Thomas v. State
| Decision Date | 27 March 1979 |
| Docket Number | 2 Div. 238 |
| Citation | 373 So.2d 1149 |
| Parties | Roger Scott THOMAS v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Thomas H. Boggs, Jr., Demopolis, for appellant.
William J. Baxley, Atty, Gen., and Linda C. Breland, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State, appellee.
Roger Scott Thomas was charged in a two-count indictment under Alabama's Death Penalty Statute, § 13-11-2 through § 13-11-9, Code of Alabama 1975 (Act No. 213, General Acts of Alabama 1975), for the intentional killing of William Beville by shooting him with a shotgun while in the commission of a robbery. The jury found the defendant "guilty as charged in the indictment" and fixed punishment at death by electrocution. Thereafter, the trial court conducted a post-conviction hearing on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, as required by law. The trial judge then set punishment at death by electrocution after making specific findings on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
At arraignment the appellant entered a plea of not guilty, and a special venire was summoned in addition to the regular venire. Appellant's attorneys made a motion for a psychiatric examination of the appellant at Bryce Hospital. The trial court then appointed three doctors to examine the appellant and to report back to the court their findings as to his mental competency and competency to stand trial, or if they found a reasonable ground that the appellant should be sent to Bryce Hospital and a lunacy commission appointed. After receiving the report from these doctors that the appellant was competent to stand trial and capable of understanding the charges and of cooperating with his attorneys, the trial court denied the request for further psychiatric evaluation.
A motion for a change of venue was denied following a hearing thereon, as was a motion to suppress the appellant's statement given to investigating officers.
During the voir dire of the venire, the appellant's attorneys challenged for cause one Robert Smith as a prospective juror. After further inquiry of Mr. Smith by the trial court, the appellant's challenge was overruled (Volume I, R. pp. 42-47).
Alabama ABC Agent Bobby Sewell testified that, on March 15, 1976, he investigated the reported death of one William Beville in Sumter County, Alabama, and that he was also acting as a deputy sheriff in this investigation. Sewell indicated that he accompanied Chief Deputy Wayne Cobb in a radio equipped car, in which they received a message about 7:00 to 7:30 on the morning of said date.
The two men proceeded directly to the trailer residence of William Beville, located on the Dr. Hester Circle Road, a dirt road leading to the Belmont community. When the officers arrived, the son of the deceased and the deceased's widow were present at the residence, as was the body of the victim, William Beville. The officers described the entrance door to the trailer as being a louvered type door through which you could see out if the louvers were open with a screen underneath. There were three steps leading to the front door, and just inside the door they found the body of William Beville "curled around the front door." The trailer residence was described as being ten feet wide. The officers observed a hole in the chest of the victim as he was lying on his side. The officers then radioed for Lt. Jones of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Alabama Department of Public Safety. They remained at the scene to assist Lt. Jones with his investigation and the taking of photographs.
On cross-examination Sewell stated that it was daylight when they arrived at the trailer residence, that when they examined the louvered door and screen they noticed a hole in the corner of the screen about two inches in diameter, that that portion of the screen was removed for examination, and there was blood under the body of the victim.
Lt. George H. Jones, Alabama Criminal Investigator with the Department of Public Safety, testified that he received a message on the morning of March 16, 1976, concerning a shooting in Sumter County, and that he drove over there and met ABC Agent Bobby Sewell and Chief Deputy Wayne Cobb at a ten foot wide trailer residence of one William Beville near the Belmont community. Lt. Jones then identified several photographs which he made that morning of the door, the body of the victim curled around the door, and a hole in the screen about two inches in diameter. Lt. Jones stated that the hole in the screen "was about midway of a seven foot door," and the louvers of the door were glass and were open. He stated that Beville had been shot through the chest and was dead and that rigor mortis had begun to set in. Jones further indicated that he was unable to pick up any usable fingerprints, and that he requested an autopsy, which was performed by Dr. Richard Roper, State Toxicologist. Jones further indicated that he received a wallet which contained a Medicaid card with William Beville's name on it from Mr. Anderson at the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, and that the wallet and piece of screen, which was removed from the screen Tom Beville, son of the deceased, William Beville, testified that his mother and father lived in their trailer residence on Dr. Hester Circle Road near the Belmont community of Sumter County on March 14-15, 1976. He indicated he was present at his parents' residence when Officers Sewell and Cobb arrived and was also there when Lt. Jones came. He stated that he subsequently saw his father's body at Weatherly's Funeral Home before the funeral. Tom Beville then identified a wallet which had been on the person of his father the day before the shooting and a J. C. Higgins single barrel pump shotgun which was in the corner of a room in his parents' home the day before the shooting. He stated he did not see the shotgun the next morning when he arrived and that he found his father's body lying on the floor.
