Cleckler v. State

• Decision Date: 29 June 1990
• Docket Number: 5 Div. 581
• Citation: Cleckler v. State, 570 So.2d 796 (Ala. Crim. App. 1990)
• Parties: Steven Earl CLECKLER v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 796

570 So.2d 796

Steven Earl CLECKLER v.STATE.

5 Div. 581.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

June 29, 1990.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 3, 1990.

Certiorari Denied Oct. 26, 1990 Alabama Supreme Court 89-1657.

Robert L. Bowers of Bowers & Bowers, Clanton, for appellant.

Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Sandra Lewis, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TYSON, Judge.

Steven Earl Cleckler was indicted for capital murder, in violation of § 13A-5-40(a)(2),Code of Alabama 1975.The petit jury found the appellant guilty of murder.The trial judge sentenced the appellant to life imprisonment and ordered him to pay $500 to the Alabama Crime Victims' Compensation Fund.

Travis and Martha Sue Belcher were the proprietors of Belcher's Bait and Tackle Store on Highway 22 in Chilton County, Alabama.On November 18, 1983, at the end of their work day, Mrs. Belcher tallied the day's receipts, as she customarily did.She placed the receipts, checks, and most of the cash in a cigar box and carried it to their mobile home, which was adjacent to the store.Mr. Belcher remained at the store until closing time.

Exactly what happened when Mrs. Belcher entered her home is unknown, but the evidence presented at trial revealed that Mrs. Belcher was attacked.Her assailant beat her on and about the head with a blunt object.She fell out of the back door of her home and apparently tried to climb the steep bank behind the mobile home.Her assailant obviously continued to pursue and beat her, for she was found lying dead on this embankment.

Beside her body, underneath her body, and underneath the edge of the mobile home were splintered pieces of wood.Lonny Harden, a firearms and toolmark coordinator with the Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that the four pieces of wood comprised "the front hand-guard of a 12-gauge shotgun most likely a Winchester."(R. 336.)A sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun was reported to have been taken from the mobile home.

Lieutenant John Perdue, an investigator with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI), was called to the scene of the crime to assist the local authorities in the investigation.Lieutenant Perdue testified that someone had cut a slit in the screen covering the window on the end of the trailer nearest the store.On the ground below the window, there was a Coke crate standing on its end.On the bed by the window inside the trailer, there were mud, dirt, and debris on the sheets.Lieutenant Perdue concluded that someone had broken into the trailer at this location.

Lieutenant Perdue also testified that there was urine in the toilet.Just inside the back door, which was across from the bathroom door, Lieutenant Perdue found Mrs. Belcher's eyeglasses.He also found small pieces of broken glass and a newspaper scattered about.Blood was splattered on the bathroom wall and floor.From this, Lieutenant Perdue concluded that Mrs. Belcher was confronted and attacked by her assailant in the bathroom.

The following day, November 19, 1983, Deputy Benny Mims(then with the Chilton County Sheriff's Department) and others canvassed the area for clues.About 100 yards from the trailer, on the roadside, Mims found a flowery-colored lady's smock, which had spots of blood on it.Mr. Belcher identified the smock as belonging to his wife.A few feet from there, in a creek which ran parallel to the highway, a member of the search group found a pair of gray athletic socks.

Regardless of the evidence collected, the police had no significant leads on this case until 1987.In March 1987, Investigator James Henderson, with the Chilton County Sheriff's Department, received the name of Ricky Cleckler(unrelated to this appellant) as a possible suspect.Ricky was serving a life imprisonment term at Kilby Prison in Montgomery, Alabama.

Henderson also received the name of this appellant, who was at that time in the Chilton County jail on misdemeanor charges.After speaking with Ricky, Henderson interviewed this appellant on March 20, 1987.The appellant stated that Ricky told him (the appellant) that he(Ricky) had killed Mrs. Belcher.

The police officers met with the appellant in Montgomery, Alabama, in April 1987.No statement was taken at that time.

On May 8, 1987, the appellant was again interviewed by Henderson and Investigator Perry Beasley with the ABI.At that time, the appellant stated that he went with Ricky to burglarize the Belchers' mobile home.The appellant claimed that he stood watch as a lookout, while Ricky broke into the trailer, through a window, by standing on a Coke crate.The appellant stated that he heard someone walking across the gravel in front of the trailer, so he knocked on the back door to warn Ricky.According to the appellant, Ricky told him to go back to the car and after a few minutes, Ricky returned to the car.The appellant stated that Ricky had a pillow case with him and was wearing gloves.The appellant explained that Ricky stated that he got into a struggle with Mrs. Belcher and that Ricky thought that he had killed her.

