Neal v. State

• Decision Date: 01 May 1979
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 894
• Parties: Eddie Barnard NEAL v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 1331

372 So.2d 1331

Eddie Barnard NEAL v. STATE.

6 Div. 894.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

May 1, 1979.

On Rehearing May 11, 1979.

J. Wilson Dinsmore and Larry Waites, Birmingham, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Thomas R. Allison, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State, appellee.

HARRIS, Presiding Judge.

Appellant was tried and convicted pursuant to provisions of § 13-11-2(a)(2) Code of Alabama 1975, which provides for the imposition of the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole when the defendant is found guilty of robbery or attempts thereof when the victim is intentionally killed by the defendant. Throughout the trial proceedings he was represented by court-appointed counsel who represents him on this appeal. At arraignment, in the presence of counsel, he pleaded not guilty.

Upon a hearing to determine the aggravating and mitigating factors and circumstances, the trial court refused to accept the death penalty verdict and sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment without parole.

The victim was Miss Quenette Shehane of Clio, Alabama, who had just recently graduated from Birmingham Southern College, and was working at Parisian's Department Store located at Five Points West. She was last seen alive by her fiance, Ramsey Howard Lane, at the ATO Fraternity house on the campus of the Birmingham Southern College on December 20, 1976, at 6:20 p. m. Ramsey was cooking food on a gas grill at the back of the fraternity house while waiting for Miss Shehane to get off work. When she arrived at the fraternity house she decided to drive to a nearby grocery store for a bottle of salad dressing for the salad they were to eat that night. She was driving a white four-door Mercury Marquis, and her car was packed with her possessions, including some wrapped presents, as she was going home for the Christmas holidays. Ramsey walked Miss Shehane to her car and watched her drive down 12th Street towards the entrance to Fraternity Road.

Ramsey further testified that on December 20, 1976, Miss Shehane owned a portable television set and he saw it packed in her car, the day before she disappeared, along with her other possessions which she had removed from her room. He stated that he was with her when she purchased the television in September, 1976, from Sears in the Century Plaza and that it was a birthday present. He had seen the television set almost daily since it was purchased. He identified State's Exhibit 12 as the television set belonging to the victim.

He testified that when he last saw her on December 20, 1976, "She wore a blue jean type skirt and a white turtleneck type blouse; she had on some I believe a white bracelet and some beaded wooden-type earrings and a rust colored car coat." Ramsey waited at the fraternity house for about forty-five minutes and when she did not return he became very apprehensive and started driving around in the neighborhood, thinking, perhaps, her car had broken down. He drove to the nearest convenience store located on Graymont Avenue, then to a store on College Hill and finally to Five Points West to a larger grocery store. His search proved fruitless and he returned to the fraternity house and made inquiries of several people in his efforts to locate her but no one had seen her. He then called the emergency room of a local hospital but he was unable to determine her whereabouts.

During the trial Mr. Ramsey identified State's Exhibit 12 as the television set owned by the victim and which was packed in her car the day before she disappeared. He identified State's Exhibit 13 as the skirt she was wearing when she left the fraternity house to get a bottle of salad dressing, and State's Exhibit 14 as a coat belonging to the victim which was in her car at that time.

Mr. Curtis Eiland testified that he was a teacher at Clio High School and that Quenette Shehane was his niece. He last saw her alive during the Thanksgiving holidays of 1976 at the home of her grandparents in Clio. The next time he saw her was Tuesday, December 21, 1976, at the Cooper Green Hospital and she was dead.

Mr. Jack R. Parker, Deputy Coroner of Jefferson County since 1973, testified that he received a call on December 21, 1976, at 12:16 p. m. to go to the 3800 block of 4th Place West. He arrived at 12:38 p. m. and saw the nude body of a white female lying nine feet off the side of the road. She was dead at that time. The body was identified to him as that of Quenette Shehane. He stated the body was in a wooded area and there were no houses in the immediate vicinity. The coroner said that he had considerable experience in investigating homicides and had an associate degree in Mortuary Science from Jefferson State College. He also had a certificate from Jacksonville State College in Death Investigation.