door, were turned over by him to Dale Bloomer at the State Toxicology Lab in Selma. Jones stated he also found one live twelve gauge shell, which was also delivered to Bloomer. Jones then identified several photographs that he made that morning of the scene.
Dale Bloomer, Criminalist with the State Department of Toxicology, stated he was employed at the Selma, Alabama, Lab on March 16, 1976. He stated that he received a package from Lt. George Jones of the Department of Public Safety which contained a man's plaid shirt, a live Winchester, western .12 gauge Uplant shotgun shell, and a Playtex brand glove box containing one Playtex glove. He stated he went to Weatherly's Funeral Home and there received from Dr. Richard Roper an envelope containing a large mass of lead pellets and a small bag containing a black colored piece of granular material. Bloomer indicated that, on March 17, 1976, he received from Lt. Jones a piece of plastic screen, approximately 9 by 9 with a hole in it and also a wallet containing a Medicaid card bearing the name of William Beville.
In examining the plaid shirt, Bloomer described two holes, a small hole about 2 above the shirt pocket, and a larger hole in about the right center of the shirt which was approximately 1 in diameter. He stated that he examined the shirt for nitrites and found decomposed parts on the shirt which indicated that the muzzle of the gun that produced the blast had been relatively near the shirt at the time the weapon was fired, and that the hole also indicated from the blast pattern it was a regular barrel rather than a sawed-off barrel, which would spread the pattern of the shot. He identified the shell as being a No. 8 shot, .12 gauge, which he received from Lt. Jones. He also determined that the shots that he received from Weatherly's Funeral Home during the autopsy, at which he was present, were also No. 8 shots, and that he observed Dr. Roper removing the shots from the victim's body.
Bloomer also stated that he examined the piece of plastic screen, which had been brought to him by Lt. Jones, and performed certain tests on it, which determined there were nitrites and lead present on the screen. He stated that this indicated the muzzle of the shotgun was "quite near" at the time of the blast. Bloomer further stated that he examined the wallet, but it was wet at the time he received it and he could not obtain usable fingerprints and was not able to match any blood type on the wallet.
On cross-examination, Bloomer was asked his opinion as to the distance of the victim from the muzzle of the shotgun at the time of the blast, to which he replied, "Less than three feet."
Dr. Richard Roper, State Toxicologist, stated that he performed an autopsy at Weatherly's Funeral Home in York, Alabama, on the body of one William Beville. He described him as a well developed black male, about 5' 6 in height, weight between 120 and 125 pounds, and that his age had been stated to him as being 94. He stated that he removed No. 8 shotgun pellets from the chest of the deceased and determined that the middle section of the right lung was completely destroyed, the major arteries leading to the heart were also destroyed, that pellets were removed from the back of the body cavity near the backbone Craig Bailey, Criminalist with the Department of Toxicology, then identified Exhibits nine and ten, nine being the shirt, and ten being the shotgun shell, and stated that these had been in his custody since delivery to him by Dale Bloomer. Bailey then identified Exhibit eleven, which was the shots delivered to him by Dale Bloomer in the lab, and which were determined to be No. 8 pellets; and Exhibit fourteen, a .12 gauge Iver Johnson shotgun, delivered to him by Mr. Ed Billingsley, which was test fired and determined to be in good working order.
and based upon his examination, death was the result of an acute hemorrhage due to a single shotgun wound to the body (Volume I, R. p. 89). Dr....
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