Carpenter v. State
| Decision Date | 20 January 1981 |
| Docket Number | 4 Div. 776 |
| Citation | 400 So.2d 417 |
| Parties | Fannie Cornelia CARPENTER v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Boyd Whigham, Clayton, for appellant.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen. and J. T. Simonetti, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
The appellant was indicted and convicted for first degree murder; the shotgun slaying of her son-in-law, Robert Earl Faircloth. In compliance with the jury verdict, sentence was fixed at life imprisonment.
The State's evidence was sufficient to prove appellant's guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. The evidence was conflicting in certain instances, especially in regard to appellant's claim of self-defense; however, any differences of fact were resolved by the jury. It is not the function of this court to reweigh the evidence. This court is required to review the evidence presented in the light most favorable to the State, Bass v. State, 55 Ala.App. 88, 313 So.2d 208 (1975), and not substitute its judgment for that of the jury, Cumbo v. State, Ala.Cr.App. 368 So.2d 871 (1978), cert. denied, Ala., 368 So.2d 877 (1979).
Briefly, the pertinent facts reveal that the deceased had physically and emotionally abused his wife, Mary Ella, on a frequent basis during their five year marriage. There was also evidence that the deceased had abused his children. Appellant became aware of the deceased's abusive behavior approximately two years before she killed him, although Mary Ella had tried to keep it a secret.
Appellant came to stay with Mary Ella and the deceased the first week of September, 1978, to "take care of the children" while Mary Ella was in the hospital for an operation on her hand. When her daughter returned home, appellant witnessed the deceased twist her stitched hand "for no reason at all." Appellant also saw the deceased whip the couple's three-year-old and one-year-old children with a doubled belt and "hit them under the throat with his hand."
Later in the month Mary Ella returned to work, and appellant agreed to continue taking care of the children until her daughter could find a baby-sitter. On one occasion during this period, appellant heard the deceased hitting Mary Ella with a belt and threatening "to knock her teeth down her throat." When appellant told the deceased to stop hitting her daughter, the deceased told her, "(I)f you don't shut your mouth ... I'll give you some of what I'm giving her." Appellant stated that she left the room because she did not want her teeth knocked out. Appellant testified that the deceased was generally "mean and cruel" to Mary Ella.
Later, on the morning of September 28, 1978, Mary Ella left for work in her station wagon between 6:00 and 7:00 a. m. When she got off around 8:15 or 8:30 that evening, the deceased was waiting outside in his truck. The deceased then followed Mary Ella home, and upon arriving "he started twisting my arms and everything and he told me I never would drive the car anymore." The deceased took Mary Ella's car keys and left again in his truck. The deceased worked at the Anderson Peanut Company and reported for work that night at 9:00 p. m. Appellant witnessed the arm twisting through the mobile home window. Appellant, Mary Ella, and the children went to bed at approximately 10:00 p. m.
Around 1:00 or 1:30 a. m. on September 29, 1980, the deceased returned home to get a pot of coffee. The deceased woke Mary Ella up snatching her by her hair, slapped her across the bed, and accused her of infidelity. Appellant testified that she heard the deceased hit her daughter and heard her crying; "I stood there to see just how hard he was going to whip her, and he turned around and he says I will be back to kill you (Mary Ella)." The deceased then left and went back to work in Mary Ella's car. Appellant stated that she was too scared to leave the mobile home and could not sleep the rest of the night even though she had taken pain medication for her back problems and valium for her "nerves."
Appellant heard the deceased return from work between 5:00 and 5:30 a. m. and saw him standing outside the mobile home with his hands in his pocket. Appellant started toward her daughter's room to warn her the deceased was home when she saw the deceased "coming right straight at me." Appellant did not have the time to wake Mary Ella; "I thought that there was murder in his eyes ... and he was so close to me at that time that I think he was fixing to grab me." Appellant testified that she got a gun out of the broom closet, stepped back, and pulled the trigger.
