Walls v. State

• Decision Date: 30 October 1979
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 923
• Parties: Tommy Lee WALLS v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 1186

378 So.2d 1186

Tommy Lee WALLS v. STATE.

6 Div. 923.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Oct. 30, 1979.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 4, 1979.

Craig R. Izard, Birmingham, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen. and Mary Jane LeCroy, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

DeCARLO, Judge.

Robbery; thirty-five years.

Tommy Lee Walls was adjudged an indigent and trial counsel was appointed to represent him on this appeal. He is before this court with a free transcript.

This case involves the armed robbery of a convenience store. Ninety-four dollars were taken, and the store employee, Linda Edwards, was shot in the hand. The only robbery participant who actually entered the store was one Ronald McDonald. He robbed Mrs. Edwards while the appellant and two confederates waited in a car outside the store.

On March 25, 1978, Linda Edwards was working at a U-Totem store in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. She testified that a man, one Michael Duncan, whom she later identified, walked into the store that Saturday afternoon about 1:00 P.M., looked around, and walked out. Subsequently, another man, one Ronald McDonald, identified by Edwards at trial, entered the store and said, "give me all of your money, I'm going to kill you."

Edwards opened the cash register and began taking out money. She stated that, while emptying the register, she saw the man pull "the thing back on the gun." When Edwards handed the money to the man she heard the gun fire and the man say "you're dead." He then walked out of the store.

At that point, Edwards ran outside screaming that she had been shot and saw the man (McDonald) running toward a car occupied by three people. She testified that McDonald tried to get into the back seat but fell out of the car. Edwards described the vehicle as being a "silver car with a red top." When she first observed the car it was being driven toward the driveway leading to the store.

About the time that Mrs. Edwards ran outside screaming, a van pulled into the driveway of the store. She informed the occupants of the van that she had been shot and robbed and shouted, "there he is." She testified that, at that point, "they ran after him (McDonald)."

During cross-examination the witness testified that, at the time she ran out of the store, no other cars except the car that the appellant was attempting to "jump in" were around. She acknowledged that she had not seen the appellant at the scene of the robbery.

Randall P. Lane, his brother, Radford Lane, and Radford Lane's son-in-law, Michael Melvin, drove to the Carson Road U-Totem store on the afternoon of March 25, 1978. Lane testified that they pulled into the parking lot and saw Ronald McDonald leaving the store. Lane stated that McDonald was from five to ten feet outside the door and was heading across the sidewalk toward the right side of the store. Lane remembered that, at that point, the Edwards girl came out of the store and screamed "he shot me."

According to Lane, McDonald "was not in a fast run or fast walk or nothing, he was just trying to get in the car, into the back seat on the right side of the car." Lane stated that the car was "moving slowly out into the street and McDonald was kind of trotting along behind the car trying to catch the car. The car moved on out into the street and went thirty or forty yards I guess, and stopped and McDonald was still coming up behind the car and me and this other boy tackled him."

Upon that occurrence, the car left in a "hurry." The witness testified that three people were in the car, two men in the front seat, and a third person in the rear seat. Lane said he could not tell whether the third passenger was a man or a woman. The car was described by Lane as a "1977 Chevrolet Impala, silver bottom with a maroon top, four-door sedan, first three tag numbers were ANU." Lane explained that he got only the first three digits of the tag number because "the tag was tilted down."

During cross-examination, Lane testified that McDonald attempted to enter the car while "the car was moving slow and he opened the door was open. Anyway, he was trying to get into the back seat and he fell and the car continued moving on out into the street, and as long leg man as he was it looked like he could have caught the car but he didn't, you know he just was more like he was jogging."

When questioned as to whether anyone had pushed McDonald from the car, Lane responded, "I don't think so . . . I think he just fell."

On March 25, 1978, Radford Lane had driven to the U-Totem store on Carson Road with his brother and son-in-law. As the three approached the store, Radford Lane saw a lady run from the door of the store and heard her scream that she had been shot. He testified that she was "bleeding real bad," and that he administered first aid in an attempt to stop the bleeding. About the same time that Lane heard Mrs. Edwards yell, he saw the man, later identified as McDonald, on the sidewalk. Radford Lane yelled to McDonald to stop but McDonald began running.

