Benedict v. State
| Decision Date | 27 May 1986 |
| Docket Number | 8 Div. 314 |
| Citation | 494 So.2d 865 |
| Parties | Paul Frederick BENEDICT v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
J. Allen Brinkley, Daniel F. Aldridge of Brinkley & Ford, Huntsville, for appellant.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., Jean Williams Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Paul Frederick Benedict was indicted for murder, a violation of § 13A-6-2, Code of Alabama 1975, but convicted by a jury of the lesser included offense of manslaughter. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and ordered to pay $18,571.70 restitution.
The appellant claims that the State's evidence was insufficient to support a conviction. The testimony presented during the prosecution's case-in-chief showed that the appellant and the deceased victim, Cynthia Diane Poole, were living together, and that on the night of June 17, 1984, they were at a local bar. The appellant called a cab for a ride home and waited for the deceased. The bar's bouncer "assisted" the deceased out of the bar and into the cab. (According to the record, the deceased was an alcoholic who often became "stumbling drunk.") She hit her head on the car while entering, but apparently was not injured. While en route, she began screaming and the appellant backhanded her across the face. After arriving at their apartment, the deceased again began screaming. The appellant stated that he "quieted down" the deceased by slapping her several times before he "blacked out."
He further testified that when he awoke the next morning the deceased was unconscious on the bathroom floor. He called the emergency 911 number to have an ambulance sent to the apartment. The 911 operator also wanted to have the appellant talk to the police.
The appellant then hung up the telephone before the police were contacted.
The appellant gave conflicting versions of where he found the deceased. He told the ambulance service on the 911 number, "I have a lady here I just found on my front doorstep kind of beat up." At the emergency room he told the investigating police officer that he had "found her lying in [sic] the living room floor." During interrogation, he stated he "found Cindy in the bathroom."
The deceased had numerous injuries. Her eyes were blackened and nearly swollen shut. She had bruises on her arms, torso, legs, and knees. When the paramedics treated her at the apartment, her cheeks and temple regions were swollen, and her pupils were nonreactive, indicating a skull fracture or cerebral bleeding.
There was much testimony from neighbors regarding the appellant's past physical abuse of the deceased, e.g., slapping, hitting, kicking her, dragging her by the hair, and even throwing her against a wall. The deceased was reportedly always bruised. Sometime after the fatal incident, the appellant went to a neighbor's apartment and told the neighbor, "Look, she's forcing me into things that I don't want to do .... she's forcing me to beat her and make her the second victim in this whole deal."
At the sentencing, the trial judge stated, "I heard the same evidence as the jury in this case ... and I believe that you are very lucky to have received the verdict that you did." The trial judge did not err in denying the appellant's motion regarding insufficiency of the state's evidence.
The appellant claims that the restitution order is unlawful in that the trial judge erred in ordering that the restitution be paid before the indigent appellant may be considered for parole. The court reporter's understanding of the judge's order is as follows:
"I'll further order that you pay a victim compensation assessment of $1,640 in accordance with the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Act adopted by the legislature of Alabama and approved by the governor in 1984; and I will further expressly order that, as a condition of you being released on parole by the State Board of Pardons and Parole, or as a condition of your early release from the time that I have sentenced to you [sic] by any agency of the state government, that you first make restitution in the case in the amount of $16,931.70, which is the aggregate amount of the medical expenses incurred in connection with treatment of the injuries sustained by Cynthia Diane Poole." (Emphasis added.)
The judgment entry differs from the transcript in that it does not condition parole on prior payment of restitution.
The judgment entry in this record states as follows:
Alabama has a long-established rule that where there is a conflict in the record between the court reporter's transcript and a written judgment entry, the judgment entry controls. Keeton v. State, 280 Ala. 140, 190 So.2d 694 (1966); Tuberville v. State, 348 So.2d 868 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 348 So.2d 870 (Ala.1977). This is especially true when the sentence according to the court reporter's transcript might be unlawful, while the judgment entry reflects a valid sentence. Williams v. State, 27 Ala. App. 542, 176 So. 471, cert. denied, 234 Ala. 622, 176 So. 472 (1937).
The restitution statutes provide for payment of restitution while in prison in some instances. Specifically, § 15-18-71, Code of Alabama 1975, reads:
"When a defendant is sentenced to a term...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Wanzer v. District of Columbia
...of summoning one or more of these vital and integrally related services to the scene of a calamity. See, e.g., Benedict v. State, 494 So.2d 865, 866 (Ala.Crim.App. 1986); People v. Amato, 193 Colo. 57, 58, 562 P.2d 422, 423 (1977); State v. Vincik, 398 N.W.2d 788, 790 (Iowa 1987); Ross v. C......
-
Harrison v. State
...a Class B felony in addition to the mandatory five-year term pursuant to the "schoolyard" enhancement statute). In Benedict v. State, 494 So.2d 865, 867 (Ala.Cr.App.1986), this court "Alabama has a long-established rule that where there is a conflict in the record between the court reporter......