Kircheis v. State, 1 Div. 594

• Citation: 56 Ala.App. 526,323 So.2d 412
• Decision Date: 01 October 1975
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 594
• Parties: Robert George KIRCHEIS v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 412

323 So.2d 412

56 Ala.App. 526

Robert George KIRCHEIS v. STATE.

1 Div. 594.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Oct. 1, 1975.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 21, 1975.

D. Wayne Childress, Mobile, for appellant.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and Kermit M. Downs, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

HARRIS, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree involving the death of his wife and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary. He was represented by court-appointed counsel at arraignment and throughout the trial proceedings. He pleaded not guilty. After sentence was imposed, he gave notice of appeal and was furnished a free transcript. Trial counsel was appointed to represent him on appeal.

Omitting the formal parts the two-count indictment upon which appellant was tried reads as follows:

'The GRAND JURY of said County charge, that, before the finding of this indictment ROBERT GEORGE KIRCHEIS whose name is to the Grand Jury otherwise unknown than as stated, unlawfully and with malice aforethought killed Evelyn Norton Kircheis, by striking her with a hammer, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.

The GRAND JURY of said County further charge, that, before the finding of this indictment ROBERT GEORGE KIRCHEIS whose name is to the Grand Jury otherwise unknown than as stated, unlawfully and with malice aforethought killed Evelyn Norton Kircheis, by striking her with a blunt instrument, a more particular description of which is to the Grand Jury otherwise unknown, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama. CHARLES R. BUTLER, JR., District Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit of Alabama (County of Mobile)'

The testimony adduced by the state made out one of the most brutal, heinous, merciless and senseless killings imaginable. A defenseless woman was bludgeoned to death by a claw hammer or blunt instrument while in her own bed dressed in a night gown.

Mr. Michael Cook testified that he was employed by the Cypress Creek Country Club which was formerly the Riviere du Chien Country Club; that he knew appellant as he was formerly employed as comptroller at the club. He identified appellant by pointing to him in the courtroom. He further testified that he knew appellant's voice. He stated that on Saturday night, April 13, 1974, he received a telephone call from his employer, Mr. Jack Maloney, and as a result of his telephone conversation he went to apartment 202 of the Skyline Apartments and knocked on the door. Appellant and his wife lived in this apartment. He did not receive an answer in response to his knock on the apartment door. He then went to the apartment manager and asked her to please open the door because he was concerned that Mrs. Kircheis was ill. The manager let him in the apartment and he called Mrs. Kircheis and received no answer. The time was about 8:00 p.m. The lights in the apartment were out and he turned on the lights in the dining room and he saw no one around. He walked back to a bedroom. The light from the dining room shone clearly in the bedroom. The bed was rumpled and he lifted the cover and recognized the body of Mrs. Kircheis. He went downstairs and told the manager not to let anyone in that apartment and he called the Mobile Police Department. He went back upstairs and stayed at the front door of the apartment until the police arrived. Subsequently he gave the Police Department a written statement and he talked to no one except the police officers.

Mr. Ronald S. Myers was employed by the Mobile Police Department as an evidence technician and in this capacity he was on call twenty-four hours a day. He was at home on April 13, 1974, and received a call at approximately 9:05 p.m. to go to the apartment of appellant at 1164, apartment 202, Skyline Arms. He arrived at this apartment at 9:12 p.m. He carried his camera with him. He was met at the apartment by Sergeant Eugene Ganoe. Upon entering the apartment he and Ganoe walked down a small hallway to a bedroom where he saw a woman in bed. He took a series of pictures of the woman in bed and different scenes of the bedroom and of the entire apartment, and he drew a plan of the apartment. He drew a sketch of the floor plan on the blackboard before the jury and related the sketch to some 16 photographs he made at the scene.

Dr. Earl B. Wert, the Cononer of Mobile County, and a duly qualified pathologist, performed an autopsy on the body of Evelyn Kircheis on April 15, 1974, in the presence of Mr. Nelson Grubbs, Assistant State Toxicologist in charge of the Mobile Division.

From the record:

'Q All right, sir. And could you tell us what you found as a result of your autopsy?

