Freeman v. State

• Decision Date: 25 November 1986
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 933
• Parties: Shirley Latham FREEMAN, alias v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 1079

505 So.2d 1079

Shirley Latham FREEMAN, alias v. STATE.

6 Div. 933.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Nov. 25, 1986.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 30, 1986.

Certiorari Denied April 10, 1987

Alabama Supreme Court 86-490.

Lawrence B. Sheffield, Jr., of Sheffield & Sheffield, Birmingham, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Jean Williams Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TYSON, Judge.

Shirley Latham Freeman was indicted for murder in violation of § 13A-6-2, Code of Alabama 1975. The jury found the appellant "guilty of manslaughter as charged in the indictment." She was sentenced to serve a term of life in the state penitentiary.

Charles Thomas, a long-time friend of the deceased, Ben Joe Evans, testified that the appellant was living with the deceased at the time of his death. He stopped by Evans' apartment at approximately 10:45 p.m. on June 19, 1984 and discovered Evans' body on the bed in the front bedroom, splattered with blood. He then called the police.

When Thomas first arrived at the apartment, he noticed that the screen on the front bedroom window was torn. He called for Evans and the appellant but there was no answer.

Thomas was renting an apartment next door to Evans. A young lady named Monica Haynes lived in the apartment. His relationship to her was as a "friend" and he was in the process of visiting her when he discovered Evans' body.

There were no lights on in Evans' apartment when he arrived. There was not much lighting around the apartment. He could not remember whether or not the front door was open when he arrived. It was unlocked when the police entered.

The police turned on the lights when they arrived. When Thomas arrived, there was some type of fabric covering the living room window and the bedroom window. However, the covering on the bedroom window had been thrown back. He became aware that the person on the bed was Evans after he inserted his hand through the screen and lit his cigarette lighter.

Voncille McCray, the victim's daughter, testified that her father had been living with the appellant prior to his death. On June 19, 1984 she saw the body of her father at the funeral home.

The next day, June 20, 1984, she spoke with the appellant, who denied having killed her father. The appellant told her that she did not find out that Evans was dead until 12 hours after he died. The appellant told McCray that she was awakened by her mother when the news of his death appeared on television. The appellant showed McCray the injuries to her leg which Evans had previously inflicted.

Annie Perkins, who lived four doors down from Evans, testified that she heard what sounded like firecrackers going off between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. on June 19, 1984. She was watching the news at the time. She went to bed sometime later, between 10:00 and 11:00. Upon hearing the noise she looked out of the window but did not see anything unusual.

James Arthur Truss, an employee at Blocker Service Station on 6th Avenue South in Birmingham, Alabama, testified that the appellant and two men came to the service station at approximately 10:30 on the night of June 19, 1984. They were in a four-door Buick automobile that was dark in color. The appellant and the two men walked inside the station and asked where Blocker was. Truss told them that he had gone home, so they got back in the car and left.

Truss identified one of the men as Robert Furlow and identified the driver of the car as being this appellant. He testified that two small children were in the car as well. Truss had seen the appellant once or twice before at the service station in the car with Evans.

Elizabeth D. Briggins lived across the street from Evans' apartment on June 19, 1984. She testified that he was living with the appellant. She did not know either of them personally.

Briggins testified that on the night of June 19, 1984 she heard the sound of gunshots between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. She then turned off the lights and television and went to the front door. She opened the door slightly and looked to see what was happening.

She testified that she saw the appellant in the appellant's living room, right across from Briggins', pacing back and forth. The door to the appellant's apartment was open. A light was on in the bedroom but there was no light on in the living room. The porch light was on.

Briggins testified that she saw two black men come from the back of the apartment and walk through the living room and out the front door. The appellant attempted to stop the two from leaving the apartment. The two men "pushed" past the appellant. They tore the screen off the window and one, or both of them, fired shots into the apartment. The two men then went back inside the apartment to the bedroom. Later the appellant and the two men left together. Another black woman, who had been with the others, went inside the apartment as the others left. Briggins later saw the police at the appellant's apartment.

