Ex parte Hilley

Decision Date20 December 1985
Citation484 So.2d 485
PartiesEx parte Audrey Marie HILLEY. (Re Audrey Marie Hilley v. State of Alabama). 84-987.
CourtAlabama Supreme Court

Wilford J. Lane and Thomas W. Harmon, Anniston, for petitioner.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and P. David Bjurberg, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

The appellant, Audrey Marie Hilley, was convicted June 8, 1983, for the murder of her husband and the attempted murder of her daughter. She was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for murder and a term of twenty years' imprisonment for attempted murder. On April 23, 1985, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed both convictions. See, Hilley v. State, 484 So.2d 476 (Ala.Crim.App.1985). This Court granted appellant's petition for writ of certiorari, and we now affirm both convictions.

The bizarre facts of this case show that on May 19, 1975, Frank Hilley, who was the husband of the appellant, first consulted a doctor for nausea and tenderness of the abdomen. He was hospitalized on May 23, 1975, and died in the early morning hours of May 25, 1975. An autopsy revealed hepatitis, swelling of the kidneys and lungs, bilateral pneumonia, and an inflammation of the stomach and duodena. The cause of death was determined to be "infectious hepatitis." No test for arsenic poisoning was conducted at that time. The appellant collected over $31,000 of life insurance proceeds as a result of the death of her husband.

On July 27, 1978, the appellant purchased a life insurance policy on the life of Carol Hilley, the appellant's teenage daughter, and named herself as beneficiary. The policy, with a $25,000 face value and $25,000 of accidental death coverage, became effective in August 1978.

In April 1979, Carol Hilley began experiencing severe nausea. She was treated numerous times between April and August of 1979, and was hospitalized on August 22, 1979. During the time of Carol's sickness, the appellant gave Carol at least three injections, supposedly to relieve her nausea and to help her legs. The appellant told Carol that she had acquired the medication from Doris Ford, a friend who was a registered nurse, and told Carol not to tell anyone about the injections because Doris Ford could lose her job if others learned about them. Doris Ford testified that she had never procured any medication for the appellant to give to Carol.

Carol's health grew steadily worse. The appellant took Carol out of Carraway Methodist Hospital on September 18, 1979, and had her admitted to UAB Hospital on September 19, 1979. By this time, Carol experienced severe nausea, numbness of the hands and feet, nerve palsy, and a loss of deep tendon reflexes.

At UAB, Dr. Brian Thompson diagnosed Carol's illness as arsenic poisoning. Subsequent tests revealed high levels of arsenic in her hair. Carol's health improved steadily after this date.

On September 19, 1979, the same day Carol had been admitted to UAB, and just before the arsenic was discovered in Carol, the appellant was arrested in Birmingham on "bad check" charges. She was transported to the Anniston City Jail and was incarcerated there for approximately the following two months.

On October 3, 1979, the body of Frank Hilley was exhumed so that tests for arsenic could be performed. High levels of arsenic were found in his body, and Dr. Joseph Embry of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences concluded that the cause of death was acute arsenic poisoning, and not hepatitis. Expert testimony at trial revealed that symptoms of hepatitis are similar to those of arsenic poisoning.

On October 6, 1979, Frieda Adcock, the sister of Frank Hilley, found a medicine vial in an open cosmetic case among certain of the appellant's belongings that had been left at the house of Adcock's mother. Adcock turned the bottle over to the Anniston police, who in turn transferred it for scientific analysis. The bottle, which was half full of a liquid, was analyzed as containing a 1.6% solution of arsenic trioxide.

On October 9, 1979, the appellant, while still in jail on "bad check" charges, was arrested, and she was later indicted for the attempted murder of Carol Hilley. On that same day, Anniston police removed a medicine vial from the appellant's purse, which had been inventoried and stored in a personal property locker at the police station. This vial was taken for testing, and the analysis indicated the presence of arsenic.

On October 21, 1979, Frieda Adcock searched through the appellant's items that had been left in Adcock's basement, and turned several items over to the police. Upon testing, one of these items was found to be rat poison, which contained a 1.5% concentration of arsenic trioxide.

On November 9, 1979, the appellant was released on bond from the Anniston jail, but soon disappeared from Alabama. A strange sequence of events, including travel under numerous identities, consumed her next three years, until she was located by the F.B.I. in Vermont on January 12, 1983.

Evidence revealed that soon after her release on bond, she checked into a Birmingham motel under the name of Emily Stephens. She then left a note and other evidence faking her own kidnapping, and traveled to Florida under the identity of Robbi Hannon. In Florida, she met, and moved in with, John Homan. In September 1980, the appellant and John Homan moved to New Hampshire, but moved back to Florida in May of 1981. In Florida, the appellant and John Homan were married, and the appellant consequently began using the name of Robbi Homan. Sometime later, they moved back to New Hampshire.

