Ware v. State

Decision Date23 June 1981
Docket Number2 Div. 302
PartiesGeorge L. WARE v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Hiram Dodd, Jr. and J. Louis Wilkinson of Wilkinson, Purvis & Dodd, Birmingham, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Mark R. Ulmer, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TYSON, Judge.

The appellant was indicted and convicted for burglary in the third degree. Ala.Code § 13A-7-7 (Supp.1979). Sentence was seven years' imprisonment.

Omitting its formal parts appellant's indictment reads as follows: (R. 7)

"The Grand Jury of said County charge that before the finding of this indictment George L. Ware whose name is otherwise unknown to the Grand Jury, did, knowingly enter or remain unlawfully in a building, to wit: Piggly Wiggly of Linden, Inc., with intent to commit a crime therein to wit: theft of United States currency and coins and merchandise in violation of 13A-7-7 of the Code of Alabama, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama."

Moundville Police Chief Raymond A. Robinson testified that he received a radio dispatch at 3:05 a. m. on March 31, 1980, directing him to a Ford pickup truck on Highway 69. Michael Springfield was the driver of the truck. The truck was carried to the Moundville Police Station and its contents inventoried. Chief Robinson stated that various merchandise was found in the truck, including meat, flashlight batteries, watches and cigarettes. Also included in the items discovered were several burglary tools.

On cross-examination it was learned that Springfield had attempted to bribe arresting officer John Seaton with money found in a bag in the back of the truck. Chief Robinson stated that the burglary tools "were mixed in with the stolen stuff out of Linden." (R. 60) He further stated that "drills, hacksaws, and these books, safe books, were in the truck with them ... Michael Springfield said they were used down here." (R. 60) Chief Robinson did not see appellant that night.

Sergeant B. S. Tucker of the Linden Police Department testified that at approximately 4:00 a. m. on March 31, 1980, he found the Linden Piggly Wiggly in Marengo County "broken into." (R. 64) Sergeant Tucker stated that the locking mechanism to the front door "had apparently been stripped out because it was open." (R. 65) Sergeant Tucker first noticed black looking water leading to the office door. Sergeant Tucker next found a big hole burned in the safe and the safe door open, the office strewn with papers and the cash register drawers open. He then discovered that the "meat case was cleaned out." (R. 66) Sergeant Tucker also discovered some meat and a Timex watch outside the back door.

Mr. W. T. Glass, owner of the Piggly Wiggly, testified that he identified various items of merchandise at the Moundville Police Department that had been taken from his store during the burglary. Mr. Glass stated that the meat counter had been "loaded" with meat when the store closed on Saturday night before the burglary, but was empty Monday morning. He testified that his store was broken into on Sunday night because the butcher had gone to the store that afternoon between five and five-thirty. Mr. Glass further testified that ten thousand dollars was kept in the safe and that the burglars "got all the money." (R. 73)

Investigator Dennis Mason of the Marengo County Sheriff's Department testified that when he arrived at the Piggly Wiggly the morning of the burglary he found the store in shambles. He saw that the safe had been cut open "with some kind of burning instrument." (R. 76) Investigator Mason made photographs of the safe and of various merchandise and other items which had been recovered at the Moundville Police Department.

Mr. Bill Drinkard, the Piggly Wiggly market manager, stated that he went to the store on Sunday afternoon around five to six p. m., as was his custom, and generally observed the store. Everything appeared to have been in the same condition as it had been the previous evening when the store closed. Mr. Drinkard then testified as to the condition of the store Monday morning after the burglary. He estimated that the value of the meat taken alone was between thirty-five hundred and four thousand dollars.

Miss Catherine Kendall McColeman testified that she was living at the Old Country Inn in Linden during March of 1980. Miss McColeman learned that the Piggly Wiggly was burglarized on Sunday night, March 30, while living at the motel. Miss McColeman stated that on Saturday evening before the burglary, between seven and nine p. m., she followed a green Pontiac Firebird with a North Carolina license tag into the motel parking lot. She noticed that the Firebird "parked on the other side at the very end of the motel" next to "a black truck with a white camper." (R. 95) Miss McColeman identified the pickup truck as being the same one in which Springfield was apprehended. Miss McColeman saw two males exit the Firebird and go to their room.

