Young v. State

563 So. 2d 44
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 16, 1990
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 563 So. 2d 44 (Young 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
Young v. State, 563 So. 2d 44 (Ala. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

Nathaniel Young was indicted for robbery in the second degree, in violation of § 13A-8-42, Code of Alabama 1975. The jury found the appellant "guilty as charged in the indictment," and the trial judge sentenced the appellant to life imprisonment as a habitual felony offender.

On August 30, 1988, two men entered Busch's Jewelers in Ensley, Alabama. Jim Grantham, the store's manager, after waiting on another customer, assisted the two men. The men wanted to look at some men's diamond rings, so Grantham took three or four rings from the jewelry case. One of the men asked the total price for one of the rings. Grantham took his handheld calculator and began to figure the amount. While Grantham was doing this, *Page 45 one of the men (whom he later identified as the appellant) sprayed some aerosol substance into his eyes and shouted, "This is a stickup."

Grantham fell to the floor. He wiped his eyes and looked up to see the second man behind the counter. The men took seventeen rings, totalling approximately $8,000 and fled the store.

As the men were exiting the store, one of the men bumped into Randolph Anderson, who was standing outside on the sidewalk. Anderson later identified the appellant from a photographic array as the man who had knocked him down. He also identified the appellant in court as one of the robbers.

Lavella Gilliam, a store employee, was also present at the time of the robbery. She and Grantham, individually and at different times, viewed a lineup at the Jefferson County jail. They both picked this appellant from the lineup as being one of the robbers. Each also made an in-court identification of the appellant.

I
Six photographs were shown to Anderson at the photographic array. One of these photographs was of the appellant. After reviewing all six photographs, Anderson told Sergeant Roger Harrison of the Birmingham Police Department that the appellant was the person who had knocked him down as he (the appellant) was running out of Busch's Jewelers. Anderson signed his name on the back of the appellant's photograph. All six photographs were introduced and admitted into evidence for the State.

A seventh photograph was also admitted into evidence. This photograph was of the appellant and was taken the day of the lineup.

The appellant contends that the photographs were improperly allowed into evidence. He bases his argument on two grounds: (1) the "mug shots" of the appellant implied that he had a prior criminal record; and (2) Anderson failed to verify, or authenticate, that the photographs introduced at trial were those shown to him on the day that he picked the photograph of the appellant as being that of one of the robbers.

As to the contention that the "mug shots" indicated that the appellant had a prior criminal record, we note that the record on appeal is devoid of any evidence that the appellant raised this ground at trial. It is well settled that all grounds of objections not raised at trial are waived. "Appellant is bound by his specified objections, Bolding v.State, 428 So.2d 187, 191 (Ala.Cr.App. 1983), and it is too late for him to raise new grounds of objection." Walker v. State,523 So.2d 528, 535 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied (Ala. 1988) (no objection that mug shots inferred prior criminal record). Seealso Saffold v. State, 485 So.2d 806, 807 (Ala.Cr.App. 1986) (admission of photographs in trial court's discretion).

As this court stated in Dorsey v. State, 406 So.2d 457 (Ala.Cr.App. 1981), such photographs should not be admitted,"over proper objection," where they indicate that the defendant has a prior criminal record. However, we will not find error where this was not the basis of the appellant's objection.Dorsey; Howell v. State, 369 So.2d 297 (Ala.Cr.App. 1978), cert.denied, 369 So.2d 303 (Ala. 1979). See Holsclaw v. State,364 So.2d 378 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 364 So.2d 382 (Ala. 1978) (improperly admitted where proper objection raised).

Moreover, the photographs on which the appellant bases his argument are not found in the record. As we stated inAbbott v. State, 494 So.2d 789, 791 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied (Ala. 1986):

"A reviewing court cannot predicate error on matters which are not shown by the record. Robinson v. State, 444 So.2d 884 (Ala. 1983). The appellant bears the burden of insuring that there is a correct record. Welch v. State, 455 So.2d 299 (Ala.Cr.App. 1984)."

The importance of our review of the actual photographs was shown by our decision in Lockett v. State, 518 So.2d 877, 880 (Ala.Cr.App. 1987). In Lockett, we reviewed the photographs and found that *Page 46 lines in the background did not indicate that the appellant had a prior criminal record. Because we do not have the challenged photographs before us, we cannot make a determination in this cause.

As for the appellant's claim that the photographs should have been authenticated by Anderson, we disagree. Anderson testified that Sergeant Harrison showed him six photographs. From these photographs, he identified one as being the person who had knocked him down. This was the appellant's photograph. Anderson stated that, per Sergeant Harrison's instructions, he signed his name on the back of that photograph.

Sergeant Harrison testified that he showed Anderson six photographs, that Anderson identified one as being the robber, and that Anderson signed his name on the back of that photograph. Sergeant Harrison then stated that State's exhibits one through six were the six photographs shown to Anderson.

Photographs are typically admissible if they are "properly verified by a person who is familiar with the subjects of the photographs. . . ." Whittington v. State, 432 So.2d 25, 26 (Ala.Cr.App. 1983); Hurst v. State, 402 So.2d 1124 (Ala.Cr.App. 1981). The testimony of Sergeant Harrison was sufficient to authenticate the photographs as being those which were used in the photographic array.

II
The appellant further contends that the pre-trial lineup was impermissibly suggestive and that, for this reason, the trial court erred by allowing this out-of-court identification to be admitted into evidence.

When a party challenges a pre-trial identification, this court must apply a two-part analysis. First, we must determine if the identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive. Johnson v. State, 526 So.2d 34 (Ala.Cr.App. 1987);Coleman v. State, 487 So.2d 1380, 1387 (Ala.Cr.App. 1986). If we find that the lineup was unnecessarily suggestive, then we must review the "totality of the circumstances" (five factors) as set out in Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188

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Related

Young v. State
667 So. 2d 141 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1995)
Guthrie v. State
616 So. 2d 914 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1993)
Johnson v. State
620 So. 2d 679 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1992)

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563 So. 2d 44, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/young-v-state-alacrimapp-1990.