Carroll v. State

• Decision Date: 27 August 1999
• Parties: Taurus CARROLL v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

852 So.2d 801

Taurus CARROLL v. STATE.

CR-97-1019.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

August 27, 1999.

Opinion on Return to Remand November 19, 1999.

Rehearing Denied January 28, 2000.

Joe W. Morgan, Jr., Birmingham, for appellant.

William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen., and A. Vernon Barnett IV, asst. atty. gen., for appellee.

LONG, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, Taurus Carroll, was convicted of murder made capital because it was committed during the course of a robbery in the first degree. See § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala.Code 1975. The jury, by a vote of 10-2, recommended that Carroll be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The trial court overrode the jury's recommendation and sentenced Carroll to death.

The State's evidence tended to show the following. On Sunday, April 9, 1995, at approximately 4:00 p.m., Betty Long was shot and killed during a robbery of the dry-cleaning and coin-laundry business she owned with her husband, Raymond Long. On the day of the shooting, Mrs. Long was working alone at the dry-cleaning business, which was located at 4641 10th Avenue North in the Kingston area of Birmingham. Her husband, a Birmingham firefighter, was at work at the fire station. The Longs' daughter, Courtney, was home from college for the weekend, and had agreed to pick up her mother at the dry cleaning business at 4:00 p.m., the usual closing time.

Courtney Long testified that she arrived at the dry-cleaning business at approximately 4:00 p.m. to pick up her mother. Upon entering, she said, she noticed several customers at the back of the store, near the coin washers and dryers. Courtney stated that her mother then told her that they would not close until the customers had finished washing and drying their clothes. Courtney joined Mrs. Long behind the counter, near the cash register. According to Courtney, two men approached her and her mother, walked behind the counter, and pulled out guns. Courtney positively identified Carroll as one of the gunmen; she positively identified Carroll's codefendant, Mack Dailey,¹ as the other gunman. Courtney testified that Carroll stayed close to her and pointed his gun at her, while Dailey stood near Mrs. Long. She stated that Carroll demanded that she give him the necklace she was wearing and that Dailey demanded money from Mrs. Long. Courtney gave Carroll her necklace, and her mother gave Dailey the money in her purse, as well as money that was lying on the counter. She testified that she could not recall whether her mother had removed any money from the cash register. According to Courtney, Dailey then said, "There must be something else to steal." (R. 582.) At that point, Courtney looked at her mother, and then heard a gunshot. Courtney testified that her mother gasped, slumped over the counter, and then fell to the floor. Carroll and Dailey fled the scene. Courtney dialed the emergency 911 number and comforted her mother until the paramedics arrived. When the paramedics took Mrs. Long to the hospital, Courtney locked the dry-cleaning business, went home and packed a bag for her mother, and then went to the hospital. Courtney testified that at the time, she believed her mother was going to survive because she had remained conscious and was talking after she had been shot. That evening, Betty Long died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

On cross-examination, Courtney testified that Carroll appeared more nervous than Dailey during the robbery and that Carroll did not talk as much as Dailey did.

Alfred Streeter, an eyewitness, testified that he was at the back of the dry-cleaning business with his brother, Roderick Streeter, when he saw two men enter the store and walk behind the counter where Mrs. Long and her daughter were standing. Streeter positively identified Carroll as one of the men. Streeter stated that as the men walked behind the counter, he saw one of them holding a shiny object behind his leg, as if he were "trying to hide it." (R. 503.) Streeter could not identify which man was holding the object. He stated that he could not identify the object, and that he did not see a gun. Streeter stated that he watched as Mrs. Long went to the cash register and opened it. He then turned to his brother and told him that he thought Mrs. Long was being robbed. At that point, Streeter said, he heard "a click" and then a gunshot. (R. 506.) According to Streeter, approximately 15 to 20 seconds passed between the click and the shot. Streeter stated that he saw the two men then flee the dry-cleaning business. He testified that he did not see which of the two men shot Mrs. Long.