In the summer of 1982, the appellant left New Hampshire, and traveled alone to Texas and to Florida under the alias of Teri Martin. She had previously told John Homan that she had a twin sister named Teri Martin. Sometime later, she called John Homan and informed him that Robbi Homan had died and that her body had been donated to medical science in Texas.

In November of 1982, after changing her hair color and losing weight, she returned to New Hampshire, posing as Teri Martin. She and John Homan began living together again, although she still used the name of Teri Martin. They placed an obituary in a New Hampshire newspaper for Robbi Homan, and it was this obituary that tipped off a detective and eventually led to her arrest. She was arrested while working in Vermont on January 12, 1983, and was returned to Alabama.

While housed in the Calhoun County Jail awaiting trial, the appellant shared a cell with Priscilla Lang. Lang testified at trial that the appellant told her that she had poisoned her husband and her daughter with arsenic.

On June 8, 1983, the appellant was convicted of both counts in a consolidated trial. On appeal she raises nine issues regarding alleged errors at trial, but only the first two issues will be discussed in detail here.

I.

The appellant contends that the October 9, 1979, warrantless search of her purse, and the subsequent removal of items from the purse for testing, were in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The purse was stored in a personal property locker at the Anniston Police Department on September 20, 1979, following Mrs. Hilley's transfer from Birmingham to the Anniston jail on "bad check" charges. At least one complete inventory search of the purse was conducted there, and a list of all of the contents of the purse was prepared before storage in the locker. The purse remained in the locker until its removal on October 9. The medicine vials contained therein were then removed and turned over to the forensic laboratory at Jacksonville State University to be tested for the presence of arsenic. No search warrant was ever obtained by the Anniston Police Department for any of these activities.

The Fourth Amendment is designed "to prevent arbitrary and oppressive interference by law enforcement officials with the privacy and personal security of individuals." INS v. Delgado, 466 U.S. 210, 1762, 104 S.Ct. 1758, 1762, 80 L.Ed.2d 247, 254 (1984), citing, United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 554, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 3081, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116, 1126 (1976). A search warrant is the protective device established to shield a person from arbitrary and oppressive interference, and all searches without a warrant are deemed "per se unreasonable" unless they fall within certain recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 514, 19 L.Ed.2d 576, 585 (1967); Dale v. State, 466 So.2d 196, 198 (Ala.Crim.App.1985).

The recognized exceptions to the requirement of a warrant are: (1) plain view, (2) consent, (3) incident to a lawful arrest, (4) hot pursuit or emergency situations, (5) exigent circumstances coupled with probable cause, and (6) stop and frisk situations. Dale v. State, 466 So.2d at 198; Ballard v. State, 461 So.2d 899, 903 (Ala.Crim.App.1984); McClellan v. State, 415 So.2d 1238, 1239 (Ala.Crim.App.1982).

Because the initial seizure of Mrs. Hilley's purse occurred during her arrest on "bad check" charges, it was valid as "incident to a lawful arrest." Consequently, the purse and its contents were in the lawful possession of the Anniston police during Mrs. Hilley's term in the Anniston jail on the "bad check" charges.

The inventory searches conducted after Mrs. Hilley's arrival at the Anniston jail were also legal. Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U.S. 640, 103 S.Ct. 2605, 77 L.Ed.2d 65 (1983).

But, while the initial seizure, the subsequent inventory search, and the continuous possession of the purse were all legal, we are now faced with the issue of whether another search, conducted three weeks later because of new suspicions, was within the lawful scope of the initial search and seizure. 1 We believe that it was.

The Fourth Amendment protects only reasonable expectations of privacy. United States v. Davies, 768 F.2d 893, 902 (7th Cir.1985). A "search," within the meaning of...

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  • Lawson v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • 12 Marzo 2021
    ...(5) probable cause coupled with exigent circumstances; (6) stop and frisk situations; and (7) inventory searches. Ex parte Hilley, 484 So. 2d 485, 488 (Ala. 1985); Chevere, supra, 607 So. 2d at 368.' "" 'State v. Mitchell, 722 So. 2d 814 (Ala. Cr. App. 1998), quoting Rokitski v. State, 715 ......
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    ...evidence that he now challenges was properly seized pursuant to a lawful arrest, and was, therefore, admissible. See Ex parte Hilley, 484 So.2d 485 (Ala.1985). Moreover, no facts available to the trial court when this physical evidence and any testimony as to his surrender were introduced w......
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    ...(5) probable cause coupled with exigent circumstances; (6) stop and frisk situations; and (7) inventory searches. Ex parte Hilley, 484 So. 2d 485, 488 (Ala. 1985) ; Chevere, supra, 607 So. 2d at 368.’ "" ‘ State v. Mitchell, 722 So. 2d 814 (Ala. Cr. App. 1998), quoting Rokitski v. State, 71......
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