Ex parte Williams
Decision Date | 02 April 1993 |
Citation | 627 So.2d 999 |
Parties | Ex parte Herbert WILLIAMS, Jr. (Re Herbert Williams, Jr. v. State). 1911047. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
W. Gregory Hughes of Hale, Hughes & Teague, Mobile, for petitioner.
James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Sandra J. Stewart and Melissa G. Math, Deputy Attys. Gen., for respondent.
The defendant, Herbert Williams, Jr., was convicted of capital murder in regard to the 1988 death of Timothy Hasser and was sentenced to death by electrocution. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed, Williams v. State, 627 So.2d 985 (Ala.Cr.App.1991). This Court granted certiorari review. Rule 39, Ala.R.App.P.
The facts of this case, as set out by the Court of Criminal Appeals, are, for the reader's convenience, repeated below:
"The state's evidence tended to show the following: On November 2, 1988, the body of the victim, Timothy Hasser, was found in the back of his 1980 Porsche automobile. He had been shot three times in the head. Officer Mark Harrell, of the Jackson Police Department, stated that he was on routine patrol on the evening of November 2, 1988, when he spotted a white Porsche in the emergency lane on Highway 43, by the McCorquodale Bridge, near the city of Jackson, in Alabama. Harrell approached the car, and a man, who Harrell identified as the appellant, exited from the driver's side. The appellant told the officer that he had a 'lemon of a car' and that he needed to go to a gasoline station. Officer Harrell followed the appellant to a nearby station.
While he was following the Porsche, Harrell noticed a thick dark liquid, which he later identified as blood, dripping from the rear hatchback area of the car. Harrell also noticed that the appellant was not familiar with the standard transmission in the Porsche. When they arrived at the station, Harrell asked the appellant for his driver's license. While the officer was standing beside the car, he looked in the car and saw a white male covered with blood lying unconscious in the hatchback portion of the car. Harrell asked the appellant what had happened to the man. The appellant said that he had been in a fight. Upon closer inspection, Harrell determined that the man was dead. Weights were attached to each of the dead man's ankles and his face and hair were saturated with blood. Officer Harrell then handcuffed the appellant and read him his Miranda rights three separate times. He said that the appellant did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and that no offer of reward was made to him in order to induce him to make a statement. At this time, the appellant stated that he and the victim had been involved in a drug deal in Demopolis which had gone 'sour.' Drug dealers shot the victim and told the appellant that he could live because he was a black man. The dealer handed the appellant the gun, a .38 caliber handgun, and told him to dispose of the body. The appellant further stated that the gun was under the front seat of the car and that his fingerprints were 'all over it.' A search made of the appellant's person revealed six empty cartridges in his pocket. Some of the clothes that the appellant was wearing were also taken into custody. The blood on the clothes was identified as the same type as the victim's.
Williams argues that venue was improper in Mobile County, and, therefore, that his conviction must be reversed. We disagree. Although Williams was stopped near Jackson, outside Mobile County, in one of his statements, he said that the murder of Timothy Hasser occurred in Creola, Alabama, which is in Mobile County.
Jackson v. State, 516 So.2d 726, 738 (Ala.Crim.App.1985), remanded on other grounds, 516 So.2d 768 (Ala.1987). Thus, venue was proper in Mobile County.
Williams also contends that the statements made by him to the police were not made voluntarily and, therefore, that they were erroneously admitted into evidence.
...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Wynn v. State
...Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972); Williams v. State, 627 So.2d 985 (Ala.Crim.App.1991), aff'd, 627 So.2d 999 (Ala.1993), cert. denied, 511 U.S. 1012, 114 S.Ct. 1387, 128 L.Ed.2d 61 (1994); Boykin v. State, 281 Ala. 659, 207 So.2d 412 (1968), rev'd on oth......
-
Williams v. State
...and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence, see Williams v. State, 627 So.2d 985 (Ala.Cr.App.1991), aff'd, 627 So.2d 999 (Ala.1993), and the United States Supreme Court denied the appellant's petition for certiorari review, see Williams v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 1012, 114......
-
Blackmon v. State
...But see Williams v. State, 627 So.2d 994, 995 (Ala.Crim.App. 1992) (opinion on application for rehearing), aff'd, 627 So.2d 999 (Ala.1993) (noting that the court did not find plain error on initial review, but nevertheless addressing issues that were raised by new counsel on rehearing "beca......
-
Hodges v. State
...cert. denied, 518 U.S. 1020, 116 S.Ct. 2556, 135 L.Ed.2d 1074 (1996); Williams v. State, 627 So.2d 985 (Ala.Crim.App.1991), aff'd, 627 So.2d 999 (Ala.1993), cert. denied, 511 U.S. 1012, 114 S.Ct. 1387, 128 L.Ed.2d 61 (1994) (Herbert Williams, Jr.). Of course, the weight to attach to this no......