Siebert v. State
Decision Date | 14 April 1989 |
Docket Number | 7 Div. 851 |
Parties | Danial Lee SIEBERT, a/k/a Danny L. Siebert, a/k/a Danial Spence v. STATE. |
Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
George N. Sims, Rod Giddens and William J. Willingham, Talladega, for appellant.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Mary Ellen Forehand and William D. Little, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.
The appellant was convicted of the capital offense of murder during a robbery in the first degree, in violation of § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Code of Alabama (1975). Following a sentencing hearing, the jury recommended a sentence of death by vote of 12 to 0. The trial court ordered a presentence investigation, and, after complying with § 13A-5-47, Code of Alabama (1975), the trial court sentenced the appellant to death by electrocution.
The appellant, who often worked as a free lance artist, was hitchhiking in the vicinity of Tucson, Arizona, when he was given a ride by Donald Hendron. Hendron told the appellant that he was working for the E.H. Gentry School in Talladega, a state facility for the deaf. It was then arranged that the appellant would be employed at the facility. Subsequently, the appellant moved to Talladega to work for the school in return for free meals. He lived with Hendron until the appellant began seeing a deaf woman who was a student at the facility. Hendron discussed the possible repercussions of the appellant's relationship, as an employee of the facility, with the student and decided to move out of their apartment; however, the appellant remained a resident.
On February 19, 1986, the appellant ate lunch at the apartment of a neighbor, Stephen Laney, with Laney and Laney's girl friend, Linda Odom. After lunch, Laney left for approximately an hour to get his car, and when he returned to his apartment, neither Linda Odom nor the appellant was there. Laney knocked on the appellant's door and, approximately 15 minutes later, the appellant came to the door. He then accompanied Laney to look for Linda Odom. Thereafter, the appellant asked Laney for a ride to the apartment of his girl friend, Sherry Weathers. After Laney dropped him off, the appellant spent some time at his girl friend's apartment, where the victim, Linda Jarman, was apparently also present. Linda Jarman, who was also deaf, was a teacher at the E.H. Gentry School and knew the appellant through her work there and because she lived next door to his girl friend, Sherry Weathers.
Linda Jarman owned a yellow 1973 Buick automobile, which the appellant borrowed with her permission. He then drove back to his apartment, where Stephen Laney observed him carry large green trash bags downstairs. The appellant told Laney that he had borrowed his girl friend's automobile and was returning some of her "stuff" because they had had a fight. The appellant returned to Sherry Weathers's apartment, where he spent some time. Upon leaving that apartment, he walked next door to Linda Jarman's apartment. He spent an hour or two there, drinking wine with her. They then went into the bedroom, partially clothed, and lay down upon the bed, where he murdered her by strangling her. He then took her stereo and her car and fled Talladega. Approximately 13 days later, Linda Jarman's automobile was found with a flat tire, abandoned on the side of a highway in Kentucky. A camp site was discovered off the highway and in the vicinity of the abandoned automobile. Evidence linking the appellant to the site was also found. He was thereafter apprehended in Tennessee.
During the week-long trial, the State called or recalled over 40 witnesses and introduced 147 exhibits. The appellant had given a statement implicating himself in several murders; the State introduced that portion of the statement dealing with the murder of Linda Jarman.
The appellant argues that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for funds for appointment of an expert to assist in the preparation of his motion for change of venue. While the instant case concerns the appellant's charge of the capital murder of Linda Jarman, he was also charged with the murders of four other people in the city of Talladega, two of the four being children. The appellant argues that because of the nature of the offenses, the extensive publicity surrounding the case, and the fact that he was indigent, he should have been allowed the funds which he requested from the court to hire an expert. The appellant further submits that the trial court erred in denying his request to allow the venire to fill out a questionnaire anonymously, because, the appellant argues, the venire would have answered questions more candidly in private.
In Duren v. State, 507 So.2d 111 (Ala.Cr.App.1986), affirmed, 507 So.2d 121 (Ala.1987), cert. denied, Duren v. Alabama, 484 U.S. 905, 108 S.Ct. 249, 98 L.Ed.2d 206 (1987), the defendant argued that he was denied due process of law because the State refused to provide him with reasonable funds to employ experts, among them a polling expert to aid in the presentation of a motion for change of venue and a motion for individual questioning of jurors. This court held that the denial of funds to employ such an expert was proper, id., at 119, citing Ex parte Grayson, 479 So.2d 76, 80 (Ala.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 865, 106 S.Ct. 189, 88 L.Ed.2d 157 (1985), wherein the Alabama Supreme Court wrote:
The record indicates that the potential jurors were questioned in three panels, the first consisting of 22 jurors. Although the record does not state the number of jurors on the next two panels, assuming the panels were of equal size, there were 66 people on the venire. Twenty-one of these veniremen stated that they had heard of the case. Three venire members, who indicated that they believed they would be unable to give the defendant a fair trial because of preconceived notions of guilt, were excused for cause. All other potential jurors who indicated that they had previously heard of the case stated that they could set aside any preconceived feelings and give the appellant a fair trial according to the evidence and the trial court's instructions. Furthermore, during a discussion between defense counsel and prosecutor at the close of the motion for change of venue, the attorneys acknowledged that all potential jury members who had stated that they had read, seen, or heard anything about the case were all eventually struck from the jury.
Newspaper articles, as well as videotapes of newscasts, concerning this case, were introduced into evidence at the motion for change of venue. We have reviewed these exhibits and find that they are factual accounts of the case and contain no prejudicial or inflammatory material. Police officials testified that news conferences were held to divulge the progress of the investigation to the press, but that no evidence from the case was ever related.
The defense lawyers presented evidence of the amount of coverage which the case received. They also thoroughly examined the potential jurors during the voir dire. From the evidence presented, there is no indication that a polling expert could have helped the appellant on this motion, nor is there any indication of abuse of discretion by the trial court in denying the appellant's motion for change of venue. Ex parte Grayson, supra.
Fortenberry v. State, 545 So.2d 129 (Ala.Cr.App.1988). We also find no evidence of an inherently prejudicial climate that would prevent the appellant from receiving a fair and impartial trial. Robinson v. State, 430 So.2d 883 (Ala.Cr.App.1983).
Furthermore, while the evidence of press coverage submitted by the appellant contained only factual reports of the progress of the investigation and the announcement of the upcoming trial, the majority of the articles were released between the time of the crime in February 1986 and the appellant's arrest in September 1986. The trial did not begin until March 1987. " '[T]he passage of time cannot be ignored as a factor in bringing objectivity to trial.' " Whisenhant v. State, 555 So.2d 219 (Ala.Cr.App.1988) , quoting Dannelly v. State, 47 Ala.App. 363, 254 So.2d 434, cert. denied, 287 Ala. 729, 254 So.2d 443 (1971). See also Murphy v. Florida, 421...
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