Borden v. State, 8 Div. 777
| Decision Date | 05 October 1976 |
| Docket Number | 8 Div. 777 |
| Citation | 337 So.2d 1388 |
| Parties | James Henry BORDEN alias Junior Borden v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
William H. Rogers, Moulton, for appellant.
William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and Jane LeCroy Robbins, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The Defendant was indicted and tried for Murder in the First Degree. A jury convicted him of Murder in the Second Degree and fixed his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary of Alabama for thirty-two (32) years.
On arraignment the Defendant pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The defendant filed a motion requesting a psychiatric examination by the Forensic Evaluation Board at Bryce Hospital, the state agreed to such examination and the Trial Judge ordered the examination. Said board reported its findings to the Court that the Defendant was mildly mentally retarded but was competent and would be able to assist his counsel in the preparation of his case and trial.
The Defendant filed a motion for a change of venue and after a lengthy evidentiary hearing the Trial Court denied the motion.
The evidence indicates that on February 8, 1975, that the Defendant and his cousin Bob Peoples and their waives went to the store of Mr. Harold Young in Lawrence County, Alabama, about 7:30 o'clock P.M. and waited around until all of the customers left the store and Bob Peoples and the two women went into the store, Peoples being armed with a shotgun and while Peoples and the women were in the store the Defendant filled his automobile with gasoline from the pumps in front of Young's store. Peoples and the women robbed Young and Peoples forced him into the Defendant's car at gunpoint. Peoples, the two women and the Defendant all got into the car with Mr. Young and drove some distance to a mountainside where they turned the car around and Mr. Young was forced out of the car and carried to a clearing just off the road where he was forced to lie down on the ground and Peoples put the gun to Young's temple and shot him in the head and Mr. Young died from said gunshot wound. Peoples and the Defendant got back into the car and together with their wives rode to another mountainside where they threw away the gun used to kill Mr. Young. They returned to the City of Moulton and remained a few hours before departing for the State of Michigan late at night on February 8th or early morning on February 9th. Sometime during the night of February 8th the body of Mr. Young was found and one Sizemore, the coroner of Lawrence County, went to the scene and identified Mr. Young and determined the cause of death to be the gunshot wound in the head. On February 13th the Defendant, Peoples and their wives returned to the City of Moulton from the State of Michigan and were promptly arrested and given their Miranda warnings at that time. Sometime later that night the Defendant was carried to the county jail in Lauderdale County and upon his arrival at the Lauderdale County Jail he was interviewed by Officer Haney, a state investigator, in the presence of some other officers. He was again given his Miranda warnings and asked if he understood his rights and told Officer Haney that he did understand his rights and thereafter made an oral confession to Officer Haney. Later that night he returned to Lawrence County with some officers in an unsuccessful attempt to recover the gun used to kill Mr. Young. He was not given any Miranda warnings at the commencement of or during the trip to Lawrence County to hunt the gun and was returned to the Lawrence County Jail sometime around midnight. Three or four days later Coroner Sizemore questioned the Defendant for several hours in the Lauderdale County Jail and, as a result of such questioning, produced a written statement which the Defendant signed and initialed each page of, admitting his participation in the events culminating in the death of Mr. Young. He was given his Miranda warnings before the questioning commenced and again before he signed the written statement.
After the Defendant was adjudged guilty of Murder in the Second Degree, his attorney filed a motion for a new trial alleging that the evidence in the cause showed conclusively that the killing was Murder in the First Degree and that the jury was not authorized to find the Defendant guilty of Murder in the Second Degree under such evidence. The Trial Judge overruled the motion for a new trial and his action is here assigned as error.
During the course of the trial after a voir dire hearing out of the presence of the jury, the Trial Judge admitted into evidence the oral statement of the Defendant given to Officer Haney and the written statement given to Coroner Sizemore, all over the Defendant's objection. The admission of these two statements into evidence are assigned as errors in this cause.
During the course of the trial on two...
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Montgomery v. State, 6 Div. 211
...412 So.2d 826 (Ala.Cr.App.1981); Stennett v. State, 340 So.2d 67 (Ala.Cr.App.1976); Ala.Code, § 12-16-233 (1975). In Borden v. State, 337 So.2d 1388 (Ala.Cr.App.1976), the court held that when a trial judge sustained an objection and properly instructed the jury to disregard the matter that......
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Liner v. State
...on proper inferences from the evidence and may draw conclusions from the evidence based upon his own reasoning. Borden v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 337 So.2d 1388 (1976). Liberal rules are allowed counsel in drawing inferences from the evidence in their arguments to the jury, whether they are tru......
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Harbor v. State
...394 So.2d 977 (Ala.1981); Shadle v. State, 280 Ala. 379, 194 So.2d 538 (Ala.1967); § 12-16-233, Alabama Code (1975). In Borden v. State, 337 So.2d 1388 (Ala.Cr.App.1976), this court held that where a trial judge sustained an objection and properly instructed the jury to disregard the matter......
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Manigan v. State, 6 Div. 242
...every legitimate inference. Williams v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 377 So.2d 634, cert. den. Ala., 377 So.2d 639 (1979); Borden v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 337 So.2d 1388 (1976). Clearly, there were facts in evidence from which the assistant district attorney could have drawn the inference that appella......