Haynes v. State
| Decision Date | 01 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 175 |
| Citation | 277 So.2d 372,50 Ala.App. 96 |
| Parties | Grover J. HAYNES, alias, v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and Richard F. Calhoun, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
This is the fourth case stemming from the theft of a 1970 two-door hardtop Pontiac Catalina automobile on October 19 1971, from a church parking lot in Homewood, Jefferson County, Alabama, the property of Otis C. Duvall, Jr., of Phenix City, Alabama. The identification number of this vehicle was 252370P101096, and the license tag number on the car was 57--5198, issued to Duvall by the Judge of Probate of Russell County.
Jackie Tant, Hugh Gray Whistenant, and Billy McGullion were all convicted in the Circuit Court of Cleburne County, in separate trials, for buying, receiving, concealing, etc., this identical automobile and all appealed their convictions to this Court. Tant's case was dismissed on his own motion on April 10, 1972. The case against Whistenant was affirmed on February 20, 1973, 50 Ala.App. ---, 278 So.2d 183, and the case against McGullion was affirmed on April 17, 1973, 50 Ala.App. 55, 276 So.2d 640. The opinions in Whistenant and McGullion deal in some detail with the factual background leading up to their convictions and in a large measure are relevant and material to the instant case. For the sake of brevity attention to those cases is invited. We will set out such additional facts as we deem necessary to a clear understanding of this case.
Appellant was indicted, tried and convicted of buying, receiving, concealing, etc., one engine No. 20P101096, one transmission No. 20P101096, taken from a 1970 Pontiac automobile, identification 252370P101096. The evidence is without dispute that the above listed identification is the correct number for this particular automobile as it was on the bill of sale delivered to Duvall at the time he purchased same. Proof as to the engine and transmission number was developed during the trial by state witness Roger Paulk. He testified that he was a special agent with National Automobile Theft Bureau and that his job is to investigate stolen motor vehicles and to assist law enforcement officers in the investigation of any commercial theft ring operation; that he had special training in the methods and procedures employed in the identification of motor vehicles of major automobiles manufactured in the United States and other countries; that he had a book that covers 1970 Pontiac Catalinas. He took the serial or identification number 252370P101096 and broke the symbols or digits down in the following manner: the first digit 2 stands for Pontiac; the next four digits 5237 means Catalina, two-door hardtop; the next digit 0 stands for a 1970 model; the letter P stands for Pontiac, Michigan, the assembly plant; that any numbers after the 'assembly plant' would be sequential production numbers and would represent the identification number for this particular vehicle of this particular body style; the last six digits--101096--denote the automobile involved in this case. He further testified that Pontiac has a code for identifying motors and transmissions for 1970 Pontiac automobiles. He explained it this way: on engines and transmissions for 1970 models (20P101096) the numeral 2 stands for Pontiac; '0' stands for a 1970 model; 'P' stands for the assembly plant, Pontiac, Michigan; that the next six digits '101096' denotes the particular body style of the automobile. He stated that on a 1970 Pontiac automobile the identification number is on a metal plate on the left hand side of the windshield and is fastened to the dash with rivets.
On cross-examination, this witness testified that assuming the serial or identification number on the metal plate was correct at the time the automobile left the factory in Pontiac, Michigan, the motor and transmission number would have been '20P101096,' which are the same numbers set out in the indictment in this case. He said the vehicle identification number is too long to stamp on the engine and transmission, hence the abbreviated number in accordance with a code book of the Pontiac division of General Motors.
Jimmy Johnson, another special agent for National Automobile Theft Bureau testified that on the morning of October 19, 1971, he was parked in front of the Oxford Nursing Home and around 9:00 to 9:15 A.M. he saw Jimmy Haynes, the son of appellant, in a Riviera Buick driving toward the Interstate highway and turn west towards Birmingham; that Billy McGullion was in the car with Jimmy Haynes; that witness followed them to the Eastwood Mall in Birmingham, Alabama, where he lost sight of them in the traffic. This was the day the Pontiac was stolen from the church parking lot in Homewood and driven by McGullion to Hugh Gray Whistenant's barn in Cleburne County.
