Cross v. State

• Decision Date: 20 September 1988
• Docket Number: 4 Div. 939
• Citation: 536 So.2d 155
• Parties: Christine CROSS v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 155

536 So.2d 155

Christine CROSS v. STATE.

4 Div. 939.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Sept. 20, 1988.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 28, 1988.

Certiorari Denied Dec. 23, 1988 Alabama Supreme Court 88-184.

Benton H. Persons, Andalusia, for appellant.

Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Rivard Melson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TAYLOR, Judge.

The appellant, Christine Cross, was indicted for murder, a violation of § 13A-6-2, Code of Alabama 1975. Following a jury trial, she was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five (25) years' imprisonment.

The State's evidence tended to show the following:

The 64-year-old appellant, Christine Cross, and the 70-year-old victim, Rube Gibson, had been having an "affair" for approximately 25 years. The victim's wife of over 50 years had known of this "affair" for some 15 or 20 years. Also, the deceased had been having an "affair" for several months with Ms. Francis Stewart.

The appellant, in August of 1986, telephoned Mr. Gibson's house and informed Mrs. Gibson that "if I can't get him, I will kill." The appellant, a few months later, telephoned Ms. Stewart and told her that "if she couldn't have him, nobody else would. That she would kill him."

On December 21, 1986, a Sunday morning, the victim went to the appellant's house, where he was shot once in the chest by the appellant. He died from that shot. The appellant telephoned the Covington County Sheriff's Department and requested that a deputy be sent to her house. She told the dispatcher that "she had been run over by Rube Gibson as long as she was going to." Deputy Denny Merritt arrived at the scene at approximately 10:00 a.m. and noticed the victim's body "lying face down just inside the door." Deputy Merritt testified that he did not question the appellant, but that she made a voluntary or spontaneous statement to the effect that "she was tired of what had been going on; that she shot him; here is the gun." Deputy Merritt testified that the appellant seemed upset, but that she was neither crying nor incoherent. Also, Deputy Merritt testified that he did not observe any signs of a struggle and did not notice any marks or bruises on the appellant.

The appellant, on December 23, 1986, voluntarily went to the sheriff's office. She was given a Miranda warning; she signed a waiver of rights form and gave the following signed statement:

"Sometime around twenty minutes to nine a.m. on Sunday morning I was at my house in Gantt, Alabama when Rube Gibson pulled up in my yard. He came on in the house and he started fussing and cussing me. He pushed me on the couch and I went and got my gun. My gun was on the dresser in the first bedroom on the right. I got it, came back into the living room. He was standing just inside the front door. He turned around and told me that he was going to get his gun and so I shot him before he could get out the door. I shot him one time. He went down, kind of on his all fours and then pushed out forward on his stomach and was lying face down on the floor. I then called the county jail and told them to sent me a deputy. That I was tired of him running over me. Then I called Betty Holloway and told her that I had shot Rube Gibson. For her to get Jerry Cross to me before the law got there. When Jerry got there he called the police department."

Lonnie Harden, a firearms expert with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that, in his opinion, when the bullet was fired, the muzzle of the gun was in direct contact with the jacket being worn by the victim.

The appellant, in her defense, testified that the victim was often abusive and committed acts of physical violence against her. She testified that on the day of the shooting, the victim came into her home and accused her of having an affair with another man. She testified that he began to pull her hair and choke her and then knocked her to the couch. At that point, she testified, Mr. Gibson told her that he was going out to get his gun and shoot her. She said she immediately got up and retrieved her pistol. As Mr. Gibson started out the door, she said, he turned and she shot him. She testified that the victim had threatened on previous occasions to kill her.

The appellant's son and sister testified in her defense. Both testified that the victim was verbally abusive and had physically abused the appellant in the past.

The appellant raises five issues on appeal.

I

The appellant's first contention is that the trial court committed reversible error in overruling her objection to the introduction into evidence of her oral statement made to police immediately after the shooting. Specifically, she contends that the State failed to disclose this statement pursuant to A.R.Crim.P.Temp. 18.1(a)(2).