Mr. Parker examined the body at the scene and determined the cause of death was due to a bullet wound in the chest area. He observed other penetrating wounds on the body. He identified several photographs made at the scene where the body was found and of the body itself. The coroner ordered the body removed to Cooper Green Hospital for an autopsy and was present during the autopsy at which time he observed three penetrating wounds. Two such wounds were in the left buttocks and one to the right buttocks. The coroner identified photographs of all the wounds, injuries and abrasions noted during the autopsy, and these photographs were admitted into evidence over objections of the appellant.

Mr. Parker further testified that the autopsy was performed by Mr. Jay Glass, Pathologist Assistant with the Coroner's Office, and that he was present when Mr. Glass removed four bullets from the body. As each bullet was removed it was given to Mr. Parker who wrapped it with gauze and placed it in a separate amber plastic vial which he sealed with tape around the top and placed his initials on each vial. He stated that Dr. Henry Santina assisted Mr. Glass in performing the autopsy. Mr. Parker kept possession of the bullets removed from the body of the deceased until he delivered them to Sergeant Dave Higgins, an evidence technician with the Birmingham Police Department. They were kept in Mr. Parker's locker to which he had the only key and he delivered the four vials to Sergeant Higgins at 5:37 p. m. on the day the autopsy was performed. He stated the time of death would have been between 6:00 p. m. and 3:00 a. m.

Mr. Jay M. Glass, an employee of the Office of the Coroner, testified as to his education and experience and his qualifications were not questioned by appellant. He stated that he performed an autopsy on the body of Quenette Shehane on the afternoon of December 21, 1976 and removed four bullets from her body. Three bullets were removed from the pelvic area and one from the upper chest. Each bullet was turned over to Mr. Parker. Mr. Glass determined the cause of death to be shock and hemorrhage due to multiple gunshot wounds.

Following the death of Miss Shehane an intensive and thorough investigation was undertaken by the law enforcement agencies to ascertain the identity of her killer or killers. Several suspects were taken into custody, questioned and released. The investigation continued and finally led to the arrest of three black men who were all students at the Daniel Payne College in Birmingham at the time of the disappearance and death of Miss Shehane. These three men are appellant, Jerry Lee Jones and Wallace Norrell Thomas. They were indicted, tried, convicted and each received the death penalty. Appellant was the last of the trio to be tried and convicted but his is the first appeal to be submitted to this Court.

John Andrew Mays testified that in December of 1976 he lived with Jerry Lee Jones at 933 8th Avenue West and that this address is directly across the street from the Birmingham Southern College. He came to know appellant and Wallace Norrell Thomas through Jerry Lee Jones. He identified appellant in court. He was unable to recall specifically the date of December 20, 1976, but he vividly recalled the occasion shortly before Christmas when appellant, Jones and Thomas came to the apartment where he was living. He distinctly recalled a conversation between this trio in which they were talking about going to Birmingham Southern College and getting some ladies and taking them out. Jones asked him if he wanted to go with them and he said no, he was not interested in going. He stated that on that occasion Jones had a yellow Chevrolet automobile that was making a terrible sound and he asked Mays to drive it and see if he could determine what was making that noise. He drove the car and told Jones what he thought the trouble was that caused the motor to make such funny noises.

Mays further testified that the three men left the apartment together just as it was getting dark and that he left about thirty minutes later to go to his sister's house at 1st Center Place, North, Apartment B. He was going to stay with his sister until two days before Christmas at which time they were going to their parents' home in Lowndes County, Alabama, for the holidays. He got as many of his personal things as he could carry and started walking down Graymont Avenue when he passed the U-Totem Store which he identified as the store shown in the photograph which was State's Exhibit 15. He stated that as he came out of the alley in the vicinity of the U-Totem Store he saw a young man pushing a young lady into a car and he heard her scream. He just glanced in that direction and kept walking. He said the car in which the young lady was pushed into left, going away from him and that this car was immediately followed by a yellow car which in his best judgment belonged to Jerry Lee Jones as this car was making the same peculiar noise. He further testified that around 10:00 o'clock the next morning he returned to the apartment at 933 8th Avenue, West, to get the rest of his belongings. He found a...