Mrs. Mary Jordan, a next-door neighbor to the Faircloths, testified that she heard two gunshots around 5:00 a. m. on September 29, 1980, as she was getting ready to go to work. She stated that the shots were spaced three to four minutes apart. Mrs. Jordan was sure it was minutes rather than seconds. Approximately ten minutes after hearing the gunshots, the appellant came to Mrs. Jordan's door and told her that she had shot the deceased, to call an ambulance and the sheriff. Appellant also told Mrs. Jordan that the deceased was lying in the yard and she "hoped he was dead." Mrs. Jordan stated that appellant was not upset or crying, but "seemed real calm."
After being properly advised of her constitutional rights, appellant voluntarily gave a signed confession at the scene admitting that she had shot the deceased. She also voluntarily retrieved the murder weapon from the closet and handed it to the authorities.
Allen Booth, Coroner for Pike County, again advised appellant of her constitutional rights at approximately 8:00 a. m. at the Pike County Jail. In the presence of Mr. Booth, the district attorney, Sheriff Anderson, and appellant's husband, the appellant voluntarily admitted that she shot the deceased twice.
Sheriff Anderson testified that when appellant was asked why she shot twice "she said she thought maybe he was winged or wounded like an animal and might run off and she wanted to make sure he was dead." Sheriff Anderson further testified that in another statement appellant told him she first shot the deceased on the top step to the mobile home and a second time on the bottom step. Coroner Booth's testimony concerning appellant's statements was similar in all respects.
Thorough searches inside the mobile home and of the mobile home's steps by several law enforcement personnel failed to reveal any bloodstains. The closest blood spots were discovered some forty-nine inches from the bottom mobile home step.
A careful examination of the murder scene did not reveal any weapons on or near the deceased. Two spent .12 gauge shotgun shells were recovered. Blood, skin, and bone fragments were discovered at the base of a pecan tree and on the grill of the station wagon parked near the deceased.
An autopsy revealed that the deceased received two gunshot wounds, one to the left elbow and one to the chest. Both shots were fired at close range, but because of the pattern spread the shot to the chest was conceivably fired at a lesser distance. The cause of death was due to massive bleeding from the chest wound.
As repulsive as the deceased's abusive treatment of his family may have been and as frightened as appellant may have felt concerning the threat the deceased had made to her daughter some four hours earlier, based on the foregoing facts, there can be no doubt that each element of first degree murder was firmly established. Section 13-1-70, Code of Ala.1975; Young v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 363 So.2d 1007 (1978). Proof of the corpus delicti was clearly shown prior to the admission of appellant's voluntary confession. Jones v. State, 260 Ala. 341, 70 So.2d 629 (1954). Where there is evidence of first degree murder and also evidence of self-defense, a jury question is presented. Hutchens v. State, 207 Ala. 126, 92 So. 409 (1922); King v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 355 So.2d 1148 (1978).
The Alabama Supreme Court wrote in Byrd v. State, 257 Ala. 100, 104, 57 So.2d 388 (1952):
However, even if the evidence of self-defense is undisputed, the credibility of the defendant with respect to the evidence of self-defense is for the jury, and they may, in their discretion, accept it as true or reject it. Kemp v. State, 278 Ala. 637, 179 So.2d 762 (1965); Mack v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 348 So.2d 524 (1977). The jurors are not bound to accept the defendant's testimony as true or draw any inference of danger from the circumstances. Kemp, supra. These same rules apply where one invokes the doctrine of self-defense in the protection of a third person. See Mack, supra. Appellant's motion to exclude was properly overruled, and the affirmative charge was not due to be given. Walker v. State, 265 Ala. 233, 90 So.2d 221 (1956).
The trial court properly denied appellant's pretrial motion to reduce the charge from first degree murder to second degree murder. Whether appellant's acts constituted first or second degree murder was a jury question. A trial judge may not determine the sufficiency of evidence prior to trial or resolve conflicts of fact where such is the function of the jury.
The trial court did not err in admitting State's Exhibits 13, 14, and 16 which were photographs...
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