Baldwin v. State, 1 Div. 901

• Decision Date: 03 October 1978
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 901
• Citation: 372 So.2d 26
• Parties: Brian Keith BALDWIN v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 26

372 So.2d 26

Brian Keith BALDWIN v. STATE.

1 Div. 901.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Oct. 3, 1978.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 31, 1978.

Windell C. Owens, Monroeville, for appellant.

Nicholas S. Hare, Jr., and John Causey, Jr., Monroeville, amici curiae.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and J. Anthony McLain, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State, appellee.

BOOKOUT, Judge.

The appellant was convicted of the capital felony of "robbery or attempts thereof when the victim is intentionally killed by the defendant." Section 2(b), Act No. 213, Acts of Alabama 1975, approved September 9, 1975. (Now § 13-11-2(a)(2), Code of Ala.1975) The jury filed punishment at death, and the trial court after a hearing on aggravating and mitigating circumstances sentenced the appellant to death.

The facts of the case are set out in detail in the companion case of Horsley v. State, Ala.Cr.App., [1 Div. 931, October 3, 1978]. However, for the purposes of this opinion, a brief recitation of the facts will be set out.

The victim of the appellant's vicious crime was a sixteen-year-old girl named Naomi Rolon. On November 25, 1976, she was driving across town in Hudson, North Carolina, to visit her father who was in a local hospital. She was abducted before reaching her destination by the appellant and his companion, Edward Horsley, both of whom were escapees from a North Carolina prison camp at the time. They took control of her automobile and drove to Charlotte, North Carolina, where they attempted to rape her and to choke her to death. They stripped her of all her clothing except her shoes and socks. She was stabbed with a knife in various parts of her body and then locked in the trunk of the automobile she had been driving. Baldwin and Horsley then drove the car through South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia, where they spent the night. They next drove through Montgomery, Alabama, on Interstate Highway 85 and then proceeded to Camden, Alabama, located in Wilcox County. The victim remained locked in the trunk of the car during the entire trip.

In Camden, the appellant stole a pickup truck which contained a hatchet. Horsley drove the automobile, and the appellant drove the truck to an isolated spot in Monroe County. There they removed the victim from the trunk of the car, and Horsley attempted to run the car over her. After several unsuccessful attempts to kill the victim with the automobile, the appellant took the hatchet from the trunk and killed her with a blow leaving a gaping wound in the base of her neck. The two killers were later arrested in Lanett, Alabama, where they were traveling in the stolen truck. The automobile tag from the victim's car was found in the truck which appellant was driving. Both were transported to the Wilcox County Jail on the truck theft charge.

The appellant was well represented in this court by two outstanding members of the Monroe County Bar who filed briefs and argued the case as Amicus curiae. The appellant was likewise well represented in the trial court by two different attorneys from Monroeville who were likewise highly capable.

I

The only issue raised on appeal was whether the state of Alabama had jurisdiction to try the offense of aggravated robbery where the robbery took place in North Carolina, but the aggravating circumstance of intentionally killing the victim occurred in Alabama.

That issue was conclusively settled in the companion case of Horsley v. State, supra, written by the eminent jurist and legal scholar, Retired Circuit Judge Leigh M. Clark, serving as a judge of this court pursuant to the provisions of Amendment No. 328 of the Alabama Constitution.

The crime of robbery when the victim is intentionally killed by the defendant does not consist of two separate and distinct offenses. It is a single offense beginning with the act of robbing or attempting to rob and ending with the act of intentionally killing the victim. Here, two separate acts or elements constitute but one single crime. Judge Clark made this clear in Horsley, supra, in stating:

"Notwithstanding the importance of robbery as an essential element of the crime charged, it did not constitute the crime charged in the indictment or a crime proscribed by the death penalty statute. No crime proscribed by that statute falls short of an intentional killing. Each of the fourteen crimes enumerated in the statute has within it the culminating factor of an intentional homicide. The statute is for the prevention and punishment of homicides committed under legislatively determined aggravating circumstances. It is impossible to complete, to consummate, any of the fourteen crimes enumerated without the intentional(ly) taking of the life of a human being. . . ."

