Washington v. State

401 So. 2d 236, 1981 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 2262
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedApril 21, 1981
Docket6 Div. 422
StatusPublished

This text of 401 So. 2d 236 (Washington 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
Washington v. State, 401 So. 2d 236, 1981 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 2262 (Ala. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

TYSON, Judge.

Albert C. Washington was indicted by the Grand Jury for the first degree murder of Neal Haley by “shooting him with a pistol.” Appellant plead not guilty and was tried by a jury. They found him guilty of murder in the second degree and sentence was fixed at thirty-eight years’ imprisonment. Appellant gave oral notice of appeal and filed a motion for a new trial. This motion was denied, hence this appeal.

Tyrone Davis testified that he was charged with murder in the first degree for the same murder for which appellant was being tried in the instant case. Davis stated he had known appellant some thirteen years prior to August 30, 1977, the day the murder occurred. On that day, Davis had driven to appellant’s residence in his 1975 dark brown Honda Civic, arriving at approximately 10:00 a. m. After visiting a lady friend at her home for an hour, the two men drove to the south side of Bessemer to the home of Andre Thomas in the South Bessemer Projects. Present at the home were Andre Thomas, Tyrone Davis, appellant and one James Johnson. During the course of conversation, Thomas suggested to the other three men that it would be a “good day” to rob Haley’s Confectionary located on Dartmouth Avenue in the project area. Davis testified he told Thomas, “I say, you can go and do it yourself, I’m not going to participate in this.” (R. 13-14) Appellant and Davis then left in Davis’s Honda. At appellant’s direction, Davis [238]*238drove appellant to Haley’s Confectionary to buy a candy bar. Appellant purchased the candy, and the two men then returned to Thomas’s residence, again at appellant’s direction. When Davis asked appellant why he wanted to go back to Thomas’s residence Davis stated appellant said, “. . . I want to go by there and see can I get me a gun. I think I’m going to go and try to take this place off.” (R. 15) Davis told appellant he would take him to Thomas’s house, but that if appellant was going to do that, he was on his own, and he would not be involved in it.

After returning to Thomas’s residence, Davis sat in the automobile, while appellant and Andre Thomas talked. Appellant then got back in the vehicle, and asked Davis to drop him by Haley’s store. Davis testified he told appellant, “. . . Well, Albert, when you get out of my car you are on your own. I’m going on about my business.” Davis then dropped appellant off fifty feet from Haley’s store, and drove away.

Six blocks from the store Davis parked his vehicle and began a conversation with an unknown man, who was washing his automobile. After about five minutes he noticed the man looked distracted by something, and he also looked and saw a man “with no shirt on” running down past the back of some apartments. At first the man was running away from Davis’s vehicle. He then turned and ran toward Davis, who recognized the runner as the appellant. The record reflects the following:

“Q Okay. After he got to your car, what if anything did he say to you? A ‘Let’s go, man. Crank up. Come on, man, let’s go. What’s the problem?’
I said, ‘What is the problem? What is the matter?’ I said, ‘What are you in a hurry for.’ He said, ‘just crank up the car, let’s go. Don’t even sit here and talk about it. Let’s go.’
‘Why, man?’
‘The man got stubborn on me and pulled a gun and I had to shoot him.’ Q Was anything else said by him at that time?
A T tell you what’ — this is my answer. T tell you what, if you done something like that, me and you are going to have to stay away from around each other. Because, if anybody seen you getting in my car they ain’t going to be too interested in the man. They are going to be giving a description of the car they seen them leaving in.’
Q Was you in the same brown car?
A Yes, sir.
Q What kind of car was that?
A 1975 brown Honda Civic.” (R. 21-22)

Davis then took appellant home, and returned to the project. Again he parked six blocks away and walked to Haley’s store. He entered the store, and saw Mr. Haley lying on the floor with a hole in his head. Davis left the store and went home. Sometime in December, Davis accompanied Washington and another man to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained for five months. Davis stated he did not know appellant was going to rob the store, and that having known appellant for a number of years, he did not believe appellant could even try to do such a thing.

James Johnson testified he went to Haley’s store around 2:30 p. m. on August 30, 1977 to buy cigarettes. As he was leaving the store, he saw appellant, whom, he knew, get out of a small automobile and walk toward Haley’s store. Johnson also observed the small car leave the scene. Johnson then went to a friend’s house about a block away from the store, where he heard what sounded like a gunshot from the direction of the store. This took place some four to five minutes after he saw appellant headed toward Haley’s store. Upon hearing sirens and seeing people run toward the store, Johnson also returned to the store. There he saw Mr. Haley lying on the floor with blood on his head. Johnson also stated the vehicle from which appellant disembarked was a Honda or Toyoto and was driven by Tyrone Davis.

Officer C. E. Pitts of the Bessemer Police Department testified he answered a call on August 30, 1977 in response to a reported shooting. An ambulance driver on the scene told Officer Pitts that the victim appeared to be dead. Pitts entered the store [239]*239and discovered Mr. Neal Haley, a fifty-nine year old man, lying on the floor face up. There was a small caliber gunshot wound in his forehead above his right eye. Pitts checked for pulse and respiration, found none, and then proceeded to secure and investigate the area.

Charles Robey, a Jefferson County Coroner-Medical Examiner, investigated the Haley homicide after a call on August 30,1977. He found an elderly deceased black man with a single gunshot wound to the head above the right eye. An autopsy was later performed on Mr. Haley, at which Mr. Ro-bey was present. Robey gave his opinion that Haley’s death was caused by a gunshot wound to the head.

Sergeant Douglas Acker of the Bessemer Police Department testified he also investigated the Haley homicide and testified concerning pictures and a diagram he had made at the scene of the murder. He also stated the murder weapon had never been found.

Sergeant E. N. Franklin of the Bessemer Police Department testified he participated in the extradition of appellant from Louisiana in January of 1980. He, along with another officer, went to New Orleans, Louisiana to pick up appellant at the city jail and bring him back to Bessemer.

The State rested and appellant moved to exclude the State’s evidence. Appellant also presented the court with a written request for the affirmative charge. The trial court denied appellant’s motion and refused the charge.

The defense called the appellant, Albert C. Washington, to testify in his own behalf. Appellant testified he was in Orville, Dallas County, Alabama staying with relatives on August 30, 1977. He stated he did not shoot Mr. Haley and had never been inside Mr. Haley’s store. Appellant stated he knew nothing of the murder or of his having been charged with it until January 1980. He stated he did not object to or contest his extradition as he had nothing to hide.

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Bluebook (online)
401 So. 2d 236, 1981 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 2262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-v-state-alacrimapp-1981.