On Sunday afternoon, between three and five p. m., Miss McColeman saw the pickup truck pull in front of the motel, and the appellant exit the vehicle. Appellant asked her what time it was. Miss McColeman stated that she had no question in her mind about appellant's identity.

Investigator Norman Lindsey of the Department of Public Safety testified in pertinent part concerning the chain of evidence between Linden and Moundville.

Ms. Dianne Sciara testified that appellant purchased various locksmith tools at Lock and Key Wholesale Distributors in Birmingham. Ms. Sciara stated that the first time appellant came into the store was March 18, 1980, that he came into the store twice that day and that she made out two tickets for the items purchased. Appellant came back the next day, March 19, and made additional purchases. Among the items purchased were a re-keying kit, a "SlimJim" car opening tool, lock picks, a home saw, tension wrenches, lock pliers, a ring depression tool, a lock cap and a set of double sided picks. Ms. Sciara saw appellant in the store a total of four times.

On cross-examination Ms. Sciara explained that Lock and Key Wholesale Distributors sold merchandise to locksmiths and that appellant was a licensed locksmith in Jefferson County. Ms. Sciara stated that appellant gave her his business card which read "Marshall Lock and Alarm Company." Ms. Sciara then testified that appellant made further purchases on April 9, 1980-"Mostly the same things that he purchased 3/18 and 3/19." While Ms. Sciara could not say positively that the burglary tools introduced into evidence came from Lock and Key Wholesale Distributors (the tools did not have serial numbers or other identifying marks), she did state that the tools were "just exactly like the ones" appellant purchased. (R. 116)

Ms. Judy O'Daniel, also of Lock and Key Wholesale Distributors, testified that she, too, had seen appellant in the store and that she had written an invoice for purchases appellant made on April 9, 1980.

Investigator O. E. Billingsley, III, of the District Attorney's Office for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit testified that as part of his investigation of the Piggly Wiggly burglary he made pictures of a Firebird parked in front of the McAlpine Village Apartments in Hoover in Jefferson County. He also made a picture of appellant's residence in Hoover.

On cross-examination Investigator Billingsley stated that the Firebird was registered to May Ferguson Willis, a relative of appellant's wife, in Moorehead City, North Carolina.

Michael Springfield, an admitted accomplice to appellant's burglary of Piggly Wiggly, testified that he had nine or ten felony convictions in addition to his conviction for the Piggly Wiggly burglary. Springfield stated that he had known appellant "about a week" prior to March 31, 1980, that he met him when he got out of the Jefferson County Jail. Appellant had helped arrange Springfield's bond. Springfield testified he "had learned through sources" that appellant "was an expert" in turning off burglary alarms and opening safes. (R. 155)

Springfield admitted that he and appellant had conversations concerning burglaries and places where burglaries could be committed. "We discussed a few things, and I told him that I was going turkey hunting down in this part of the country and he asked me to look at a Piggly Wiggly on the outside of Linden.... And, so I looked at it and he told me to call him...." (R. 135) Springfield stated that he called appellant from Thomasville: "I just told him that the Piggly Wiggly didn't have a burglary alarm on it." (R. 136) Springfield made a general surveillance of the Piggly Wiggly and went inside during business hours.

Springfield met appellant in Thomasville around 7:00 p. m. the night before the burglary. Springfield stated that appellant was travelling in a green Pontiac with a North Carolina tag. Appellant was accompanied by one Cecil Sherril. Springfield was driving the previously referred to pickup truck. Springfield stated that from Thomasville the group travelled to Linden, then to Demopolis and back to Linden where they spent the night in a motel near the Piggly Wiggly.

Springfield testified that on Sunday the Piggly Wiggly was closed, that they did not do "too much until Sunday evening." (R. 141) Springfield next stated that appellant was in possession of the burglary tools previously admitted into evidence. "He had them with him when he came down here to meet me.... I can't remember, you know, each individual item, but a mass of burglary equipment." (R. 142) The appellant also had acetylene burning equipment in the trunk of the Firebird which was used in opening the safe. Springfield further stated that after the burglary was committed, appellant's burglary tools were placed in the back of the pickup truck.

Springfield next testified as to the details of the burglary. Suffice it to say that appellant played an instrumental role in accomplishing the...

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