Coleman v. State

• Decision Date: 27 July 1982
• Docket Number: 8 Div. 617
• Citation: 423 So.2d 276
• Parties: Linda COLEMAN, alias v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 276

423 So.2d 276

Linda COLEMAN, alias v. STATE.

8 Div. 617.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

July 27, 1982.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 24, 1982.

Certiorari Denied Dec. 3, 1982

Alabama Supreme Court 81-1028.

Robert E. Willisson of Willisson & Tucker, Huntsville, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Jan A. Wade, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

DeCARLO, Judge.

First degree murder; sentence: life imprisonment.

Mary Crook of Pulaski, Tennessee, testified that the victim, William T. Marsh, was her brother and that she had seem him almost daily for most of his life. She stated that her brother was a kidney patient at Vanderbilt Medical Center and required routine checkups. Crook testified that she last saw her brother alive on January 3, 1979. After the Fayetteville, Tennessee police informed her that her brother's truck had been found, Crook filed a missing persons report with the Giles County Sheriff's Department.

Madison County Sheriff's Department Investigator, Al Duffey, testified that at 8:45 A.M. on August 3, 1980 he was called to investigate the remains of a body found on Johnson Mountain in Northeast Madison County. Accompanied by Capt. C.W. Owens and reserve deputy Tommy Hooper, Duffey inspected the rocky, heavily vegitated area and found the skeletal remains of a body. Duffey called Roger Morrison of the Department of Forensic Sciences to the scene but by the time he arrived it was too dark to begin an investigation. Duffey had the area secured for the evening.

The next morning Duffey, Morrison and Deputy Parker returned and made a detailed investigation of the area. They gathered numerous bones, deteriorated items of clothing, and a deteriorated billfold containing a plastic Vanderbilt University Medical Center card in the name of the victim. Duffey stated that Morrison took several photographs of the scene, including one depicting a "blue, red and white checked or diamond shaped" homemade quilt, and made a diagram of the area.

Madison County reserve deputy Tommy Hooper testified that on August 3 he accompanied Duffey to the site of the remains of the victim. Hooper stated that he had lived in the area all of his life and hunted in the mountains for twelve to fifteen years. Hooper was familiar with the landmarks of the area and knew of an old house and cemetery located north of the site where the victim was found. He stated that both were located in Madison County.

Hooper testified that the boundary between Madison County and Jackson County, Tennessee was located on top of the mountain where the victim was found. He stated that an old road ran along the top of the mountain on the county line and was east of the site where the victim was found. Hooper stated that the victim was found in Madison County.

Criminalist Roger Morrison testified that he examined the remains and clothing of the victim and discovered a semi-circular "nick" containing minute metal fragments in the first right rib under the collarbone and in the manubrium. Tests were run on these bones under Morrison's close direction and supervision at the Georgia State Crime Lab in Atlanta. Morrison stated that the tests took about eight hours to complete and revealed minute copper fragments embedded in the "nick" of the rib bone. Morrison stated that the copper could have come from a jacketed bullet.

Columbus Jones testified that for twenty-one years he had served as chief clerical supervisor of the X-ray file division of Vanderbilt Medical Center and was custodian of all X-rays made at Vanderbilt Hospital. At the State's request, Jones searched his files to determine whether any X-rays of the victim existed. Jones found a file bearing the victim's name and containing seventy-seven X-rays. The file was the only one bearing the victim's name under his custody. He identified one X-ray of the victim, State's Exhibit 13, as having been removed from the file. Jones stated that he did not make the X-rays or knew who did.

Forensic Pathologist Dr. Joseph Embry testified that he examined the remains of the victim in order to determine their identity and the cause of death. Dr. Embry compared X-rays of the victim made at Vanderbilt Hospital of his pelvic, shoulder and left collarbone with X-rays he had made of those bones. The comparison left no doubt as to the identity of the remains as those of the victim.

Dr. Embry noted that the "nick" in the rib bone was consistent with the type of injury left by a gunshot wound. He stated that the injury was in existence when the victim was left on the mountain. He noted that the injury could have existed about six weeks prior to January, 1979, although the bone revealed no evidence of healing in the affected area. Dr. Embry opined that the victim died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Juanita Green testified that she resided in Pulaski, Tennessee, and was acquainted with both the victim and the appellant.

