Chafin v. State

• Decision Date: 20 April 1976
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 854
• Citation: 333 So.2d 599
• Parties: Weldon Kay CHAFIN v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 599

333 So.2d 599

Weldon Kay CHAFIN v. STATE.

6 Div. 854.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

April 20, 1976.

Rehearing Denied May 18, 1976.

N. Daniel Rogers, Jr., Birmingham, for appellant.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., Montgomery, and Quentin Q. Brown, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Birmingham, for appellee.

DeCARLO, Judge.

Murder; life.

A grand jury in Jefferson County charged in an indictment that Weldon Kay Chafin unlawfully and with malice aforethought killed Nancy Chafin by choking her with his hands or means otherwise unknown.

An arraignment was conducted with counsel present and appellant pleaded not guilty. Later counsel filed a motion to dismiss the indictment and at that time interposed a demurrer. Each was overruled by the court.

After a four-day trial, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Sentence was pronounced in accordance with the verdict and appellant filed a motion for a new trial. A hearing was held and the motion was overruled.

Appellant is before this court as in indigent and represented by the same counsel who conducted his defense at trial.

On Sunday, August 20, 1972, Nancy Chafin disappeared. Mrs. Lorana M. Clark, Nancy Chafin's mother, testified she had seen her daughter on the Wednesday before August 20, and had talked with her on the telephone on the next day. Mrs. Clark stated she had not seen her or talked with her since that time.

Weldon Kay Chafin, Jr., the son of Nancy Chafin, stated his parents were divorced and he lived with his mother at 1809 Breckenridge Lane in Forestdale. He last saw her that Sunday at approximately 7:30 a.m. before he left for work.

Around noon he went home for lunch but did not see his mother. While there he received a telephone call for her from his father. He informed him that she was not there and looked for her at the time.

Returning from work that evening, Weldon Chafin, Jr., becamed concerned and telephoned neighbors, including the Adamses. Eddie Phipps then called and later came to the house. When Jake Adams and his wife arrived, they went to the basement. No evidence of a struggle was found in the house. In fact, the beds were made and Nancy Chafin's purse was found lying near the sink in the bathroom.

The authorities were called and a missing persons report was issued the following day.

Donald F. Haynes, on August 20, 1972 was employed by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and held the rank of sergeant. He testified that on August 21, 1972 a missing persons report was made concerning Nancy Chafin. That evening Sgt. Haynes spoke with Weldon Chafin, Sr., who said he had not been to his former wife's house on August 20.

On August 22, Haynes went to Nancy Chafin's house with the toxicologist, Robert Johnson. They discovered stains on the basement floor near a walk-through door. Scrapings of the stains were sealed in envelopes and given to Johnson. The house was not disarranged and photographs were made of the basement.

Robert B. Johnson was employed in the Birmingham Office of the Department of Toxicology and Criminal Investigation. He testified that on August 22, 1972, he went to the residence of Nancy Chafin with Sgt. Haynes of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. At that time he and Sgt. Haynes discovered some stains on the basement floor. A benzidine test was made on the scrapings of the stains which showed they were blood. However, he could not determine if the stains were human blood. On further questioning, Johnson stated the scrapings from the stains '. . . were sent to our headquarters office in Auburn.'

S. L. Roton was employed by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department; and on August 22, 1972, he and another officer picked up two envelopes at the State Toxicology Office in Birmingham. He did not know how the envelopes came into possession of the toxicology office in Birmingham, but stated he delivered them to William H. Landrum at the State Toxicology Department in Auburn.

William H. Landrum was employed by the State Department of Toxicology in Auburn as a criminalist and his primary duty was to perform forensic serological analyses. This procedure he explained, involved grouping and testing of dried stains. He testified that on August 22, 1972, at 5:30 P.M., S. L. Roton of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, gave him two envelopes. They were signed by Robert B. Johnson in two places, once across the seal. The envelopes were opened and the contents were analyzed. Over the objection of defense counsel, he stated the stains were human blood but responded on cross-examination, that he could not say it was any specific person's.

On August 24, 1972, Sgt. Haynes made photographs of some stains and a print found near the door on the wall of the basement. He said these photographs were turned over to Betty Leroy, a fingerprint technician in the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Miss Leroy acknowledged the photographs were given to her. She examined the photograph of the print and stated it '. . . looked like a palm print . . .', but '. . . decided it was not comparable.'