Briggins testified that the front door to the apartment had glass on it on June 19, 1984. She could not remember whether or not there was a covering over the bedroom window.

The woman who stayed behind after the other three persons left the apartment was not the appellant. The woman went into the bedroom, turned the lights on and then off, shut the door and then left. Briggins did not discuss what she had seen with the police that night. Briggins stated that she knew the appellant because she had seen her in the neighborhood.

Jack R. Parker, a Jefferson County Deputy Coroner, testified that he was called to Evans' apartment sometime after 10:00 a.m. on June 19, 1984. He observed Evans lying on the bed on his back. He testified that he had the body transported to the coroner's office.

Parker stated that the police officers were on the scene when he arrived. He observed photos taken of the scene and testified that they depicted a covering on the window and the torn screen.

Terry Loggins, an evidence technician with the Birmingham, Alabama Police Department, testified that he arrived on the scene at midnight on June 19, 1984. He collected a live round of ammunition, three casings, one spent projectile and a metal fragment. He then turned the items over to the property desk at City Hall.

He collected no spent casings outside of the apartment in front of the window. He found two spent projectiles on the bed and one under the table on the floor.

Robert Brissie, M.D., the Chief Coroner and Medical Examiner in Jefferson County, Alabama, testified that he performed the autopsy on the deceased on June 20, 1984. Evans died from a small caliber gunshot wound to the head. Dr. Brissie observed two other bullet wounds in the body.

A blood alcohol test revealed a blood alcohol level of .10 grams percent. A .38 caliber slug was found in the night stand at the head of the bed.

Robert Walker, a homicide investigator with the City of Birmingham, was called to investigate the death of Evans on the night he died. He went to Evans' apartment on the night in question and secured the scene. He discovered a bullet hole in a dresser in the bedroom where Evans' body was found and a .38 caliber bullet casing in one of the drawers. There were no other bullet holes in the room.

Walker spoke with the appellant on June 20, 1984 at which time she told him that she had left Evans' apartment at approximately 8:00 on the night in question. She told him that she went to her mother's house and went to bed and did not get up until she received a call from Mrs. Thomas Fox asking her if she knew Evans was dead.

Walker estimated that the incident occurred between 10:00 and 11:30 p.m. on June 19, 1984. Mr. Truss told Walker that Christopher Latham, the appellant's brother, was one of the men with the appellant at the service station on the night in question.

Walker testified that an 85-year-old woman named Molly Coleman saw several black females and a male get out of a car near her house approximately 30 minutes after she heard a gunshot. The group walked down an alley toward Evans' apartment. A couple of minutes later the group came rushing back to the car. Ms. Coleman was unable to identify any suspects. Ms. Coleman described the car as being a 1978 Buick or Pontiac that was brown or black in color.

Walker testified that, through his investigation, he discovered that Robert Furlow was the appellant's ex-husband. The appellant told Walker that she and Evans had fought on June 19, 1984 and that Evans had beaten her and taken her car. She called the police, who later recovered her car for her. The appellant showed Walker the wounds she allegedly received from Evans.

Ollie Mae Aviles, Evans' ex-wife, testified, over the appellant's objection, that she spoke with Evans on the telephone at approximately 7:20 p.m. on the night of his death. He had called to speak to his daughter, Ms. McCray. Aviles testified that Evans asked her for a revolver and told her that the appellant "and her whole family was after him and said they would kill him." When she asked him why, he said that he did not have time to tell Aviles anything and had to "go find him some protection."

Aviles testified that she and Evans "were better friends than [they] were husband and wife." During the time they were married Evans had stuck her in the chest with a knife. While Aviles was at the funeral home she told the appellant about the phone call she had received from Evans before he died. The appellant replied, "Ollie Mae, I did not kill Ben." Aviles testified that the appellant drove a dark (navy blue or black) Buick LaSabre automobile.

The appellant's mother, Ruby Latham, testified that the first time she saw the appellant on June 19, 1984, it was approximately 8:25 or 8:30 p.m. The appellant came to her house crying, with a black eye and blood on her legs, shoes and dress. She helped clean and tend to the appellant's wounds and sent her to the bedroom in the front of the house. S...