As in Horsley, supra, we find that the capital felony charged here began in North Carolina and ended in Alabama.

Title 15, § 92, Code of Ala.1940 (now § 15-2-4, Code of Ala.1975), states in pertinent part:

"When the commission of an offense, commenced elsewhere, is consummated within the boundaries of this state, the offender is liable to punishment here, although he was out of the state at the commission of the offense charged, if he consummated it in this state through the intervention of an innocent or guilty agent, or by any other means proceeding directly from himself; and the jurisdiction in such case, unless otherwise provided by law, is in the county in which the offense was consummated."

Thus, the Circuit Court of Monroe County, Alabama, had jurisdiction over the crime and the person of the appellant.

II

Although only one issue is raised upon appeal, it is our statutory duty to search the entire record for error. Therefore, two other points raised only at trial have been considered.

During the course of the trial, prior to receiving any statements into evidence made by the appellant to law enforcement officers, the trial court allowed defense counsel to conduct a voir dire examination of the State's witnesses and of the appellant himself outside the presence of the jury. The appellant stated that he did not remember anyone reading the Miranda warning to him prior to giving a statement to the law enforcement officers at the Wilcox County Jail. He stated that he signed a waiver of rights form which enumerated the Miranda warning, however, he said that it was handed to him and he was instructed to sign it, which he did without reading its contents.

The appellant stated that at the time he signed the waiver forms on March 15, 1977, and again on March 16, he signed the forms without reading them because he was instructed to do so. He stated that on March 16 he was handcuffed with someone standing behind him pulling his hair to make him sign the statement. He testified that he was threatened and beaten on that occasion by Sheriff Moody Maness and two deputies. He said, "They told me I didn't tell them where the car was, they was going to hang me, shoot me, beat me up; then they took handcuffs and handcuffed me to a bar and took an electric stick, the thing you stick cows with, and poked me with that." The appellant stated that a jail trusty had seen the officers pushing him and handcuffing him to the bars and "stuff like that."

Pledge Bennett, the Wilcox County Jailer, testified that the appellant was never threatened, hit, prodded with a cow prod, or mistreated in any way in his presence. Neither did he know of any mistreatment occurring outside of his presence.

James Moore testified that on the dates in question he was a trusty in the Wilcox County Jail. He saw the appellant in jail and was present during the fingerprinting of the appellant. He knew nothing about any threats to the appellant, neither did he see anyone hit, threaten to shoot, threaten to hang, or use an electric prod on the appellant.

James Smith testified that he was a cellmate of the appellant in the Wilcox County Jail on March 15 and 16. On the times that appellant was questioned, he left the cell and was later returned to the cell. Smith never heard or saw any threat made to the appellant, nor saw anyone hit or mistreat him in any way. When the appellant was returned to his cell after making the statements, Smith did not see any bruise marks or beaten marks on him. He never saw any signs that the appellant had been beaten or mistreated.

Edward Headley, an Investigator for the Alabama State Troopers, testified that he was present on March 16 with Sheriff Moody Maness and Deputy Nathaniel Manzie when the appellant gave them a statement. He said that no one in his presence abused the appellant, threatened him, made promises to him, or told him it would be better for him if he made a statement or worse for him if he did not make a statement. He personally advised the appellant of his constitutional rights using the Miranda form. The appellant was also given an opportunity to read the form which he voluntarily signed. The witness testified to the same predicate for the introduction of a statement made by the appellant on March 17.

The appellant was reexamined on voir dire wherein he admitted signing a waiver of rights form in connection with a statement he gave law enforcement officers on March 17. The appellant admitted that the rights form was read to him on March 17, however, he said that he informed the officers that he wanted to see his lawyer, but Investigator Headley told him to go ahead and sign the statement. He said Headley opened his coat and put his hand on his pistol, started pulling it out, and asked the appellant if he was going to sign the statement, so he did sign it.

Monroe County Sheriff Lenwood Sager testified that he was present on March 17 when Investigator Headley questioned the appellant. He stated that the Miranda rights were read to the appellant who seemed to understand them. The appellant was given an opportunity to read the statement which he signed. The witness testified that no one threatened the appellant in any way, either by actual violence or...