Ex parte Magwood
| Court | Supreme Court of Alabama |
| Writing for the Court | TORBERT |
| Citation | 426 So.2d 929 |
| Parties | Ex parte: Billy Joe MAGWOOD. (Re: Billy Joe Magwood v. State of Alabama) 81-792. |
| Decision Date | 07 January 1983 |
Page 929
(Re: Billy Joe Magwood
v.
State of Alabama)
Rehearing Denied Feb. 11, 1983.
Page 930
J.L. Chestnut, Jr. of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders & Turner, Selma, for petitioner.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen. and Edward E. Carnes and P. David Bjurberg, Asst. Attys. Gen., for respondent.
TORBERT, Chief Justice.
On March 1, 1979, Billy Joe Magwood, the petitioner, shot and killed Coffee County Sheriff Neil Grantham. After his arrest, Magwood was declared an indigent and counsel was appointed to represent him. The petitioner asserted he was not guilty by reason of insanity. On motion of petitioner's counsel, an investigation was instituted concerning the sanity of the petitioner. He was interviewed by two local physicians who testified at trial concerning his sanity. Subsequently, he was transferred to Searcy Hospital for observation and evaluation by a three-member lunacy commission. Following that evaluation, he was also interviewed by Dr. Doug McKeown, a clinical psychologist.
At trial, the defense read into evidence the deposition of Dr. William Rudder, a member of the lunacy commission, who had observed the petitioner for 8 to 10 hours over a 10-month period beginning in July 1979. Dr. Rudder stated that Magwood was a paranoid schizophrenic and in his opinion did not know right from wrong at the time of the offense. The defense offered no further evidence on the issue of insanity.
The state offered the testimony of Dr. Donald Crook, a local physician, who had known the petitioner for 12 years and who had examined him on June 6, 1979, for 30 minutes in preparation for this trial. Dr. Crook testified that petitioner exhibited no signs of schizophrenia. The state also offered the testimony of Dr. Bancroft Cooper, another local physician, who also examined the petitioner on June 6, 1979, for twenty minutes in preparation for this trial. Dr. Cooper indicated that, in his opinion, the petitioner was not insane at the time he examined him.
The evaluations of petitioner's mental condition by the State's witnesses took place in June 1979; the evaluation by the lunacy commission presented by the petitioner took place from July 1979 through April 1980. The case did not come to trial until June of 1981, approximately two years after the initial evaluations were made. In April of 1980, Magwood was removed from Searcy Hospital to the Coffee County jail. The defense on June 26, 1980, made a motion to the court for funds to hire a psychiatrist or psychologist of the petitioner's own choosing to evaluate his sanity; that motion was denied. On April 21, 1981, the court granted a motion by the State to have the defendant examined by Dr. Doug McKeown.
Dr. McKeown testified at trial that, in his opinion, the petitioner knew the difference between right and wrong on the day Sheriff Grantham was killed.
Page 931
The defendant was found guilty of the capital offense of murder. The jury recommended the death sentence; the trial court, after weighing any aggravating and mitigating circumstances, sentenced the petitioner to death. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction. The case is before this...
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Fortenberry v. State, 7 Div. 614
...showing of abuse of discretion, a trial court's ruling on a motion for Page 141 change of venue will not be overturned. Ex parte Magwood, 426 So.2d 929, 931 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed.2d 1355 (1983). In order to grant a motion for change of venue, the defen......
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Whisenhant v. State, 1 Div. 333
...County. Acoff v. State, 50 Ala.App. 206, 278 So.2d 210 (1973); Robinson v. State, 430 So.2d 883 (Ala.Cr.App.1983); Ex parte Magwood, 426 So.2d 929 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed.2d 1355 "The determination of whether or not to grant a change of venue is a matter......
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Magwood v. Smith
...Magwood to death. This conviction and sentence were upheld on direct appeal, Magwood v. State, 426 So.2d 918 (Ala.Crim.App.1982), aff'd, 426 So.2d 929 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed.2d 1355 (1983), and in state writ of error coram nobis proceedings, Magwood v. ......
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Mcmillan v. State Of Ala., CR-08-1954
...a showing of abuse of discretion, a trial court's ruling on a motion for change of venue will not be overturned. Ex parte Magwood, 426 So. 2d 929, 931 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed. 2d 1355 (1983). In order to grant a motion for change of venue, the defendant ......
-
Fortenberry v. State, 7 Div. 614
...showing of abuse of discretion, a trial court's ruling on a motion for Page 141 change of venue will not be overturned. Ex parte Magwood, 426 So.2d 929, 931 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed.2d 1355 (1983). In order to grant a motion for change of venue, the defen......
-
Whisenhant v. State, 1 Div. 333
...County. Acoff v. State, 50 Ala.App. 206, 278 So.2d 210 (1973); Robinson v. State, 430 So.2d 883 (Ala.Cr.App.1983); Ex parte Magwood, 426 So.2d 929 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed.2d 1355 "The determination of whether or not to grant a change of venue is a matter......
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Magwood v. Smith
...Magwood to death. This conviction and sentence were upheld on direct appeal, Magwood v. State, 426 So.2d 918 (Ala.Crim.App.1982), aff'd, 426 So.2d 929 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed.2d 1355 (1983), and in state writ of error coram nobis proceedings, Magwood v. ......
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Mcmillan v. State Of Ala., CR-08-1954
...a showing of abuse of discretion, a trial court's ruling on a motion for change of venue will not be overturned. Ex parte Magwood, 426 So. 2d 929, 931 (Ala.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1124, 103 S.Ct. 3097, 77 L.Ed. 2d 1355 (1983). In order to grant a motion for change of venue, the defendant ......