Williams v. State

570 So. 2d 884, 1990 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1572, 1990 WL 187104
Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama·Decided September 21, 1990·No. CR 89-845·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

TAYLOR, Presiding Judge.

On December 9, 1988, the appellant, Johnny Lee Williams, was indicted by the Jefferson County grand jury for the attempted murder of Alonzo McConico, by shooting him with a pistol, a violation of § 13A-6-2 and § 13A-4-2, Code of Alabama 1975. At trial, he was convicted of the lesser included offense of assault in the second degree, a violation of § 13A-6-21, Code of Alabama 1975. The appellant was sentenced to 22 years in the state penitentiary .

During the trial of this case, the trial court specifically admonished the jurors as follows:

“And let me remind you, ladies and gentlemen, that each and every one of you are on your individual honor to abide by the admonishments of this Court. The reason for that is that the only evidence that you will consider in this case will come from this witness stand on my left, and from no other source whatsoever.” (Emphasis added.)

Despite this admonishment from the trial court, Juror Helen Riggins, on her way to the courthouse on the morning of June 14, 1989, drove by the scene of the crime and viewed the layout of the buildings, dwellings, and street lights at the scene and the distances between them. The layout of the crime scene was important in this trial because the appellant’s exact location when the shots were fired was at issue. When Juror Riggins returned to the jury room to resume deliberations, she told her fellow jurors what she had observed and that her perception of the crime scene was inconsistent with the testimony of several witnesses.

On October 12, 1989, the appellant filed a motion for a new trial based on the alleged misconduct of Juror Riggins. Attached to the appellant’s motion was the affidavit of Juror Riggins, which stated as follows:

“On Wednesday morning, June 14, 1989, prior to my arrival at the Court, I went to the scene of the alleged crime and viewed the area which had been testified about by the several witnesses in [885]*885this case. My viewing of the scene of the alleged crime established in my mind that the witnesses, who I had heard testify, could not have been telling the truth. My viewing of the scene of the alleged crime had an influence on my subsequent decision as a juror.
“Upon my arrival at Court on Wednesday morning, I discussed what I had seen with the other jurors and told them of my findings. We continued our deliberations and at approximately 11:00 a.m. we reach a verdict of guilty to second degree assault.” (Emphasis added.)

On November 3, 1989, the appellant’s motion for a new trial was heard before the trial court. Juror Riggins testified, in pertinent part:

“Q [By Tammy Montgomery, Deputy District Attorney]: What if anything did you do once all of the jurors had assembled?
“A [Riggins] I had told them that I had gone by there.
“Q And was that, in fact, approximately the statement you made?
“A I said I went by there, and that from what I could tell, nobody that was testifying had any idea of distances.
“Q Did you eliminate any particular witness, as to who you were referring to?
“A No. I covered, I think, all of them.
“Q So you were attributing the statement you made to everybody that testified?
“A Yes.
“Q Did you make any further admission to them regarding your judgment of distances?
“A I said that things were a lot closer together than what was testified to, as far as distances were concerned.”
[By Mr. Davidson, Defense Counsel.]
“Q You did have an opportunity, however, to form a judgment as to the distance between the houses—
“A Yes.
“Q —and from how far a car was to the houses—
“A Yes.
“Q —and you had an opportunity, then, to relay that train of thought to what the witnesses had testified to.
“A That’s right.
“Q You had an opportunity to form your own impression of the setting, as opposed to what the witnesses had testified that setting to be?
“A That’s right.
“Q Okay. And you discussed that with the other jurors. With all of them, or just one or two, or—
“A No. When we started meeting, we discussed that — I think most of us had noticed what time it got dark the night before, because it had been a big thing as to exactly what time all this occurred; and then I said that I drove by there that morning to see for myself. I did not know that I wasn’t supposed to do this.
“Q Well, what you saw was not, it didn’t jibe with what the witnesses had said; is that right?
“A No.
“Q Do you remember which witness: Mrs. McConico, or the girlfriend, or— “A (No audible response.)
“Q Was it all of them?
“A Basically, it was all of them. The one that was, that I felt was most correct in describing how the store was set up to the houses, was the witness that was a prisoner.
“Q Then, is it your statement that what you saw had an effect on your decision? Did it have an effect? Any effect whatsoever?
“A It added to my doubt about a lot of the testimony, yes.
“Q Therefore, it did influence your decision somewhat?
“A I can’t say I would have done it differently if I had not gone by there, or not. I don’t know. They were trying to find a gray area in there that I found very difficult to deal with.
“Q What you saw obviously added to the evidence that you heard from the witness stand.
“A Yes.”
[Redirect by Ms. Montgomery.]
[886]*886“Q Ms. Riggins, it didn’t add to, but rather distracted or took away from the evidence that you heard from the witness stand; is that right?
“A It didn’t take away from it. It added to my knowledge of what the location was like.
“Q What you really did back there with the mental impression that you made on that morning was to discredit the testimony of the witnesses regarding distance; is that right?
“A I already had doubts in my mind about that, and when I saw that, yes, it discredited that.
“Q So in that respect, as regards the distances, in your mind that was favorable to the defendant at that time?
“A I don’t, I don’t know that it was favorable to the defendant.
“Q Well, if you said from your impression that those witnesses had to be incorrect, then that would extend to the defendant, he already had—
“A Okay. But it was all of them.

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Williams v. State, 570 So. 2d 884, 1990 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1572, 1990 WL 187104 (Ala. Ct. App. 1990).

570 So. 2d 884 (Williams v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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