Jones v. State, 6 Div. 967
| Decision Date | 29 July 1975 |
| Docket Number | 6 Div. 967 |
| Citation | 316 So.2d 713,55 Ala.App. 466 |
| Parties | Willie Frank JONES v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
No brief from appellant.
William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and William A. Davis, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Appellant was indicted and tried for robbery. The jury returned a verdict finding him guilty of grand larceny. The court fixed his punishment at five years in the penitentiary. At arraignment and throughout the trial appellant was represented by employed counsel. He pleaded not guilty. Appellant is not an indigent. He is not represented by an attorney on this appeal.
This is a strange case in many ways. No useful purpose can be served by reciting the evidence in detail.
The victim testified that he went to the Arab Stockyards located in Cullman County on July 20, 1973, intending to buy some cattle. After being at the sale barn for a few minutes he got in his pickup truck and drove to the Security Bank and Trust Company in Arab, Marshall County, Alabama, to cash a check for $4,000. The bank was closed but he knocked on a side door and Mr. O. B. Cochran, a Vice-President of the bank, opened the door and let him in. As the victim walked in the door of the bank, another man walked in immediately behind him. The victim did not know and had never seen the man who entered the bank behind him. Mr. Cochran assumed the man was with the victim. The victim subsequently learned this man was Robert Jacques. Jacques sat on a bench in the bank and observed the victim cashing a check. Before the check transaction was completed Jacques asked a security man at the bank to let him out as he had to go some place and the security man opened the door and Jacques walked out of the bank.
The victim got four thousand dollars from the bank in the form of four packs of ten one-hundred dollar bills. At this time the victim had $75.00 in his billfold, but he put the $4,000.00 in his right front pants pocket. He got in his truck and returned to the Arab sale barn in Cullman County. He parked his truck about 300 yards from the barn. He started walking toward the barn and four men--two Negroes and two whites--grabbed him and carried him behind a big cattle truck. According to his testimony a Negro by the name of Algie Harris held him by his left hand and Jacques took the four thousand dollars out of his pocket and removed the $75.00 and gave him back his billfold. Jacques then gave all the money to the other Negro who ran with the money. The victim repeatedly asked the men not to take his money but they forcibly took it anyway. The victim ran after the man to whom Jacques gave the money but was unable to catch him. He further testified that he had never seen any of these men before the day they took his money except for seeing Jacques at the bank when he cashed the $4,000.00 check.
The victim got in his truck and drove to the Arab Police Department to report the robbery. Some few days later an officer brought him a stack of photographs or mug shots, and he identified appellant as the Negro to whom Jacques gave the money. He also made a positive in-court identification of appellant as the man who ran away with his money.
Appellant testified in his behalf and denied that he was at the Arab sale barn on the day of the robbery and he knew nothing about it.
The state put on the stand two witnesses who testified that they saw the victim at the sale barn on the day in question and also saw appellant at the sale barn on the same day that the victim was robbed. One of the witnesses said he saw appellant talking to Jacques and this was about twenty to thirty minutes after he saw the victim. Both witnesses positively identified appellant at trial.
Appellant produced several witnesses who testified that the victim lost his money in a 'shell game' and that he was not robbed. That he entered into the gambling game voluntarily and just lost his money. These witnesses were professional gamblers and were asked to explain the 'shell game' and they testified that the game is played with three tops and a small sponge. The sponge is placed under one of the tops in the presence of all participants in the game and the tops are moved around. The man running the game then takes bets as to which top the sponge is under. When all bets are made, the tops are picked up and the one the sponge is under wins the money if he chose that particular top and all who picked...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Robinson v. State
...for the affirmative charge, no exceptions reserved to the oral charge, and there was no motion for a new trial. Jones v. State, 55 Ala.App. 466, 316 So.2d 713 (1975); Hunter v.State, 57 Ala.App. 651, 331 So.2d 406 (1976). The defendant did not testify nor did he offer any evidence in his be......
-
Hyman v. State, 3 Div. 528
...trial; and no exceptions were reserved to the oral charge to the jury. Fincher v. State, 55 Ala.App. 676, 318 So.2d 371; Jones v. State, 55 Ala.App. 466, 316 So.2d 713; Bass v. State, 55 Ala.App. 88, 313 So.2d 208; Hurst v. State, 54 Ala.App. 254, 307 So.2d 62; Mosley v. State, 54 Ala.App. ......
-
Luker v. State
...for review. We have written to all of the issues presented on this appeal. Eady v. State, 48 Ala.App. 726, 267 So.2d 516; Jones v. State, 55 Ala.App. 466, 316 So.2d 713; Bass v. State, 55 Ala.App. 88, 313 So.2d 208; Hurst v. State, 54 Ala.App. 251, 307 So.2d We have carefully examined the r......
-
Kyzer v. State
...was not timely made within thirty days of pronouncement. Cooks v. State, 55 Ala.App. 538, 317 So.2d 506 (1975); Jones v. State, 55 Ala.App. 466, 316 So.2d 713 (1975). It is well established that a statute is constitutional even though it does not specify a maximum penalty. See Robinson v. S......