Smiley v. State

• Decision Date: 13 August 1993
• Citation: 655 So.2d 1074
• Parties: Arthur James SMILEY v. STATE. CR 92-722.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 1074

655 So.2d 1074

Arthur James SMILEY v. STATE.

CR 92-722.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Aug. 13, 1993.

Rehearing Denied Sept. 30, 1993.

Rose M. Sanders, Selma, for appellant.

James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Robin Blevins, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

BOWEN, Presiding Judge.

The appellant, Arthur James Smiley, was convicted for the murder of Beatrice Brown and was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. Four issues are raised on this appeal from that conviction.

I

The appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal.

Although the State's evidence against the appellant was entirely circumstantial and very weak, we find it barely sufficient to support the verdict of the jury. That evidence can be summarized as follows:

In July 1991, the victim, Beatrice Brown, was living with the appellant's brother, William Smiley, in a rental house located at 1411 12th Avenue North, in Birmingham, Alabama. The victim's sons, Eddie Jones and Tim Jones, also lived in this house, although Tim Jones was away from home for the summer. The victim and William Smiley had been living together for approximately six years at this time.

On Saturday, July 20, 1991, William Smiley called the appellant at the appellant's home in Vincent, Alabama, and asked the appellant to come visit him and the victim. The appellant arrived at the 12th Avenue house sometime that afternoon. He, William, and the victim sat on the front porch talking and drinking beer and whiskey. Eddie Jones, the victim's 24-year-old son, joined them for awhile, then left the house around 6:00 p.m.

Jones testified that he returned to the 12th Avenue house around 11:00 p.m. No one else was at the house at that time. Jones watched television until around 12:00, then went to his bedroom which was located at the rear of the house, closed the door, and went to sleep. Jones stated that around 2:00 a.m., he "woke up for a minute because [he] heard music in the living room." R. 108. He did not hear anyone speak and he went back to sleep without investigating.

Jones testified that he woke up again about 8:00 a.m. He observed that the bed in the bedroom shared by the victim and William was made. In the living room, he found the victim lying on the floor by the couch. The victim was lying on her back, with her arms out and "one leg straight and the other one cocked up." R. 117. She was wearing only a blouse, which was pulled up over her breasts. A pair of panties was around one ankle. Jones stated that he first thought the victim was only asleep, then he realized that she was not breathing. He telephoned Emergency 911 and requested assistance then pulled the victim's blouse down, put the panties on her, and placed her on the couch.

According to Jones, when the paramedics arrived, they "laid [the victim] on the floor and tried to help her," but they were unsuccessful. R. 90. After the paramedics left and the victim's body had been removed from the house, Jones looked for the victim's purse. He testified that the purse "wasn't where it was supposed to be in by the bed and [that he] found it in the hall closet where the towels [were]." R. 93. Jones stated that he found no money in the purse or in the house. According to Jones, there was nothing to indicate that anyone had broken in, as the "doors and everything w[ere] locked." R. 116.

William Smiley testified that between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. on the evening of July 20, he, the appellant, and the victim left the 12th Avenue house in the appellant's car. They drove to a "shot house" in Ensley where they continued to drink. William stated that around midnight he wanted to go home to get some rest because he had to work the next day. The victim did not want to leave the shot house at that time. William said that he gave the victim a $100 bill, then he and the appellant left the shot house. The appellant offered to come back later to take the victim home, but William told the appellant not to, that "one of the people will bring her home." R. 231.

The appellant was having problems with the radiator on his car and on the way back to the 12th Avenue house the brothers stopped at a service station to add water to the radiator. According to William, they arrived at the 12th Avenue house between 12:00 and 12:30 a.m. There was a group of young men, one of whom was Alfonso Simmons, on the street near the house when they arrived. William stated that he spoke to these young men and that the appellant asked, of "no one in particular," "what's more important, a hundred dollars or your life?" R. 233. He testified that he then went into the house and the appellant left. William went to the bathroom and checked around the house. He did not see anyone else in the house and left shortly thereafter. He testified that he went to the house of some friends for a while. Upon leaving his friends' house, he "ran up on a lady friend" and they went to the Tourway Inn on 6th Avenue North where they spent the rest of the night. R. 235.