Barbara Ann Crowe was employed with Weldon Chafin, Sr., at Barnes Freight Line. On the morning of August 21, 1972, she observed scratches on the appellant's arms; but she had no idea what kind of marks they were. She acknowledged that appellant was employed to handle freight and that she made no comment to him about the scratches. During cross-examination, Mrs. Crowe did not remember the exact day when the marks were observed but thought it was after August 20, 1972. Sgt. Haynes also remembered seeing the marks on appellant's hands and arms on August 21, 1972.

Jake D. Adams testified that he was a neighbor and a friend of the Chafins and recalled talking with the appellant on either the Wednesday or Thursday before Nancy Chafin's reported disappearance on August 20, 1972. They were at Barnes Freight Lines in Birmingham at the time and Weldon Chafin, Sr., remarked:

'. . . 'Well, Jake, Nancy has finally done it.' I said--

'Q. What did you say in response to that?

'A. I asked, I said, 'what do you mean? What did she do?' He said, 'Well, she finally went out on me.' And I said 'I don't know what you mean.' And he said, 'Well, she went out on a date.' And he said, 'I am not going to stand for that.' He said that he followed her, he and another guy, and he said 'I won't stand for it.' He said, 'I will kill her before I see her do it any more.'

'Q. What did you say or do at that time, please, sir?

'A. I told him I said, 'Weldon' I said, 'Ya'll are divorced' and I said 'to me that sounds crazy.' And that's all that was said.'

Adams stated that on the Saturday evening before Nancy Chafin disappeared, he saw the appellant driving around the block. Adams said his wife, daughter, and Mrs. Chafin were in the house at the time.

Adams went on to say that he had another conversation with Chafin on the Wednesday or Thursday following August 20, 1972, at Union Envelope Company. The record gives the following account of that conversation:

'A. He asked me had I heard from the boys and he said he appreciated what I had done for the boys. And he asked me had I heard any news concerning the case of Nancy. And I told him that I had heard they found blood at the end of the stair steps that had been wiped up with a cloth and that they had found a handprint and that they should know who done it within a few days because it had been sent off to be analyzed.

'Q. What did he do or what did he say at that time?

'A. At that time he went into a nervous state--

'MR. CORRETTI: We object to that and move that it be excluded.

'THE COURT: Sustain. Exclude it. Disregard it, ladies and gentlemen.

'Q. What did he say? Did he say anything at that time?

'A. At that time he said 'that is my handprint. They are coming after me.'

'Q. And what did he do after that?

'A. He fell over on the ground. I picked him up under the arms, taken him inside the building and got some water and bathed his face with it.

'Q. Was anything else said after that?

'A. Not of my remembrance.'

Adams also said he learned of Nancy Chafin's disappearance when Weldon Chafin, Jr., called on Sunday, August 20, 1972. Later he went to the Chafin house with his wife, a deputy and Weldon Chafin, Jr.

During cross-examination, Adams admitted selling the Chafins a light tan Buick but denied having any knowledge that it was stolen.

Robert Duncan, who was thirteen years old at the time of the trial, lived across the alley in back of Nancy Chafin's house on August 20. He testified that between 8:00 and 8:30 that morning, he rode a bicycle down the alley to get the morning paper. On his return home he heard a door slam as he was passing the Chafin house. He 'looked' and saw Weldon Chafin, Sr., walking around the edge of the house. Duncan waved, but the appellant continued in the direction of a white Chevrolet Impala automobile. The door on the driver's side was open at the time but he did not remember whether the engine was running. The witness had seen the appellant driving this car on many occasions.

During cross-examination Duncan said he was about 110 feet away when he saw the appellant and it was only for a 'split second.' He said he looked twice, once when he heard the door and then when he waved. Duncan said Chafin was wearing a windbreaker at the time but could have told the grand jury the man was wearing a plaid shirt.

Oscar McDuffie on August 20, lived across the street from the Chafin residence. He testified that around 7:00 A.M. on that Sunday he looked out the window of the front door and saw a gold-looking Buick automobile in the driveway. Later he looked and the Buick was gone and a white Chevrolet was there. When he went out to get the paper at approximately 8:30 A.M. the Chevrolet was gone.

McDuffie stated he had seen the Buick at the Chafin house on a number of accasions and had on many occasions seen Weldon Chafin, Sr., with the white Chevrolet. The witness went on to say he saw no one...