this man’s cell? “A. Did what?
“Q. Went to his cell ?
“A. Yes sir.

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Bluebook (online)
224 So. 2d 601, 284 Ala. 242, 1969 Ala. LEXIS 1067, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vincent-v-state-ala-1969.