Minniefield v. State, 5 Div. 53

• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
• Writing for the Court: CATES
• Citation: 47 Ala.App. 699,260 So.2d 607
• Parties: LaSalle MINNIEFIELD v. STATE.
• Docket Number: 5 Div. 53
• Decision Date: 28 March 1972

Page 607

260 So.2d 607 47 Ala.App. 699 LaSalle MINNIEFIELD
v.
STATE. 5 Div. 53. Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama. March 28, 1972.

[47 Ala.App. 700]

Page 608

Gray, Seay & Langford, Montgomery, for appellant.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and Joseph G. L. Marston, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

CATES, Judge.

Rape; sentence, ninety-nine years. Code 1940, T. 14, § 395. Defendant pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

I

Appellant urges reversible error in the ruling of the trial court denying his motion for a continuance. It is asserted in brief that the denial of a continuance deprived the defendant of a fair trial because counsel for the defense did not have sufficient time to prepare the case, and because certain witnesses were not available at the time of trial.

Minniefield was arrested in the early morning hours of March 9, 1970. An indictment was returned on Thursday, March 26, 1970. At arraignment the next day, the trial judge determined defendant to be indigent, and appointed two attorneys to reprtesent him at trial, which was set for Monday, April 6, i.e., nine full calendar days after arraignment. The Court took notice of the fact that defendant's mother was seeking to retain another attorney to represent her son. The court appointed attorneys asked for a continuance of the case on March 27, again on April 3, and again at the opening of the trial. The privately retained attorney appeared at the trial, but withdrew when the court refused to grant a continuance.

The matter of continuance in a criminal case is addressed to the trial [47 Ala.App. 701] court's sound discretion, the exercise of which will not be disturbed unless clearly abused. Divine v. State, 279 Ala. 291, 184 So.2d 628; Segers v. State, 283 Ala. 694, 220 So.2d 882. In Bertrand v. State, 46 Ala.App. 117, 238 So.2d 914, we noted that a lawyer entering a case in which the court has already appointed counsel must normally presume that the groundwork will have been laid by the other lawyers, and thus,

'Ordinarily counsel who supplants or supplements other counsel, who have already had ample time to get ready for trial, should not expect or ask for a continuance.'

Minniefield was sleeping at the home of his grandfather and taking his

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meals at the home of his mother at about the time of the offense. They could reasonably be presumed to know of his arrest on March 9. The facts of the case were relatively simple, and the witnesses for the State all resided in the surrounding area. As there was ample time to prepare the defense, there was no abuse of judicial discretion. Barnes v. State, 45 Ala.App. 6, 221 So.2d 399; Walker v. State, 265 Ala. 233, 90 So.2d 221. See also Avery v. State, 308 U.S. 444, 60 S.Ct. 321, 84 L.Ed. 377.

Subpoenaed witnesses who did not appear when the case was called were R. H. Nolen, a social worker; W. E. Steiner, Chief of Staff; and R. C. Bethard, Chief of Medical Administration, all employees of the Veterans Hospital in Tuscaloosa. The testimony of these witnesses could have been offered by depositions under Title 15, § 297. Moreover, the defense having failed to request attachment or to offer a showing as to what the absent witnesses would testify, no abuse of discretion is made to appear. Freeland v. State, 34 Ala.App. 313, 40 So.2d 339; Sparks v. State, 46 Ala.App. 357, 242 So.2d 403.

II

Defendant's motion for a sanity investigation was denied. The only evidence offered was the defendant's military discharge, the testimony of his mother, and a letter tending to show that the defendant had been a patient in the psychiatric ward of a military hospital.

Opinions of the Alabama Supreme Court say that a pre-trial insanity reference is discretionary with the trial judge. Brown v. State, 45 Ala.App. 391, 231 So.2d 167. Our Supreme Court has indicated in Pace v. State, 284 Ala. 585, 226 So.2d 645, that the nisi prius ruling on such motions will not be reversed unless the showing is more compelling than the evidence presented in Lokos v. State, 278 Ala. 586, 179 So.2d 714.

The Motion for Investigation of Sanity of Defendant appears in the record certified to us. The date of filing this motion has not been entered by the Circuit Clerk. However, appended to it is a Certificate of Service upon the District Attorney, bearing date of April 2, 1970, which was on a Thursday following counsel's appointment on Friday, March 27. This motion omitting the introductory part reads as follows:

'1. The defendant, Lasalle Minifield, alias, is now being held in the confinement of the County Jail of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, under an indictment against him for a capital offense, to-wit, rape.

'2. Your petitioner respectfully shows unto the Court that the defendant, Lasalle Minifield, alias, is now insane, incapable of adequately assisting in his own defense in this case and should be committed to the appropriate state mental hospital for further observation, diagnosis, and treatment.

'3. Your petitioner further shows unto the Court that, as Attorneys for the defendant, they have asserted and now reassert that the defendant is presently of unsound mind to such an extent that he cannot adequately assist his attorneys in the defense of this case, and that he is not sufficiently legally competent to stand trial. Petitioners further show to [47 Ala.App. 702] the Court that as Attorneys for the defendant they have heretofore interposed a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, and show unto the Court that the opinion of the doctors at the Alabama State Hospital for the insane would be relevant on this issue also.

'THE PREMISES CONSIDERED, the petitioners pray and move the Court as follows:

'A. That a day be set for the hearing of this motion prior to the day now set of the trial of this case after giving adequate notice of Honorable Tom F. Young, District Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Alabama.

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'B. That upon the hearing of this motion the Court appoint three reputable specialist preactitioners (sic) in mental and nervous diseases to examine the said defendant and make their written report to this Court of his sanity or insanity, as called for under the provisions of Section 425, Title 15, Code of Alabama, Recompiled 1958.

'C. That an order be made and entered by this Honorable Court that the said defendant, Lasalle Minifield, alias, be delivered by the Sheriff of this County to the Superintendent of the Alabama State Hospital for the purpose of determining the present mental condition of the said defendant and the making of a report to this Court thereon as called for by the provisions of the aforesaid Section 425, Title 15, Code of Alabama, Recompiled 1958.

'D. That the said defendant remain in the custody of the said Superintendent in the Alabama State Hospitals for such length of time as may be necessary for him and his associates to determine the defendant's mental condition so far as it affects the defendant's criminal responsibility, and that no further proceedings be held in this matter until such report has been received by this Honorable Court.'

The evidence transcript under date of March 27, 1970, shows the following:

'MR. HORNSBY: Now come the Court appointed defense attorneys and make known to the Court that defense counsel in all liklihood be given an opportunity to study the matter and look into the facts of the case and make a motion with this Court that this defendant be sent to a State institution for psychiatric evaluation before being placed on trial in this capital case. We now make this motion out of an over-abundance of precaution, we make the motion now, at this time, today to the Court that the Court commit this defendant to the State Psychiatric Hospital in Tuscaloosa for psychiatric evaluation.

'THE COURT: Have you any evidence to offer this Court?

'MR. HORNSBY: No sir, we were only appointed some twenty or thirty minutes ago. I never saw the defendant before I don't know anything about the case and don't know anything about the defendant in the case.

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