Stallworth v. State

• Decision Date: 28 September 2001
• Parties: Calvin STALLWORTH v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

868 So.2d 1128

Calvin STALLWORTH v. STATE.

CR-98-0366.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

September 28, 2001.

Opinion on Return to Remand March 1, 2002.

Opinion on Return to Second Remand January 31, 2003.

Rehearing Denied March 7, 2003.

Cathleen I. Price and Bryan A. Stevenson, Montgomery, for appellant.

William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen.; and James R. Houts, Jeremy W. Armstrong, and Henry M. Johnson, asst. attys. gen., for appellee.

WISE, Judge.¹

The appellant, Calvin Stallworth, was indicted for two counts of capital murder for murdering Nancy Dukes and Linda Morton during the course of a robbery. Both Dukes and Morton were employees of convenience stores off Highway 59 in Foley. The two counts were consolidated for trial and Stallworth was convicted of both counts as charged in the indictments. The jury, by a vote of 10 to 2, recommended that Stallworth be sentenced to death in each case. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Stallworth to death by electrocution for both convictions of capital murder.

The State's evidence tended to show the following: On December 4, 1997, John Gregory entered the Dukes Parkway Shell gasoline service station in Foley and discovered Nancy Dukes behind the counter on her knees with her arms and face in a chair. She had been stabbed numerous times, but she was still breathing. Gregory called for help, but Dukes died before the paramedics arrived. The coroner testified that Dukes had been stabbed approximately 40 times and that she died as a result of those injuries. There was testimony that between $400 and $600 was missing from the cash register.

On December 14, 1997, Van Gardener discovered Linda Morton's body lying face down on the floor behind the counter at the Diamond Gas Station and Convenience Store in Foley. The coroner testified that Morton had been stabbed six times and that she died as a result of those injuries. An audit of the cash register revealed that it was $934.00 short.

While investigating Morton's murder, police used a bloodhound at the Diamond store. The bloodhound went to a trail behind the store that went through a small wooded area and led to the Aaronville community. On the trail police discovered a broken VCR, identified as the VCR from the Diamond store, and a bag of receipts that contained checks and credit card receipts. An eyewitness, Olivia Woodyard, testified that around the time of Morton's murder she saw Stallworth leaving the trail behind the Diamond store. Woodyard testified that Stallworth was acting strangely and was nervous. She also testified that Stallworth had told her a few days before the robbery/murder that he was under a lot of stress because Christmas was near and he had no job. Another eyewitness testified that he saw a male wearing a dark, hooded jacket run from the Diamond store around the time of Morton's murder.

Numerous witnesses testified that Stallworth was spending a lot of money between December 4 and December 16, although he was not employed. Christina Lorraine Waters, a former employee of Riviera Utilities, testified that on December 4, 1997, just hours after Dukes was robbed and killed, Stallworth paid a delinquent electric power bill for his fiancée in the amount of $167.12. (Stallworth's fiancée, Deborah Pickens,² told him that the electric power had been cut off on the morning of December 4.) Waters also testified that when she was taking Stallworth's payment another employee was on the telephone and you could overhear her talking about Nancy Dukes's murder. Waters said that when Stallworth heard the statement about Dukes's murder he reacted by saying "Oh, man" and hanging his head. (R. 268.) Glenn Manning, the owner of Manning Jewelry in Foley, testified that on December 4, 1997, Stallworth paid him $100 for jewelry repairs that he had completed. Stallworth was also reported to have made several cash purchases at a Wal-Mart discount store.

On December 16, 1997, the investigation focused on Stallworth, and police discovered that Stallworth was wanted for a probation violation.³ Police picked Stallworth up for the probation violation, questioned him about the two murders, and obtained a search warrant to search his fiancée's home, where he was living. Police seized a hooded jacket that had blood on the inside of one of the sleeves. DNA testing revealed that the blood on the jacket matched Dukes's DNA. The search of Stallworth's fiancée's house also revealed a serrated kitchen knife under the mattress. Experts testified that the knife was the same type of knife used to kill both Dukes and Morton.

Stallworth gave several statements to police—each of which varied in some detail. Stallworth admitted that he was at the scene of both robbery/murders, but he denied killing either Dukes or Morton. Stallworth also admitted that he had removed the VCR from the Diamond store because, he said, he knew the videotape would show him in the store. Stallworth said that he took the VCR to a trail behind the Diamond store and he used a hammer to open it and destroy the tape. Stallworth also told police that he found a bag of money on the trail and that he took the money and left.

