Jones v. State
Decision Date | 24 November 1987 |
Docket Number | 3 Div. 747 |
Citation | 523 So.2d 518 |
Parties | Damon Lamar JONES v. STATE. |
Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
David Flack, Montgomery, for appellant.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and J. Randall McNeill, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
The appellant was indicted for murder and the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.
The appellant argues that the trial court erred in not giving his requested charge on criminal negligence.
The appellant gave a videotaped statement and testified at trial. Basically, he claimed that he observed the victim and a female named Azalea engaged in an altercation near an automobile. The victim began searching through the trunk of the automobile, as Azalea fled. The appellant stated that he attempted to subdue the victim from attacking Azalea. The victim began to fight him by scratching him and hitting him with a tire tool that he had pulled from his trunk. The appellant further claimed that when he got involved the victim was already bleeding, because Azalea had stabbed him in the stomach with a steak knife. The appellant admitted that he hit the victim in the back of his head with the tire tool, causing his death. However, the appellant claims that he did not intend to kill the victim.
The record indicates that, prior to the court's giving the jury charge, the following transpired:
Thus, this issue is preserved for our review.
In Hurst v. State, 469 So.2d 720 (Ala.Cr.App.1985), the appellant alleged that he had acted in selfdefense and did not even know that the victim had been injured. This Court held that, if the victim was accidentally injured while the appellant was attempting to defend himself, Id. at 722. Id. at 721. Lawson v. State, 476 So.2d 116, 118 (Ala.Cr.App.1985). "A claim of self-defense does not reduce a charge of murder or manslaughter to criminally negligent homicide." Quates v. State, 439 So.2d 199, 202 (Ala.Cr.App.1983).
"The submission to the jury of manslaughter as a lesser-included offense of murder does not necessarily entitle a defendant to a jury charge on criminally negligent homicide as a lesser-included offense." Phelps v. State, 435 So.2d 158, 166 (Ala.Cr.App.1983).
Phelps v. State, supra, at 165. See also Quates v. State, supra, at 202 ( ). In the opinion of this court, there was no rational basis for a verdict of criminally negligent homicide.
The appellant argues that he was improperly sentenced by the trial court under § 13A-5-6(a)(5), Code of Alabama (1975), when the trial court determined that the tire tool was a deadly weapon. § 13A-5-6(a)(5) establishes a limitation for sentencing felonies, as follows:
"(5) For a Class B or C felony in which a firearm or a deadly weapon was used or attempted to be used in the commission of the felony, not less than 10 years."
A "deadly weapon" is defined by § 13A-1-2(11) as:
"A firearm or anything manifestly designed, made or adapted for the purposes of inflicting death or serious physical injury, and such term includes, but is not limited to, a pistol, rifle or shotgun; or a switch-blade knife, gravity knife, stiletto, sword or dagger; any billy, black-jack, bludgeon or metal knuckles."
The commentary to this section explains and expands on this definition as follows:...
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Henderson v. State
...997 (Ala. Crim. App. 1986) (holding that a board constituted a deadly weapon under the circumstances of the case); Jones v. State, 523 So.2d 518 (Ala. Crim. App. 1987) (holding that a tire tool constituted a deadly weapon based on the manner in which it was used); Hill v. State, 516 So.2d 8......
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Harris v. State
...So.2d 997 (Ala.Crim.App.1986) (holding that a board constituted a deadly weapon under the circumstances of the case); Jones v. State, 523 So.2d 518 (Ala.Crim.App.1987) (holding that a tire tool constituted a deadly weapon based on the manner in which it was used); Hill v. State, 516 So.2d 8......
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Cline v. State, 7 Div. 305
...has lawful functions and uses, it may or may not be deemed a deadly weapon, depending on the manner of its use. See Jones v. State, 523 So.2d 518 (Ala.Cr.App.1987) (wherein, for sentencing purposes, a tire tool was deemed a deadly weapon by the manner of its use); Hill v. State, 516 So.2d 8......
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McCaskill v. State
...but is not limited to, a pistol, rifle or shotgun; or any billy, black-jack, bludgeon or metal knuckles." See Jones v. State, 523 So.2d 518, 521 (Ala.Cr.App.1987) ("[i]n other words, a deadly weapon is not only a weapon with which death may be easily and readily produced, but one which is l......