On May 9, 1987, the appellant gave a similar statement, saying that his May 8 statement was true.He added that the pillow case which Ricky was carrying was half full.He described the pillow case as being white with flowers on it.

On May 10, 1987, the appellant spoke with Henderson again.The appellant stated that he lived in a foster home with Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Shaw in Chilton County on November 18, 1983.The appellant, however, stated that he wanted to think about "it" a little bit, got up from his seat, and left the room.

The appellant was interviewed once again on May 18, 1987.He told the officers that he did not wish to talk to them at that time.

On May 20, 1987, Warden "Red" Billingsley and Sheriff Billy Maddox of the Chilton County Sheriff's Department took the appellant to the Belchers' store.Lieutenant Perdue and Investigator Benny Mims(then with the Chilton County district attorney's office) met the trio at the store.

The appellant told the officers that he did not commit the murder.He also said that the previous stories that he had told were not true.

Lieutenant Perdue showed the appellant a photograph of the victim's body.He asked the appellant if he knew who that was.The appellant stated that that was Mrs. Belcher.Lieutenant Perdue then pointed out a brown object lying beside the victim's body and asked the appellant if he knew what that was.The appellant responded that it looked like a piece of wood off of a gun.

A few minutes later, the appellant told Maddox and Mims that Ricky killed Mrs. Belcher.He admitted to them that he was with Ricky at the time.The appellant then told them that he did not wish to speak further at that time but that he might speak with them later.

The tandem of officers then took the appellant to the Holiday Inn in Chilton County and got a room.They ordered sandwiches and relaxed a while.They then began questioning the appellant again.Mims drew two diagrams of the crime scene and asked the appellant to show him what happened.After doing this, Mims told the appellant that his rendition of the facts did not match the evidence, specifically that there was only one set of footprints.

Mims next testified that the following occurred:

"A....

"He looked up at me then and his bottom lip began to quiver a little bit, and he got a hold of the chair he was sitting in and he shook about twice.He looked down at the floor and he sat there for a second and he said, 'It was me that was inside the trailer you know that.'And then he looked back down at the floor and just didn't say anything for a minute.And I said, 'Steve, you were by yourself, weren't you?'And he said, 'Yeah, it was just me.'

"Q What happened at that point, Mr. Mims?

"A At that point Steve just kind of got quiet and sat back and he got real teary eyed at that point.Sergeant Perdue had concluded his phone call at about that time and came back across the room to where we were at.Sheriff Maddox and I asked Steve at that time to tell us what happened that night.To give us some details about what happened that night...."(R. 404-05.)

I

The appellant contends that he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his constitutional rights before giving the statements to the police officers.He argues that, based on the "totality of circumstances," the statements which were admitted into evidence at trial should have been suppressed by the trial judge.

In support of this argument, the appellant has apprised this court of the following facts and circumstances: (1)The appellant had a low intelligence quotient (I.Q.)--68--and had been classified as "educable mentally retarded"(EMR); (2)the appellant on three occasions, told the questioning officers that he did not wish to speak anymore at that time; (3)the appellant told the officers that he did not want to go to the crime scene, but he was taken anyway; (4) on May 20, 1987, the appellant was read his Miranda rights upon arriving at the Belchers' store, but he was not reread his Miranda rights later that evening when he and the officers began conversing again at the Holiday Inn in Clanton; (5)the appellant claimed that he took 10 or 12 Valium pills at one time while in the county jail on May 20, before he was taken to the Belchers' store and the Holiday Inn; and (6) Investigator Mims told the appellant before questioning him at the crime scene on May 20 that there was only one set of identifiable footprints, which the appellant alleges was not true.

The appellant gave a lengthy statement following his oral confession on May 20, 1987, at the Holiday Inn.This statement and its contents, however, were excluded from evidence by the trial judge because of a promise made by the questioning officers to the appellant.The trial judge found the statement to be in violation of Ex parte Weeks, 531 So.2d 643(Ala.1988), and ordered that it be suppressed.The appellant now claims...