A We found multiple blunt and sharp wounds of the head, neck, face, and back of the head, numbering nineteen, the most severe of which was at the angle of the left jaw penetrating down to involve the skull.

Q Doctor, could you point these out on me if you are able to so that the jury can fully understand? Or on yourself?

A Well, on myself. At this position here at the base of the skull, fracturing the skull and temple and the jaw with attachments to the skull. These wounds measured approximately two inches deep and about an inch wide. In addition, there were other fractures of the mandible, the lower jawbone; and a wound to the back of the head; and two parallel pressure wounds in the front of the forehead between the eyebrows which suggested the track of a claw hammer might have made such wounds; the extensive hemorrhaging to the brain and fracture of the skull, but no other wounds internally, on her back, or extremeties. Death was attributed to blunt instrument wounds of the head with hemorrhage and fractured skull and damage to the brain.'

Dr. Wert further testified that the wounds weren't such as might have produced immediate death. He could not pinpoint the time of death but stated the date could not have been prior to April 13, 1974, and that rigor mortis was present at the time he performed the autopsy. A series of photographs were made by a police officer during the autopsy.

One of the investigating officers described the murder scene as follows:

'WITNESS: Well, when I went in the bedroom, the first thing I noticed was the condition of the body. The body was covered with a sheet. The sheet was removed, and I observed the body, and the body was very bloody. The body had bruise marks all over it. The head appeared to have been--the skull was punctured. There was matted blood all in the hair of the body. The sheets and bed clothing were soaked with blood, and there was blood splattered all over the ceiling, walls, floor, closets.'

A claw hammer was found in a tool box in the back corner of a closet next to the living room which was a good distance from the bedroom where the body of the woman was found. The tool box was obscured by a long evening gown. The gown was removed so that a photograph could be made of the hammer in the tool box. The underside of the claw appeared to be bloodstained.

In the course of the investigation the officers learned that the deceased owned a Plymouth Duster, bearing a Florida license tag, and the color of the car was white over red. The car was missing and appellant could not be found in the Mobile area. A radio dispatch was put out for appellant and the missing automobile.

Mrs. Ann Tallman testified that on April 12, 1974, she lived in an apartment at the Skyline Arms Apartments and that appellant and his wife lived in the apartment above hers. She stated that on that Friday morning, April 12, 1974, she got up as usual and dripped her a cup of coffee. That the Kircheis' master bedroom was right above her master bedroom. She said after drinking her coffee, she was preparing to take a shower when she heard a scream. She listened for a few minutes in silence and heard nothing else for a few minutes and then she heard some sobbing--kind of hysterical like crying and sobbing and then she heard nothing else.

Mrs. Tallman further testified that though appellant was her neighbor, she only spoke to him on a few occasions.

From the record:

'Q Mrs. Tallman, you said that Mr. Kircheis here was your neighbor. Did you ever have an occasion to talk with him?

A Well, very little. We did have one conversation, I think on my porch; and I spoke to him as I saw him occasionally.

Q Now, what did this conversation relate to?

A Well, one--this must have been about three weeks before his wife moved in with him, he mentioned the fact that he had gotten married. I said, 'Well, congratulations.' And in answer to that he said, 'This isn't what you think; it's more a marriage of convenience.' And I said--well, you know, to each his own; and he said, 'Well, sometimes it's just more convenient businesswise to be married than it is to be single.' And that was the extent--pretty much the conversation. We talked about my pecan cracker--and that was it.

Q That was the extent of the conversation?

A Yes.'

This witness further stated that she went out of town that afternoon after her work day was over and did not return until Saturday night and found an ambulance and police cars around the apartment.

Mrs. Carolyn Larmon testified that she and appellant were good friends; that she met him in October, 1973, prior to his marriage in January, 1974. She stated that he called her on the telephone several times before and after his marriage. That he visited her in her apartment both before and after his marriage and they engaged in sexual relations. He told her he loved her and that his marriage was a mistake. He told her he married for business reasons--it gave him a better business report. After his marriage he told her he was going to Las Vegas and asked her to go with him but her employment prevented her from going.

She further testified that subsequent to his marriage, he bought her an outfit--pants and a top for a birthday present and gave her a check for $650.00 because she was out of work and...