Phillips v. State
| Decision Date | 19 February 1963 |
| Docket Number | 6 Div. 910 |
| Citation | 42 Ala.App. 64,152 So.2d 148 |
| Parties | Earl PHILLIPS, allas Perry W. Moore, v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Appeals |
Earl Phillips, pro se.
MacDonald Gallion, Atty. Gen., and John C. Tyson, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Appeal from denial of coram nobis after hearing at nisi prius.
The writ was sought in the circuit court to vacate a judgment wherein Phillips was convicted May 14, 1952, of robbing Irving W. Stern (manager of Robert Hall Clothing Co.). The jury set Phillips's sentence at eighteen years in the penitentiary. His counsel at that trial died before the bringing of coram nobis.
The principal averment was that (1) 'the arresting officers did not have a single bit of evidence that the petitioner had committed a crime,' and (2) the 'only evidence of guilt * * * was obtained without * * * a search warrant.'
At the coram nobis hearing, the circuit court first asked Phillips if he wished for the court to appoint a lawyer for him. At the defendant's request for such appointment, the court designated Roger Rice, Esq., as counsel.
After the petitioner and his counsel had conferred from 9:44 to 10:13, A.M., the issues were clarified and the petitioner took the stand.
Petitioner testified that in February, 1952 (flanked on one side by a suitcase and on the other by a small travelling bag), he was standing on the sidewalk in front of a drugstore in downtown Birmingham. There three city detectives, none of whom had a warrant, arrested him. They took Phillips to the police headquarters in City Hall.
At headquarters the officers opened Phillips's luggage. This was done in spite of his remonstrance because they had no warrent to make such a search.
In the suitcase were a bank deposit slip and some silver coins, some of which were in paper money wrappers. Phillips claimed the coins and wrappers belonged to his brother. The brother has since died.
Phillips, on the coram nobis hearing, testified that on the trial of the robbery indictment 'the evidence taken from * * * [the] suitcase [was] introduced into evidence * * * There was no objection made by the counsel as to the evidence being entered.'
On cross Phillips admitted that at the time of his arrest he was headed to the Greyhound Bus Station in order to go to Jacksonville, Florida.
Mr. Henry Darnell, one of the arresting detectives, was called by Phillips. He gave the circumstances of an informant's telephoning him about five minutes before Phillips's arrest. The informant had proved reliable beforehand.
The lawfulness of the search and seizure which led to the police discovering money and other objects seems to us in this case to be beyond question. First, the officers knew the robbery had been committed. Second, one or...
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Duncan v. State
...cases, including Smith v. State, 41 Ala.App. 528, 138 So.2d 474; Moore v. State, 41 Ala.App. 657, 146 So.2d 734; Phillips, alias Moore v. State, 42 Ala.App. 64, 152 So.2d 148, cert. denied, 275 Ala. 698, 152 So.2d 150; Lawson v. State, 42 Ala.App. 172, 157 So.2d 226, cert. denied, 275 Ala. ......
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...v. State, 39 Ala.App. 572, 105 So.2d 687. Thirdly, the arrest being legal, there was a 'derivative right of search and seizure.' Phillips v. State, 152 So.2d 148, Ala.App. . As to the so called 'second search' the articles taken were seized under warrant for prohibited liquors. It is not gr......
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...So.2d 762; and Lawson v. State, 42 Ala.App. 172, 157 So.2d 226. Also Moore v. State, 41 Ala.App. 657, 146 So.2d 734, and Phillips v. State, 42 Ala.App. 64, 152 So.2d 148. A motion to suppress the evidence so as to forbid use of the fruit of an illegal search in a criminal trial is ordinaril......
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...supported by any evidence, affidavits or understandable statements. Ex parte Williams, 268 Ala. 535, 108 So.2d 454; Phillips v. State, 42 Ala.App. 64, 152 So.2d 148, cert. denied 275 Ala. 698, 152 So.2d 150. Ex parte Burton, 42 Ala.App. 91, 153 So.2d 254; Application of Hodge, 9 Cir., 262 F......