On March 25, 1978, Louis E. Smoke was a deputy sheriff with the Jefferson County Sheriff's department and was "on patrol." According to Deputy Smoke, he was on Highway 75 between Center Point and Pinson when he received a police radio broadcast, announcing that an armed robbery was in progress at the U-Totem store at 2401 Carson Road. Subsequently, he received a police radio broadcast concerning the arrest of the occupants of a " '77 or '78 maroon and grey Chevrolet," with a tag number beginning "ANU." Smoke immediately searched in the general vicinity of the store for the two white males and one white female who had been described in the broadcast.

Smoke testified that the vehicle used in the armed robbery was seen near the Valleybrook Apartments complex off Gallant Drive. He observed two white males and one white female approaching the robbery vehicle. Smoke proceeded to the automobile, but the three persons saw the patrol car, turned immediately and began walking away from the robbery vehicle. Deputy Smoke testified that the three were arrested and that the vehicle was placed in the custody of Birmingham police officers.

Sandra Kathleen Gibson testified that, in March, 1978, she lived with her parents in Panama City, Florida. Later that month, while staying with friends on the beach, she met Tommy Walls and Michael Duncan. Gibson returned to Birmingham with Duncan and the appellant (Walls).

The next day, the morning of the robbery, she met Ronald McDonald at a house but she did not know where it was located. She testified that McDonald was driving a "silver Chevrolet at the time." According to Ms. Gibson, while at the house, the three men talked about robbing a drug store near a police station. Further, she stated "if they had to they would shoot their way out of it." Gibson testified that they were all drinking at the time. She remembered that Duncan had placed a pistol in his pocket and that she had overheard the three men discussing a shotgun.

When the four people left the house, Gibson rode with Tommy Walls in a Vega automobile and Michael Duncan rode with McDonald in the silver Chevrolet. According to Ms. Gibson, brief stops at Duncan's house and at a Magic Mart were made. Later, upon arriving at the U-Totem store, they parked the two cars by the side of the store. Walls left the Vega and began conversing with McDonald and Duncan. Gibson said that the men were talking about robbing the store and that McDonald said, "I think I'm going to rob this store." Ms. Gibson did not remember exactly what the appellant said at that time. However, she did testify that "they were trying to talk him out of robbing the store." She said "they really had no plans about robbing the U-Totem store . . . that was strictly McDonald's idea."

The appellant entered the store and returned with a sandwich and "coke" for Ms. Gibson. She testified that Michael Duncan also entered the store, but she could not remember whether McDonald had gone in at that time. The witness stated that, before McDonald entered the store, she was told to get into the silver Chevrolet. Appellant then transferred the contents of the Vega to the silver Chevrolet and wiped the fingerprints from the Vega with a "napkin or something." She said Duncan sat in the driver's seat of the silver Chevrolet and the appellant sat on the passenger's side of the front seat. Gibson stated that she sat in the back seat.

Duncan drove the car around the corner and parked the car, engine running, to wait for McDonald. Gibson testified that she was told by appellant to open the rear door of the car. A few minutes later McDonald ran out of the store. Gibson did not hear the gunshot but she did hear a girl scream. The witness stated that the car was moving at that time and that McDonald "grabbed on and he fell out." Gibson denied that Walls had pushed McDonald out of the car and restated that "he fell out."

Gibson acknowledged that they proceeded down the road then stopped for a few seconds when McDonald was seen running toward the car. Further, Gibson said Duncan drove away when McDonald was grabbed and thrown to the ground. Appellant and Duncan began to argue over who was to blame for McDonald's fall from the car. Each blamed the other.

Ms. Gibson testified that a shotgun, seen by her under Duncan's coat at Duncan's house, was later placed by Duncan in the silver Chevrolet. Further, she stated that McDonald, while at the house, had placed a pistol in his pocket. However, she did not see the appellant with a gun on that occasion.

During cross-examination, Gibson acknowledged that the appellant told McDonald "if you rob this place I'll leave." She stated, "he was trying to talk him out of it." The witness repeated that appellant was the one "wiping the fingerprints off the car." She explained that he had wiped the seat and the steering wheel. According to Ms. Gibson, Duncan and appellant thought that McDonald was...