On a Friday night during the Spring of 1979, Ms. Green had a conversation with appellant. They began to talk about the victim and appellant told Green that she had shot the victim on the mountain and her partner, Norman Clack, had emasculated the victim. Ms. Green questioned appellant about "the quilt" ¹ and appellant's response was to ask Green why was she being so "nosey."

Ms. Green testified that she and appellant had a subsequent conversation. She asked appellant about the victim's money to which appellant replied that the money was laying on the ground beside him. Ms. Green again inquired about "the quilt" but appellant did not respond. Ms. Green did not discuss the conversations with anyone.

Beverly Crook testified that she also resided in Pulaski, Tennessee, knew the victim, and was a cousin of the appellant.

Sometime prior to May, 1979, Ms. Crook had a conversation with appellant concerning the victim. Appellant had come to Crook's residence, bringing with her a homemade quilt that she said her sister had made. Ms. Crook stated that appellant became upset and began to cry. Appellant asked Ms. Crook if Crook would help her get rid of a weapon and stated that she would pay her [Crook]. Appellant did not specify the type of weapon. Appellant told Ms. Crook how she and Clack had killed the victim. She told of them riding with the victim in his truck and seeing his money. She stated that the victim begged them not to kill him. Appellant said she shot the victim once and was going to carry him to a doctor, but when he began to bleed from the mouth they "finished him off."

Appellant told Ms. Crook about the victim's emasculation by Clack. Appellant stated that they wrapped the victim's body in a quilt, similar to one that appellant had brought with her when she talked to Ms. Crook, and rolled him into some bushes.

Appellant presented several character witnesses on her behalf and a witness who testified that Ms. Green had told him that the authorities had forced her to testify falsely against appellant. Appellant took the stand and denied having the conversations with Green and Crook, and denied committing the crime.

I

Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the State's evidence and specifically points to its failure to prove venue.

In a criminal case, proof of venue is sufficient if it can be reasonably inferred by the jury from the facts and circumstances adduced. Segars v. State, 409 So.2d 1003 (Ala.Cr.App.1982). Venue need not be established solely by direct evidence. Evidence from which it is inferrable is sufficient. Dolvin v. State, 391 So.2d 666 (Ala.Cr.App.1979), aff'd, 391 So.2d 677 (Ala.1980); Stokes v. State, 373 So.2d 1211 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 373 So.2d 1218 (Ala.1979). Venue may be established by the testimony of one witness. McCrary v. State, 398 So.2d 752 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 398 So.2d 757 (Ala.1981); Wilson v. State, 384 So.2d 1243 (Ala.Cr.App.1980).

It is not necessary that proof of the location of a county boundary line be by expert testimony. Such may be proven by general reputation. Nolen v. State, 35 Ala.App. 249, 45 So.2d 786, cert. denied, 253 Ala. 565, 45 So.2d 792 (1950); Melton v. State, 21 Ala.App. 419, 109 So. 114 (1926); See generally Mayes v. State, 22 Ala.App. 315, 115 So. 291 (1928).

As we stated in Stokes, supra, at pages 1216-17:

"When the State offers evidence tending to show that the crime was committed within the jurisdiction of the court, the question of venue becomes one for the jury.... Where there is no evidence of venue it is a question for the court; but if there is evidence of venue and it is in conflict, it is a question for the jury.... The inferences to be drawn from the evidence, when susceptible of more than one rational conclusion, are for the jury and not for this Court to determine.... A verdict on conflicting evidence is conclusive on appeal...."

(Citations omitted).

In the instant case, although the exact spot where the victim was killed was not shown by direct evidence, the jury could properly conclude from the evidence adduced that he was killed in Madison County. Consequently, the trial court properly overruled appellant's motion to exclude on this ground. Harris v. State, 395 So.2d 1063 (Ala.Cr.App.1980), cert. denied, 395 So.2d 1069 (Ala.1981); Ala.Code § 15-2-2 (1975).

II

A careful review of the evidence reveals that the state sufficiently established a prima facie case of first degree murder. Thus, the trial court properly overruled appellant's remaining grounds on her motion to exclude. Dolvin v. State, 391 So.2d 133 (Ala.1980); Cumbo v. State, 368 So.2d 871 (Ala.Cr.App.1978), cert. denied, 368 So.2d 877 (Ala.1979); Ala.Code § 13-1-70 (1975).

III

Appellant contends that the...