Stallworth testified in his own defense at trial. He said that he had not been at either scene and that his statements to police were coerced. He said that he had an alibi for the time of both murders. (Defense witnesses also testified that he had an alibi.) Stallworth also testified that he paid his bills in December 1997 with his "cousin's help, shooting dice, and selling a little marijuana." (R. 3950.) He said that police coerced him to confess that he had been present at the Dukes station and the Diamond store after police threatened his daughter, his wife, his mother, and his brother. He further testified that Woodyard lied about seeing him near the Morton murder scene because, he said, he "wouldn't give her no drugs, no free drugs." (R. 3989.) He also said that somebody in the police department planted Dukes's blood on his jacket. (R. 4006.)

Stallworth offered his own version of every item of evidence in the State's possession. However, the jury chose to believe the State's version of the events and found Stallworth guilty of both counts of robbery/murder. After a sentencing hearing the jury voted 10 to 2 to sentence Stallworth to death on each conviction. The trial court held a separate sentencing hearing and then sentenced Stallworth to death by electrocution for each count of capital murder. Stallworth appealed.

Standard of Review

Stallworth has been sentenced to death by electrocution. As with any other case in which the sentence of death has been imposed, this Court must review the record for any plain error. Rule 45A, Ala. R.App.P., states:

"In all cases in which the death penalty has been imposed, the Court of Criminal Appeals shall notice any plain error or defect in the proceedings under review, whether or not brought to the attention of the trial court, and take appropriate appellate action by reason thereof, whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial right of the appellant."

We have stated the following concerning the plain-error standard of review:

"`The standard of review in reviewing a claim under the plain-error doctrine is stricter than the standard used in reviewing an issue that was properly raised in the trial court or on appeal. As the United States Supreme Court stated in United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), the plain-error doctrine applies only if the error is "particularly egregious" and if it "seriously affects the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings." See Ex parte Price, 725 So.2d 1063 (Ala.1998), cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1133, 119 S.Ct. 1809, 143 L.Ed.2d 1012 (1999); Burgess v. State, 723 So.2d 742 (Ala.Cr.App.1997), aff'd, 723 So.2d 770 (Ala.1998); cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1052, 119 S.Ct. 1360, 143 L.Ed.2d 521 (1999); Johnson v. State, 620 So.2d 679, 701 (Ala.Cr.App.1992), rev'd on other grounds, 620 So.2d 709 (Ala.1993), on remand, 620 So.2d 714 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 905, 114 S.Ct. 285, 126 L.Ed.2d 235 (1993).'"

Johnson v. State, 820 So.2d 842, 850 (Ala. Crim.App.2000), aff'd, 820 So.2d 883 (Ala. 2001), quoting Hall v. State, 820 So.2d 113, 121-22 (Ala.Crim.App.1999). "We have repeatedly recognized that the plain-error rule is to be used sparingly and only in those cases where a miscarriage of justice would result." Johnson, 820 So.2d at 850.

Guilt-Phase Issues

I.

Stallworth argues that the trial court erred in not granting his motion to have the grand jury testimony transcribed. Specifically, he argues that the failure to provide him with the transcript of the witnesses' testimony before the grand jury deprived him of the opportunity to attack the witnesses' credibility at trial and reduced the reliability of his trial. He asserts that he is "entitled to a new trial after properly transcribed grand jury proceedings." (Stallworth's brief, p. 98.)

This Court stated in Steward v. State, 55 Ala.App. 238, 314 So.2d 313 (Ala.Crim. App.), cert. denied, 294 Ala. 201, 314 So.2d 317 (Ala.1975):

"There is no law requiring the recording of testimony before a grand jury in Alabama. The long time rule, sanctioned by our courts, is that the proceedings before a grand jury are essentially secret. This matter is thoroughly elucidated in the recent case of State ex rel. Baxley v. Strawbridge, 52 Ala.App. 685, 296 So.2d 779, in an opinion by Presiding Judge Cates of this court."

As we more recently stated in Hardy v. State, 804 So.2d 247, 287 (Ala.Crim.App. 1999), aff'd, 804 So.2d 298 (Ala.2000):

"In Alabama there is no statute requiring that testimony before a grand jury be recorded. `A Grand Jury is not required to compile records and the testimony in the absence of a statute requiring preservation of the proceedings. State ex rel. Baxley v. Strawbridge, 52 Ala.App. 685, 296

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