On cross-examination, William denied that he and the victim had had a "big argument" about leaving the shot house, but acknowledged that there had been a "slight disagreement" over the matter. R. 258, 259. The appellant was not involved in this disagreement. William stated that he did not attempt to conceal the $100 bill when he gave it to the victim.

William described the victim as "[k]ind of weak" or "fragile" and said that she was "a woman of temper." R. 330. He denied ever having questioned the appellant as to whether the appellant had been intimate with the victim or having entertained such suspicions. He further stated that he had "[n]ever had words with" the victim concerning the appellant. R. 278. William did not know of any reason for the appellant to kill the victim and stated that he had never known the appellant to argue with the victim.

Alfonso Simmons, who was 19 years old at the time of the trial, testified that he lived with his father in an apartment building next door to the house occupied by William Smiley and the victim. Simmons stated that he knew the appellant from the appellant's visiting William. In the early morning hours of July 21, Simmons was sitting on the hood of his father's car, which was parked in front of their apartment, talking with approximately seven other young men. He observed the appellant and William drive up in front of William's house and get out of the car. Simmons stated that the appellant and William were about 10 feet away from where he was sitting. They were drinking beer and arguing. The appellant asked the entire group, "What would you rather have, a hundred dollar bill or your life?" R. 130. According to Simmons, William "throwed down a beer can and said both of them." Id. William then went into the house he shared with the victim and the appellant drove off. Simmons stated that William came back out of the house about ten minutes later and left "through the alley way." R. 131. Simmons did not see William again until much later that morning, after the paramedics had left the 12th Avenue house with the victim's body.

At some point, all of the persons gathered near Simmons' apartment left, except Simmons and Mike Williams, who both spent the night at the Simmons' apartment. According to Simmons, sometime after William Smiley left the 12th Avenue house, a car drove up and the victim got out. The man driving this car waited until the victim was in the house, then drove off. Simmons and the victim spoke briefly as she walked toward her house. Simmons stated that after the victim came home, the appellant returned to the 12th Avenue house. While he was standing on his own front porch, Simmons observed the appellant and the victim sitting on the screened front porch of the 12th Avenue house. The appellant and the victim were "talking loudly," but Simmons could not hear what they were saying and did not know if they were arguing. R. 210. After "watching them talk for a little while," R. 205, Simmons went into the front room of his apartment to watch television. From the window of that room he was able to continue to observe the appellant and the victim on the porch of the 12th Avenue house.

Simmons testified that at some point he went to his bedroom, which was at the back of the apartment, and went to sleep. At "about 7:20" on the morning of July 21, he was awakened by "a boom sound." R. 137. He left his room, went through the apartment, and out onto his porch. Simmons stated that he saw the appellant standing on the porch of the 12th Avenue house talking on the telephone. Simmons then went back in his apartment and did not come out again until the paramedics arrived.

Simmons acknowledged on cross-examination that he was not a good judge of either distance or time. ¹ While his testimony on direct and cross-examination varied as to the time each of the above events occurred, he never wavered as to the basic sequence of those events. He stated that he woke his father up at 3:00 a.m. so that his father could go to work, and he indicated that the victim came home at some time after he woke his father. Simmons also stated on cross-examination that the appellant was wearing black and white clothing, with no green on it. He testified that he did not know what William Smiley was wearing. Simmons said that the "boom sound" that awakened him "[s]ounded like a gunshot," R. 211, but that he did not "ever find out what the boom sound was." R. 221.

Simmons estimated the distance between his apartment building and the victim's house to be about 14 feet. Birmingham police evidence technician Robert Person measured the distance from wall to wall of the two buildings and testified that the distance was 24 or 27 feet. R. 379.

Birmingham Police Detective Andre Pressley testified that he and Sergeant Roger Harrison interviewed the appellant "a couple of days after the incident." R. 335. An audio tape of this interview was played...