Chatom v. State

• Decision Date: 21 September 1990
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 114
• Citation: 591 So.2d 101
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
• Parties: Jere CHATOM v. STATE.

Page 101

591 So.2d 101

Jere CHATOM v. STATE.

1 Div. 114.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Sept. 21, 1990.

On Return to Remand May 31, 1991.

Rehearing Denied July 26, 1991.

Certiorari Denied Nov. 27, 1991

Alabama Supreme Court 1901697

and 1901698.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Mobile County; Ferrill McRae, Judge.

Al Pennington, Joseph M. Powers (on return to remand), Mobile, for appellant.

James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Jean A. Therkelsen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TAYLOR, Presiding Judge.

Appellant Jere Chatom filed an appeal from two second-degree murder convictions. Although the record indicates that the appellant is indigent and has appointed counsel, no brief has been filed. This case is remanded to the circuit court for that court to determine whether the appellant has abandoned his appeal, and if he has not, to appoint counsel to represent appellant on appeal. A return should be filed to this court within a time period not to exceed 90 days.

REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.

All the Judges concur.

ON RETURN TO REMAND

TAYLOR, Judge.

The appellant, Jere Chatom, was convicted in 1976 for the murder of two Mobile County sheriff deputies. He was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment. On appeal, this Court reversed and remanded the conviction. Thereafter, our Supreme Court reversed this Court, and the appellant's conviction was subsequently affirmed. Chatom v. State, 348 So.2d 828 (Ala.Cr.App.1976), rev'd, 348 So.2d 838 (Ala.); on remand, 348 So.2d 843 (Ala.Cr.App.1977). The appellant then petitioned for writ of habeas corpus in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. On October 27, 1988, the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded the appellant's conviction on the grounds that he had been denied effective assistance of counsel at trial. Chatom v. White, 858 F.2d 1479 (11th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1054, 109 S.Ct. 1316, 103 L.Ed.2d 585 (1989). The appellant was then retried in the Circuit Court for Mobile County.

Prior to the appellant's second trial, the state moved to consolidate the indictments against the appellant. This motion was granted by the trial court. The appellant was tried in July 1989. He was found guilty of two counts of murder in the second degree and was sentenced to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment. The appellant was credited with the time he had already served. The present appeal is from the second trial of the appellant.

The evidence at trial tended to show that on November 17, 1975, Jere Chatom and Michael Wilson were spotted by Deputy Ronald Barry Kelso of the Mobile County Sherriff's office while he was on routine patrol in the Mobile County area. While Kelso was patrolling Tanner-Williams Road, he observed an orange and black Blazer vehicle ahead of him traveling at 70 to 75 miles per hour. When Deputy Kelso attempted to stop the vehicle, it sped up, turned off the road and into a field, turned around using a "doughnut" maneuver, and fled in the other direction. Kelso gave chase. As Kelso closed in on the Blazer, the person occupying the passenger side of the vehicle shot the rear window of the Blazer out and started firing at Kelso's car with a shotgun. He fired two shots at Kelso's patrol car. The blasts from the shotgun blew out the left front tire, shattered his left front headlight, knocked out the "blue light" on the driver's side of the patrol car, and hit the hood and the windshield. In all, approximately 80 pellets from the shotgun blast struck the patrol car. Deputy Kelso identified the appellant as the person who fired at him from inside the Blazer. A short time after this incident, back-up officers arrived and Kelso explained the situation to them. Shortly thereafter, the officers found the Blazer abandoned in a nearby field.

While Officers Kelso and Burchett examined the contents of a briefcase found near the abandoned vehicle, Deputies Stolz, Beck, and Morgan started a search of a nearby wooded area. All of a sudden gunshots rang out from the wooded area and it "sounded like a small civil war." As Kelso and Burchett ran towards the gunfire, they found deputies Beck and Stolz dead, and Deputy Morgan wounded.

Michael Wilson, who was driving the Blazer, was also killed during the incident. James Small, a criminalist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences testified that he examined the body of Michael Wilson and that Wilson had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. He described this wound as a "contact" wound, meaning that the barrel of the gun was actually pressed against Wilson's chest when it was fired. Small further testified that, in his opinion, the wound was not self-inflicted.

The appellant testified in his own behalf at trial. He denied any involvement in the deaths of Beck and Stolz. He raises the following issues on appeal.

I

Appellant contends that it was reversible error for the trial court to overrule defense counsel's motion for mistrial when the prosecutor commented on the defendant's use of drugs in the rebuttal portion of his opening statement. The complained of remarks were as follows:

"THE COURT: Any rebuttal?

