Hawkins v. State, 6 Div. 959

• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama
• Writing for the Court: LAWSON; LIVINGSTON
• Citation: 103 So.2d 158,267 Ala. 518
• Parties: Willie J. HAWKINS, allas, v. STATE of Alabama.
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 959
• Decision Date: 20 March 1958

Page 158

103 So.2d 158 267 Ala. 518 Willie J. HAWKINS, allas,
v.
STATE of Alabama. 6 Div. 959. Supreme Court of Alabama. March 20, 1958. Rehearing Denied June 12, 1958.

[267 Ala. 519]

Page 160

A. K. Callahan, Jas. Douglas Buck, Samuel A. Beatty and Jos. G. Burns, Tuscaloosa, for appellant.

John Patterson, Atty. Gen., Paul T. Gish Jr., and Wm. C. Younger, Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.

[267 Ala. 520] LAWSON, Justice.

This case was submitted on briefs without oral argument. At the time of submission it was assigned to another Justice. It was reassigned to the writer of this opinion on February 3, 1958.

The appellant seems to have been known by several names, but he will be referred to here as Willie Hawkins or as Hawkins. He appeals from a judgment of conviction of murder in the first degree with infliction of the death penalty. The appeal is under the automatic appeal statute. Act 249, Acts 1943, p. 217, approved June 24, 1943. See 1955 Cum. Pocket Part, Vol. 4, Code 1940, Title 15, § 382(1) et seq.

James Clell Langford, a police officer of the City of Tuscaloosa, was shot to death on the night of May 14, 1954. The shooting took place at the Twilight Club, a negro night club to which Langford and another police officer had been sent to quell a disturbance.

Hawkins fled after the shooting. He was indicted by a grand jury of Tuscaloosa County on May 15, 1954, for the first degree murder of Langford. He was apprehended in a distant state within a short time after the killing and was returned to this state. Hawkins was unable to employ counsel, so prior to arraignment and on June 4, 1954, the trial court appointed two experienced, reputable practicing attorneys of the Tuscaloosa County Bar to represent him. § 318, Title 15, Code 1940, as amended.

On June 16, 1954, Dr. J. S. Tarwater, acting under the provisions of § 425, Title 15, Code 1940, submitted a written report to the judges of the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County, wherein he stated in part that 'there is reasonable ground to believe that said defendant, Willie Hawkins, was insane at the time of commission of such offense or presently' and wherein he requested that Hawkins be committed to Searcy Hospital at Mt. Vernon 'to be examined and observed by myself as superintendent of the Alabama State Hospitals, and two members of the Searcy Hospital Medical Staff to constitute a commission on lunacy with view of determining mental condition of defendant, Willie Hawkins, and the existence of any mental disease or defects which would affect his present criminal responsibility, or his criminal responsibility at the time of the commission of the crime with which defendant is charged.'

On the same day that Dr. Tarwater made his report one of the judges of the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County, acting in accordance with the provisions of § 425, Title 15, supra, made and entered an order wherein the sheriff was directed to deliver Hawkins to the superintendent of the Alabama State Hospitals for the insane and the said superintendent was ordered to place Hawkins 'under observation and examination of himself and two members of his medical staff, to be named by him, constituting a commission on lunacy, with the view of determining the mental condition of said defendant, said Willie Hawkins, alias, and the extent of any mental disease or defect which would affect his criminal responsibility presently or his criminal responsibility at the time of the commission of the crime.' The commission on lunacy was ordered to make a full written report to the clerk of the circuit court of Tuscaloosa County as soon as it reached a conclusion as to the mental condition of Hawkins.

Dr. Tarwater named Dr. Harry S. Rowe and Dr. W. L. Heard, both members of his staff, to serve with him on the lunacy commission. Hawkins was admitted to Searcy Hospital on June 16, 1954. Searcy is a state institution for the colored insane[267 Ala. 521]

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located at Mt. Vernon. Hawkins remained in Searcy Hospital until his escape on December 17, 1954.

Hawkins was returned to Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, shortly after he was apprehended in Detroit, Michigan, on or about July 18, 1955. He was not returned to Searcy Hospital prior to July 29, 1955, the day on which the three members of the lunacy commission executed and signed their report, which was filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Tuscaloosa County on August 4, 1955.

The report of the lunacy commission reads, in part, as follows:

'* * * After having the said Willie Hawkins under our study and observation continually from the date of admission [June 16, 1954] until December 17, 1954, the date of his escape from Searcy Hospital, we desire to submit the following report:

'After full study and a long period of observation, it is the opinion of each of us separately, and our opinion jointly and collectively, that the said Willie Hawkins, alias, was insane and incompetent at the time of his elopement from Searcy Hospital December 17, 1954. It is our opinion that he was insane and incompetent at the time of his admission in Searcy Hospital. It is our further opinion that he was insane and incompetent at the time of the commission of the crime for which he is charged.

'* * * There is evidence of a fantasy type of thinking, a flattened mood or feeling, disturbance in thinking and reason, lack of insight or understanding, and because of his disturbed emotional and reasoning state inability to adhere to the right, even though he does know the difference between right and wrong. The commission further feels that Willie Hawkins, alias, is a menace to society, that he is suffering from a chronic and long standing mental disease, and that for his own welfare and the welfare of others he should be confined for safe-keeping. It is our further feeling that Willie Hawkins is not mentally capable of participating or helping in his own defense.

'It is the understanding of the commission that Willie Hawkins has recently been taken into custody by the law. If it please the Court further study will be made by the commission if he is returned to Searcy Hospital. Should he not be returned to the Searcy Hospital for further study, this report will be the final report of the commission and we will consider our obligation and that of the Alabama State Hospitals (Searcy Hospital) as discharged.'

The defendant was not returned to the hospital at Mt. Vernon pending his arraignment on September 3, 1955. His court-appointed counsel were present at arraignment and made no objection to going to trial. They did not ask that the defendant be returned to Mt. Vernon nor did they request that a jury be impaneled to inquire into the...