The record reflects that the appellant filed a discovery motion, asking the State to disclose the substance of any oral statements made by the appellant before or after her arrest. However, the record does not reflect that the trial court ever ruled on the motion. Therefore, this issue is not preserved for review. In Jackson v. State, 484 So.2d 1174, 1179 (Ala.Cr.App.1985), we held that when a defenfant does not obtain a ruling from the trial court on his motion for discovery, the issue is not preserved for review.

Review on appeal is limited to matters on which rulings are invoked at the trial level. Robinson v. State, 441 So.2d 1045, 1048 (Ala.Cr.App.1983).

Also, when Deputy Merritt testified as to the appellant's spontaneous oral statement made at the scene, the appellant objected: "I object to any statement, Your Honor." That objection is not sufficient to reverse, because the appellant stated no grounds for her objection.

An objection without specifying a single ground, such as "I object," "objection," or "we object," is not sufficient to place the trial court in error for overruling the objection. Lawrence v. State, 409 So.2d 987, 989 (Ala.Cr.App.1982); Cook v. State, 384 So.2d 1158 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 384 So.2d 1161 (Ala.1980).

Moreover, had this issue been preserved, any error would be harmless. The appellant's spontaneous oral statement was, in substance, the same as given to the law enforcement authorities in her written statement which was disclosed to defense counsel. Furthermore, she testified to the fact that she shot the victim with her pistol. In Romine v. State, 384 So.2d 1185 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 384 So.2d 1188 (Ala.1980), we held:

"A defendant cannot complain of the admission of improper evidence where he himself testifies to the same facts. Yelton v. State, 294 Ala. 340, 342, 317 So.2d 331 (1974). Even though there may have been error in admitting an admission or confession, such error is cured or rendered harmless by the defendant's own testimony which is substantially in the language of the confession or admission." Id. at 1188.

Therefore, for the reasons listed above, this issue is to be decided adversely to the appellant.

II

The appellant's next contention is that the trial court committed reversible error in overruling her objection to the admission of the written statement given by her to the law enforcement authorities. Specifically, she argues that her statement was not knowingly, intelligently, or voluntarily made, because, she says, she was under the influence of prescription medication and under emotional distress.

The record reflects that the appellant's written statement was taken two days after the shooting and after she was released from a hospital. She was given a Miranda warning and she signed a waiver of rights form. The appellant gave her statement and signed the writing after reading it.

The hospital records, introduced by the appellant, indicate that she had medication prescribed for diabetes and for blood pressure. She was also given five milligrams of Valium. Also, the hospital records indicate that she was admitted to the hospital, on the day of the shooting, due to "extreme nervousness, crying spells, and shock." Ellen Williams, the hospital out-patient therapist, reported the appellant's mental status the day following her admission to be: "insight fair, judgment intact on this date, concentration fair, memory intact, oriented to time, place, person, and situation...."

Outside of the argument by the appellant, the record reflects no evidence that the appellant made anything but an intelligent and voluntary statement. Her argument that Valium rendered her statement involuntary is without merit. In order for intoxication to render a confession inadmissible, it must be shown that the mind of the defendant was substantially impaired when the confession was made. Hubbard v. State, 500 So.2d 1204, 1218 (Ala.Cr.App.), affirmed, 500 So.2d 1231 (Ala.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 940, 107 S.Ct. 1591, 94 L.Ed.2d 780 (1987). The testimony presented tended to prove that the appellant was coherent and that the statements which were made were voluntary. The voluntariness of an alleged confession is a question of law addressed to the trial court, whose ruling will not be disturbed on appeal unless it appears to be contrary to the great weight of the evidence or is manifestly wrong. Moore v. State, 488 So.2d 27, 30 (Ala.Cr.App.1986). Because there was no showing that the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed the statements to be entered into evidence, the decision of the trial court will be upheld. O'Dell v. State, 482 So.2d 1341,1344 (Ala.Cr.App.1985).

III

The appellant's third contention is that the trial court committed error in admitting the State's exhibits. Specifically, she contends that State exhibits 22, 23, 24, 25, and 28 were not correctly admitted because the correct chain of custody was not established.

The records reflect that State's exhibits 24 and 25, a shirt and a windbreaker taken from the victim during the autopsy, were admitted into evidence without objection by defense counsel. Later, defense counsel objected to the State reoffering these...