Bell v. State
| Decision Date | 31 August 1976 |
| Docket Number | 4 Div. 443 |
| Citation | 339 So.2d 96 |
| Parties | Henry BELL v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Richard W. Whittaker and Warren Rowe, Enterprise, for appellant.
William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and Joel E. Dillard, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
First degree murder; sentence: life imprisonment.
The appellant was indicted, tried and convicted for the murder of Billy Ray Jones. The appellant pled self-defense. He now contends on appeal that the jury's verdict was against the great weight of the evidence.
In reaching its verdict, the jury could have reasonably found the following facts, which are set out in a light most favorable to the State, to be true. On the night of October 11, 1975, the appellant visited a night spot in Enterprise called the Club Casino. While there, he was accosted by the deceased who was the manager of the club. The deceased slapped the appellant, presumably because the appellant appeared to be sneaking liquor into the establishment, which in fact was not the case.
Upon being slapped, the appellant left the club and returned to his home. He had a shotgun in his car, but the only shells he had contained birdshot. His purpose in returning home was to obtain shells containing buckshot. After loading his gun with buckshot, he returned to the Club Casino in the early morning of October 12, 1975.
Upon his return, the appellant engaged in a conversation with the deceased in the parking lot of the club. The appellant then walked to his car and removed the shotgun. Appellant yelled to his brother, who was standing by the deceased, to move. Appellant then fatally shot the deceased.
The deceased was known to habitually carry a pistol, and he was carrying a pistol on this occasion. When confronted by the shotgun brandishing appellant, the deceased attempted to draw his pistol. From the physical evidence, it was probable that the deceased pulled his pistol and had it pointed in the appellant's direction when the appellant fired.
Although it is not an indispensably crucial point, the jury could have reasonably concluded that the deceased never fired his pistol. An expert witness, Dale Carter, testified that the deceased's pistol had been damaged and that the cylinder had been jammed shut. The damage was caused by projectiles which were consistent with those recovered from the body of the deceased. Carter testified that the pistol would not fire and that it was Fully loaded when he received it. He also testified that in his opinion the pistol had not been opened nor reloaded because of the way in which it was jammed. It took Mr. Carter, working under ideal conditions, from twenty to thirty minutes to unjam the pistol in order to remove the bullets.
The appellant put on evidence which, if believed by the jury, controverted, denied and conflicted with the evidence as set out above.
It is not our function to examine the record in order to satisfy ourselves that the appellant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Our function, where sufficiency of the evidence is before us, is to examine the record and determine if the State put on sufficient evidence from which a jury might have found the accused guilty. We must allow all reasonable presumptions for the correctness of the verdict, bearing in mind that conflicting testimony presents a question for the jury. Only when the preponderance of the evidence against the verdict is so decided as to convince this Court that it was wrong and unjust will the verdict be overturned. Morton v. State, 58 Ala.App. ---, 338 So.2d 423 (1976).
The jury in this case had evidence before it from which it could reasonably conclude that the appellant did not act in self-defense. The jury would have been justified in believing that the appellant could have safely driven away from the scene instead of getting his gun and shooting the deceased. In addition, it is obvious that there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude that the appellant was not free from fault in initiating the shootout.
The appellant contends that the trial judge erred in admitting the deceased's pistol into evidence because there was an alleged break in the chain of evidence relating to the pistol. In order to admit the pistol or testimony relating to the pistol, it must be shown that the pistol was in substantially the same condition as at the time...
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Anderson v. State
...from which the jury can by fair inference find the defendant guilty, this Court has no right to disturb the verdict. Bell v. State, 339 So.2d 96 (Ala.Cr.App.1976). A verdict of conviction will not be set aside on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence, unless, allowing all reasonable p......
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Bankhead v. State
...from which the jury can by fair inference find the defendant guilty, this Court has no right to disturb the verdict. Bell v. State, 339 So.2d 96 (Ala.Cr.App.1976). A verdict of conviction will not be set aside on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence, unless, allowing all reasonable p......
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Jackson v. State
...a chain of custody is to show a reasonable probability that there has been no tampering with the item of evidence. Bell v. State, 339 So.2d 96 (Ala.Crim.App.1976). In passing upon the admissibility of such evidence, "the trial judge should consider the nature of the article and the circumst......
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Johnson v. State
...from which the jury can by fair inference find the defendant guilty, this Court has no right to disturb the verdict. Bell v. State, 339 So.2d 96 (Ala.Cr.App.1976). A verdict of conviction will not be set aside on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence, unless, allowing all reasonable p......