"MR. VALESKA [Prosecutor]: Yes, sir, just a little bit, Judge.

"One thing that I forgot to tell you, and since Mr. Deen brought it up, I expect the evidence will show to you that on Sunday night and Monday morning Jere Chatom and Michael Wilson were shooting up opium and smoking marijuana and taking other dope, since he brought it up, is--

"MR. DEEN: Excuse me, Your Honor, I didn't bring up anything about what they--about them doing any drugs the night before, and that's a different act that we're not on trial for today."

Mr. Deen in his opening statement had made the following comments:

"When he hurt his wrist he lost his job, came back here to Mobile County, got a job and got married, had a child, and he started hanging around with kind of a rough crowd, the wrong type of crowd, and he got some prescription codeine pills from a doctor and he sold some to a friend one time. Now, when he sold them to the friend, the friend had a friend with him who happened to be a narcotics agent. Jere ends up going to federal--he got sent over to Federal Court and ended up going to prison at the age of about 19. When he was 19 he was sent to prison for six years from Federal Court for selling the codeine. I want you all to know that."

After defense counsel objected to the comment made by the prosecutor, the following exchange took place:

"MR. DEEN: We move for a mistrial. I brought it up in opening that he'd been convicted of selling codeine some two years [before] this incident. Nothing brought up about anybody shooting up dope. That's another offense and we object to him bringing it up and I don't think your instructions will cure the error and that's prejudicial error for him to bring up something that's--

"MR. VALESKA: That's what I expect--

"MR. DEEN: That not a reply in kind to anything I said.

"THE COURT: First of all, what you said is 'he' used some drugs and sold some to a friend and the friend happened to be a police officer. You didn't say when.

"MR. DEEN: Yes, sir, I was talking about--

"THE COURT: But you have it in the record and it's denied.

"MR. DEEN: --when he went to prison.

"THE COURT: And it's denied.

"MR. VALESKA: That's what I expect the evidence to show. That's going to come out anyway."

It is clear after a review of the comments that the prosecution's remarks were not made as a reply in kind to the comments made by defense counsel. Two totally separate instances were involved.

To warrant reversal, the comments by the prosecutor must be "grossly improper and highly prejudicial." Louisville & N.R.R. v. Sullivan Timber Co., 126 Ala. 95, 27 So. 760 (1900). " 'The prosecution's opening statement to the jury on what it expects to prove should be confined to statements based on facts admissible in evidence.' " Ex parte Baldwin, 456 So.2d 129, 136 (Ala.1984), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 372, 105 S.Ct. 2727, 86 L.Ed.2d 300 (1985). (Emphasis added.) Evidence of a separate offense unrelated to the crime in which the appellant is charged is not admissible at trial. See C. Gamble, McElroy's Alabama Evidence § 69.01 (3d Ed.1977). See Popwell v. State, 530 So.2d 892 (Ala.Cr.App.1988); Blanco v. State, 515 So.2d 115 (Ala.Cr.App.1987); Phillips v. State, 505 So.2d 1075 (Ala.Cr.App.1986); Terrell v. State, 397 So.2d 232 (Ala.Cr.App.), writ denied, 397 So.2d 235 (Ala.1981); Tillman v. State, 374 So.2d 922 (Ala.Cr.App.1978), writ quashed, 374 So.2d 926 (Ala.1979); Anderson v. State, 354 So.2d 1156 (Ala.Cr.App.1977), cert. denied, 354 So.2d 1161 (Ala.1977); Fuller v. State, 269 Ala. 312, 113 So.2d 153 (1959), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 936, 80 S.Ct. 380, 4 L.Ed.2d 358 (1960).

We cannot say that the statement concerning offenses other than those charged in the indictment is harmless. See Ex parte Lowe, 514 So.2d 1049 (Ala.1987). To be harmless error, the statement must not have affected the appellant's substantial rights. Rule 45, Ala.R.App.P. We believe that the comment so prejudiced the appellant in the eyes of the jury that he was denied a fair trial. For the reasons stated above, this case is reversed and remanded to the Circuit Court for Mobile County.

II

The appellant next contends that the trial court erred in denying his Batson motion based on grounds of denial of due process. Specifically, he contends that the state used its peremptory strikes to eliminate all blacks from the venire. Initially, we note that the appellant is a white male challenging the removal of blacks from the jury venire. The appellant now has standing to challenge the removal of blacks from the jury venire.

This issue has recently been decided by the United States Supreme Court in Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991). That Court stated:

"Invoking the Equal Protection Clause and federal statutory law, and relying upon well-established principles of standing, we hold that a...