Miller v. State
| Decision Date | 04 August 1981 |
| Docket Number | 1 Div. 188 |
| Citation | 405 So.2d 41 |
| Parties | Katherine MILLER v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Don Conway, Mobile, for appellant.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Thomas R. Allison, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Appellant was indicted for the first degree robbery of $162.00 from Jean Starling by use of a deadly weapon, a shotgun. Appellant waived the reading of the indictment at arraignment and pled not guilty. The case was tried before a jury and appellant was found guilty. Following a presentencing investigation, the trial court sentenced appellant to imprisonment in the State penitentiary for ten years. Appellant filed notice of appeal and a motion for new trial. The court denied the motion for new trial and this appeal followed.
At the close of the State's case, appellant moved to exclude the evidence because of the failure of the State to prove appellant's involvement in the alleged crime. The trial court denied appellant's motion. We set forth here in detail the evidence which sustains the trial court's ruling on appellant's motion.
Jean Starling, the victim, operated a convenience store, Compac Store # 12, at Tillman's Corner in Mobile County, Alabama. On February 6, 1980, at approximately 2:30 a. m., she noticed a small automobile with three occupants parked directly in front of the store. The male driver and a female passenger sat in the front seat, while another man occupied the back seat of the vehicle. The driver got out, came into the store, and purchased cigarette papers. He looked around the store, asked about ice cream, and then said to Ms. Starling:
"... "
At first, Ms. Starling thought he was joking with her, but as she looked more closely she saw that the man in the back seat of the vehicle had a shotgun pointed at her. She immediately gave the money to the driver, Oliver Ray Hall. Hall left the store and said something out of Ms. Starling's hearing to the female passenger, the appellant herein, to which appellant responded. Hall then returned to the store and stated Ms. Starling did not give him all the money, so they were going to kill her. At the same time, the appellant and the other man, Kenneth Burkett, both started to get out of the car. This so scared Ms. Starling that she reached for her gun and shot Hall. Hall staggered out of the door and was helped into the sedan by his two accomplices. They left in their vehicle and were followed immediately by a local law enforcement officer, Detective Ray Price, who had observed the trio's suspicious behavior at the scene. Ms. Starling stated they took approximately $162.00 from her.
Detective Roy K. Price of the Mobile County Sheriff's Office testified he was at Tillman's Corner early on the morning of February 6, 1980, at the Sheriff's Office substation, directly across from the Compac Store where the robbery occurred. He observed a two-door red sedan occupied by three individuals parked at the side of the store. After several minutes they drove to the front of the store, and, after a short while, left the store. Because they did not go into the store or use the telephone, Price became suspicious and followed them without turning on his lights. The vehicle went a short distance, then turned around, returned to the store, and parked in front of the store. When Detective Price arrived Hall was at the counter in the store, while the other two remained in the automobile. Price observed appellant get out of the right front seat, stand beside the vehicle for a minute or so, and then get back into the sedan as Hall exited the store. About the same time, Price heard shots fired, then saw Hall jump into the driver's seat and take off in the vehicle with the two accomplices. Price fired four shots to disable the vehicle and took off in pursuit. After traveling a short distance the sedan pulled off the road and stopped. When Price reached the vehicle door, Hall and the male passenger had exchanged places, and Burkett was behind the wheel. Price observed through the open door a handful of money on the front seat. Appellant was seated in the right front seat, while Hall occupied the back seat. There was a quantity of beer and cigarettes on the back seat and a shotgun partially covered with a blanket.
Appellant was arrested by Detective Price and taken to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, where she was informed of her rights. After signing a waiver of rights form, appellant made a voluntary oral statement, which was transcribed by Detective Price. Price testified appellant appeared to have been drinking but was not intoxicated at the time she made the statement. Appellant testified on voir dire, however, that she was drunk when the statement was taken, having drunk beer and vodka the entire preceding day, but that she had understood her rights when she was informed of them. Cynthia Hicks, a friend of appellant, also testified on voir dire that appellant had been drinking heavily the day before the robbery and was drunk when she last saw her at 12:00 midnight, shortly before the robbery occurred.
Over appellant's objection, her statement was received into evidence. Detective Price read the statement aloud from the stand and his narration appears in the record as follows:
Walter Crook, a Baldwin County Deputy Sheriff, testified he also questioned the appellant, along with Detective Price, at the Mobile County Sheriff's Office on February 6, 1980. Crook questioned appellant as to a burglary of a store and the theft of an automobile that had occurred earlier in the afternoon in Baldwin County. Appellant told Crook she had been with Oliver Hall earlier in the day and that they took an automobile and later broke into a store in the Magnolia Springs Community. Crook stated appellant appeared to be sober at the time he questioned her.
The State rested following Officer Crook's testimony. The defense made a motion to exclude the State's evidence, which the trial court denied.
Katherine Miller, the appellant, testified in her own behalf. She stated she was drunk at the time the robbery took place, having been drinking beer and vodka all day long. She testified she did not know the store was going to be robbed and thought Hall was merely stopping to get gasoline in order to take her home to Theodore, Alabama. Appellant's version of the robbery appears as follows:
Appellant further testified that, earlier in the day, she was with Oliver Hall when he picked up from an automobile dealer the keys to a red vehicle which she thought Hall was going to test drive. Later that day, she stated the red vehicle in which she was a passenger, and which Hall was driving, "smashed into a store" in Magnolia Springs. She did not know if it was an accident or on purpose, but she did remember Hall looting the store. She could not recall...
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