Lieutenant E. E. Hardegree, a State Investigator, who was primarily engaged in auto theft work, participated in an investigation in the Calhoun-Cleburne County Area on October 19, 1971. From a vantage point near Whistenant's farm in Cleburne County, he observed a 1970 Pontiac, with a light green bottom and dark vinyl top, bearing a 1972 Alabama license tag number 57--5198, driven by Billy McGullion enter the barn on Whistenant's place at about 1:09 P.M. He also observed Jackie Tant and Whistenant about 10:50 on the same date going to this farm. Tant was driving a blue pickup truck and Whistenant was driving a 1960 white Oldsmobile. Around 5:50 P.M. he saw Tant leave the barn in the blue pickup with the rear clip of the Pontiac on the truck. He followed Tant to a garage on Highway 431 about twelve (12) miles from the Whistenant farm.
A State Trooper, Corporal A. F. Clifton, who was on the same assignment as Lt. Hardegree, testified that around 10:00 A.M. on October 19, 1971, he was driving south on Noble Street in Anniston, on which street appellant's garage was located, and saw Whistenant pulling out from Haynes Auto Parts in a 1960 white Oldsmobile, followed by Jackie Tant in a blue pickup truck. Around noon on that date he went over to Cleburne County and saw both of the vehicles at Whistenant's barn. He was still there when McGullion drove up in a 1970 Pontiac and put it in a stall in the barn. McGullion left driving the 1960 white Oldsmobile and he observed Whistenant and Tant disassemble the Pontiac and saw Tant leave in the blue pickup with the rear clip on the back of the truck. He then observed Whistenant winch the motor out of the Pontiac and do some work on it. He was back there the next morning and saw the front section of the Pontiac loaded on the blue pickup and saw the engine and transmission loaded on a red Ford pickup truck. He saw both of these pickups driven by Tant and Whistenant carry their loads to the garage on Highway 431. Later that same day, he saw the red Ford pickup on which the engine and transmission was loaded at Haynes Auto Parts on Noble Street in Anniston. He saw it parked at this garage around noon.
Herbert Turley was the body and fender man at the garage located on Highway 431 where the rear clip of this Pontiac was carried. He testified that this garage was owned and operated by Jimmy Haynes, the son of appellant. Appellant testified that his son, Jimmy Haynes, worked for him. Turley testified that he took the rear clip of this Pontiac and put it on another Pontiac that had been wrecked and which was brought to this garage by Jimmy Haynes and that he rebuilt this automobile for young Haynes. He observed the motor and transmission on the red Ford pickup driven by Jackie Tant and that Tant drove this pickup from the 431 garage headed toward Anniston.
Appellant denied any knowledge of the engine and transmission that the officers found in his place of business and further denied that he had ever seen parts of the Pontiac in question. The only explanation he gave as to these items being on his premises was that there was a Possibility that they could have been delivered to his place by a 'circuit service truck' for some other person who had placed an order for this type motor and transmission. He explained that his place was a 'drop off' for automobile parts for numerous persons engaged in the auto repair business in the Anniston area and surrounding counties who ordered auto parts from dealers all over the country because appellant was the only member of the Southern Circuit Truck System in that area of the State and that the truck belonging to the System was not authorized to 'drop off' auto parts to nonmembers. He further testified that as a member of the Southern Circuit he maintained a 'hot line' on a twenty-four hour basis with all members in the southeast. The 'hot line' could be used by anyone in the auto repair business needing parts to repair vehicles.
Omitting the formal parts, the indictment reads as follows:
'The GRAND JURY of said County charge that, before the finding of this indictment, Grover J. Haynes alias G. J. Jaynes, whose true name is to the Grand Jury otherwise unknown, did Buy, Receive, Conceal, or Aid in Concealing One (1) engine, I/D #20P101096, one (1) transmission I/D #20P101096 taken from one (1) 1970 Pontiac automobile, I/D #252370P101096, A better description of which being unknown to the Grand Jury, of the value of, engine & transmission, to-wit: $500.00, the personal property of Otis C. Duvall, knowing that the same had been stolen, or having reasonable grounds for believing same had been stolen, and not having the intent to restore it to the owner, . . . AGAINST THE PEACE AND DIGNITY OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA.'
This case began with an affidavit and search warrant. They read as follows:
'Proof by affidavit having been made this day before me by C. K....
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