Charles Underwood, an evidence technician with the Birmingham Police Department, testified that he collected evidence from the Longs' dry-cleaning business on the night of April 9, 1995. He arrived at the scene, along with several other officers, at approximately 7:55 p.m., and Raymond Long unlocked the business's doors and let them inside. Underwood took several photographs inside the dry-cleaning business and searched for spent shell casings. Under a pile of clothes behind the counter, Underwood found a spent shell casing from a .25 caliber handgun. Underwood testified that he found no fingerprints on the casing.

Dr. Robert Brissie, the chief coroner and medical examiner for Jefferson County, testified that he performed an external exam and an autopsy on Betty Long on the morning of April 10,1995. In addition, he examined certain clothes that had arrived with Mrs. Long's body and that were labeled as belonging to her. Dr. Brissie testified that Betty Long died as a result of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Dr. Brissie removed the bullet that killed Mrs. Long and turned it over to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. Dr. Brissie stated that he found no gunpowder around the entrance wound on Mrs. Long's body. This, he said, indicated that the gunshot came from a distance of at least 12 to 20 inches. He also stated that he examined the jeans Betty Long was wearing when she was shot. He stated that he found a hole in the jeans that "paralleled" the gunshot wound in Long's abdomen. Dr. Brissie testified that he found no gunpowder on the jeans, again indicating, he said, that the shot that killed Mrs. Long was fired from a distance of at least 12 to 20 inches.

Ed Moran, a firearms and toolmarks examiner with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that he examined a bullet he had received from Dr. Brissie. Moran testified that the bullet came from a .25 caliber automatic pistol. He stated that a .25 caliber pistol would not leave any gunpowder residue at a distance greater than 12 to 14 inches. On cross-examination, Moran testified that it would be possible to discharge a .25 caliber pistol accidently. He stated that during times of stress, people often lose fine-motor control in their hands.

John Ennis, a homicide detective with the Birmingham Police Department, testified that he was the lead investigator in Betty Long's homicide. Detective Ennis stated that, on April 10, 1995, after learning that Carroll may have been involved in the shooting, he and his partner, Detective David Lucas, picked up Carroll at his grandmother's house and transported him to the police station for an interview. Carroll was 17 years old at the time. Upon arriving at the station, Detective Lucas read Carroll his juvenile-Miranda rights. Detective Ennis testified that Carroll indicated that he understood his rights, that Carroll signed a waiver form to that effect, and that he agreed to make a statement. Detective Ennis further testified that Carroll was not threatened or coerced into making a statement, and he was not promised anything in exchange for making a statement. Carroll then made a tape-recorded statement to the police in which he admitted shooting Betty Long, but in which he claimed that the shooting was an accident. Carroll stated that after the robbery, he gave the necklace he had taken from Courtney Long to a man named "Tank" and sold the gun he had used to a man named "Julio."

Detective Ennis testified that after this interview, he and Detective Lucas attempted to locate "Tank" and "Julio"; when they were unsuccessful in locating either individual, they conducted a second interview with Carroll. Carroll made a second statement to the police on April 12, 1995, after he was again informed of his juvenile-Miranda rights, after he indicated that he understood his rights, and after he signed a second waiver-of-rights form. Detective Ennis testified that Carroll was not threatened or coerced and that no promises were made to induce Carroll's statement. According to Detective Ennis, in that second statement, which was not tape-recorded, Carroll again stated that the shooting of Betty Long was an accident. Carroll stated that Mrs. Long was talking loudly and that his gun "just went off." (R. 645.) He further stated that the gun he used was a .25 caliber pistol, and that he was sorry the shooting had occurred.

At trial, Carroll's theory of defense was that the shooting was accidental. Although Carroll did not testify on his own behalf, Carroll's trial counsel argued to the jury, during both opening and closing arguments, that while Carroll had shot Betty Long, he did so accidentally, and he did not intend to kill her. Carroll's counsel conceded in his argument to the jury that Carroll was guilty of robbery and of felony murder; however, he maintained that because the shooting was accidental, Carroll was not guilty of capital murder.

On appeal, Carroll raises seven issues. However, because we must remand this case for resentencing, we address only those five issues relating to the guilt phase of Carroll's trial.

I.

Carroll contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment based on the alleged "underrepresentation of certain cognizable groups in the composition" of the grand and petit juries in Jefferson County. (C. 110.) In this regard,...