Stuckey v. State

• Decision Date: 20 January 1976
• Docket Number: 3 Div. 393
• Citation: 57 Ala.App. 85,326 So.2d 150
• Parties: Jerry Reynolds STUCKEY v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 150

326 So.2d 150

57 Ala.App. 85

Jerry Reynolds STUCKEY v. STATE.

3 Div. 393.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Jan. 20, 1976.

Warren S. Reese, Jr., and L. H. Walden, Montgomery, for appellant.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and James S. Ward, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

HARRIS, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of murder in the second degree and, in accordance with the verdict of the jury, he was sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary. He was represented at arraignment and trial by retained counsel who represents him on appeal. He pleaded not guilty.

The evidence in this case is in sharp conflict. The state's evidence made a strong case of murder without any extenuating circumstances. The evidence for appellant tended to show the shooting was accidental.

Appellant and the deceased were husband and wife and had been married four years at the time of the shooting around midnight on March 2, 1974. They had a three-year-old daughter as a result of their marriage. They lived in a trailer in the Ramer Community of Montgomery County, Alabama.

Byron Harris whose nickname was 'Buddy' was one of the state's key witnesses. He testified that he knew both appellant and the deceased but was not related to either of them. He stated he had occasion to be with both of them the night before the shooting at a local lounge in Montgomery. All three had something to drink and this witness danced with the deceased and so did appellant. They became friendly during the evening and Buddy was invited by appellant and the deceased to spend the night with them at their trailer and he accepted their invitation. He followed them to Ramer in his pickup truck and slept on the couch in their trailer home. He left the next morning about ten o'clock. Before leaving, appellant and the deceased invited him to a party that night at another trailer located two down from appellant's. He stated that he did not know anyone at this party except appellant and the deceased and that he danced some with the deceased.

Harris further testified that after a while he noticed that appellant was watching them and he mentioned this to the deceased and asked her if he was jealous. She replied that her husband was only jealous of John. The last name was not mentioned. He quit dancing with the deceased as he appeared to be getting upset. Soon thereafter a telephone call was received advising that a couple who had attended the party had become involved in a wreck. Appellant and the deceased started leaving without telling him good-bye, and they were having a discussion but Harris could not hear what was being discussed.

Harris further stated that he approached appellant and the deceased outside by their car and asked appellant what was the matter and he Bluntly said nothing. Harris then asked the deceased what was wrong and he did not get a reply. The deceased got in the car with her husband and Harris walked up to the car and asked her again what was the trouble, and she said, 'Nothing, we will be back in a minute.' Harris said he thought they were going to the wreck, but they pulled into their driveway. Harris then started back to the party and he heard a loud noise. About that time he heard someone yell that appellant just called and said he had shot Kaye accidentally.

Harris further stated he jumped in his truck and pulled into appellant's driveway and ran in the trailer house.

We quote from the record:

'A. Well, I opened the door and I didn't see nothing, and I turned to go--when I turned to go down the hall, you could see Kaye's head laying in the floor down the hall. I went on back there and I turned into the bedroom. I had never been in the bedroom, but I went straight back that way because it was the only place to go. When I got there, Kaye was laying on the floor face up with her head at the end of the bed where you could see it almost from the hallway. Jerry was standing at her feet and he had the phone. He had both hands hanging down to his side and he had the phone in one hand and he had the gun in the other hand.

'Q. Now, which hand did he have the gun in?

'A. He had the gun in his left hand and he had the phone in his right hand, and he was just standing there staring. I looked down at Kaye first and when I looked back at him, I said Jerry what in the hell did you do. He stood there a minute and then he said I was putting the gun in the closet. So I looked at the closet and the closet door was open, and then about that time some more people started coming into the trailer.'

According to this witness, appellant did not say to him that he accidentally shot his wife but only said he was putting the gun in the closet. He said appellant was covered with blood from his shoulder all the way down; that there was blood over the wall behind the telephone; that there was blood on the bed, and there was blood in the corridor between the bed and telephone stand where deceased was lying.

This witness further stated that several people came in the trailer three or four minutes after he arrived. He noticed Kaye move her head and mouth and he said she is not dead, 'let's get her up and get her to the hospital,' but this was not done immediately, because someone said the Sheriff had been called and they said, 'Let's wait until the Sheriff gets here before we move her.' He said it was eventually decided that Kaye should be carried to the hospital. He stated that he got her arms and some others got her head and they put her in the back seat of the car and carried her to the hospital.

This witness stated that appellant did not help put his wife in the car. That he came out of the trailer with the gun in his hand after she was in the car. He said appellant drove the car to Montgomery and there were two other men in the car with him. After arriving at the hospital and after Kaye Stuckey was pronounced dead, Harris drove the two men from the hospital back to the trailer where the party was.

Harris further testified that appellant and his attorney called on him at work prior to the preliminary hearing and one of them asked whether he was sure that he saw the gun in the defendant's hand. The witness told them he was sure he saw the gun in his hand which prompted the defendant to say that he did not have the gun in his hand. The witness explained that he again told the defendant that is what he saw; that when he walked into the bedroom, the defendant had a gun in his hand. The defendant then told the witness to think, deep down inside his heart before he said he saw the defendant with a gun in his hand to which the witness replied, 'I am sorry, but I saw it and that was the way it was.'

Mr. Richard A. Roper testified that he was employed by the State Department of Toxicology and Criminal Investigation and was stationed in Montgomery. After stating his education, background and experience, he was asked if he had occasion to examine a .38 Smith and Wesson pistol, serial number 432720, and he said yes. He described the pistol as a .38 caliber special revolver, model 10, with a four-inch barrel, and that it was a standard double action revolver. He further testified that the pistol was turned over to him by Deputy John Moorer of the Montgomery Sheriff's Department on March 4, 1974. This witness was asked the condition of the pistol when he received it and stated:

'A. When I first examined the weapon, there was blood on the left side of the frame of the weapon and the left side of the cylinder. There was a large blood clot which drained from the barrel of the weapon while I was conducting my initial preliminary examination. This was a semi-fluid blood clot. The weapon itself was, as far as its general condition is concerned, was very difficult to turn just in a rotating fashion. It was very difficult to rotate this way. It was with some difficulty also that I was able to make the cylinder swing out from the frame. As part of my study of the weapon, I test fired the weapon and collected known bullets fired through the barrel of the weapon. During this portion of the examination I found the weapon to be extremely difficult to fire.

'A. The revolver was turned over to me March 4, 1974, by Deputy Moorer. I looked at the weapon several times subsequent to that date. I examined it on March 4 when Deputy Moorer brought it into the laboratory. It was at this time that I observed the blood on the weapon the blood in the barrel of the weapon and that certain functional aspects of the weapon were very difficult. I went in on several occasions after that, went into the examination of the weapon in question. After this time, several times subsequent to the month of March I examined the weapon, probably three or four different times.

'A. I found no blood in the mechanism of the weapon. In my opinion the blood was not the cause of the misfunction.

'A. In test firing the weapon, my usual routine when I test fire a gun, I shoot into a long narrow box of cotton, which is a method of collecting the bullet and collecting in an intact state and unharmed. To do this I have to shoot into an opening about so big into the box. And by aiming the weapon I usually hold the gun steady with two hands and simply pull the trigger. But in this particular instance in order to pull the trigger, I had to work both fingers into the trigger slot and aim to the point where the weapon was quivering. It took both fingers to pull the trigger. It took both thumbs simply to get the weapon to cock. At times in my examination I had to put the weapon down in this fashion to get leverage between by knees and apply pressure with both thumbs to get the weapon cocked. With the weapon in a cocked position like this it would fire quite easily. But the problem was getting the hammer back or getting the trigger pulled.'

Mr. Roper also stated that he had examined the body of Elizabeth Kaye Stuckey and concluded that death was caused by a bullet wound to the head which entered the mid lower...