Washington v. State

Decision Date02 March 1982
Docket Number6 Div. 663
PartiesAnthony Tyrone WASHINGTON v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Court of Criminal Appeals

J. T. Simonetti, Jr., Birmingham, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and William D. Little, Asst. Atty. Gen., Montgomery, for appellee.

HARRIS, Presiding Judge.

The appellant was indicted and convicted for the first degree murder of Marilyn Copeland by stabbing her with a screwdriver or by striking blows to her head in violation of Ala.Code § 13-1-70 (1975). His punishment was fixed at life imprisonment in the state penitentiary. At arraignment, in the presence of counsel, appellant pleaded not guilty. He is represented on this appeal, as he was at trial, by court-appointed counsel, and has been furnished with a free transcript.

Appellant raises two issues on this appeal: the sufficiency of the state's evidence and the admission of photographs of the deceased.

Mrs. Ada Lewis testified that she knew the deceased as a friend and neighbor and spent most of the day with her on June 19, 1979. Mrs. Lewis took the deceased to the intersection of Highway 31 and Interstate 459 in Hoover in Jefferson County around 3:15 p. m. that day, where the deceased planned to hitchhike to Tuscaloosa. The deceased was wearing blue jeans, a multi-colored pullover top and sandal-type shoes that had a black velvet strap which held the sandals to the feet. Mrs. Lewis identified state's exhibit 2 as a photograph of one of the deceased's flip-flop type sandals. Mrs. Lewis saw the deceased at the Jefferson County morgue the next afternoon. The deceased was twenty-one years of age.

Dr. Ronald L. Rivers, the Jefferson County Medical Examiner/Coroner, performed an autopsy on June 29, 1979, and ascertained that the deceased had received eleven stab wounds to the head and chest and also had a laceration of the brain. The stab wounds were consistent with those which could have been made with a screwdriver. The laceration of the brain was consistent with that which could have been made with a tire iron. Dr. Rivers testified that either the stab wounds or the laceration of the brain matter would have been sufficient to cause the deceased's death. Dr. Rivers also identified state's exhibits 5 and 7 as photographs taken of the deceased prior to the autopsy at Cooper Green Hospital.

Mr. Jack R. Parker, Deputy Coroner for Jefferson County, testified that he went to the scene where the deceased's body was found at the Birmingham Board of Education parking lot around 8:25 a. m. on June 20. He stated that the deceased was discovered lying on her side on the third floor of the parking deck. Mr. Parker identified state's exhibits 8 and 9 as photographs he took of the deceased at the scene from two angles.

Mr. Michael L. Cochran, an internal officer for the Birmingham Board of Education, testified that he discovered the deceased's body at the parking deck around 7:40 a. m. on his way to work. Mr. Cochran identified state's exhibits 8 and 9 as photographs of the deceased. He specifically saw the deceased from the angle depicted in state's exhibit 8.

Officer Carlos Faught of the Birmingham Police Department also saw the deceased at the parking deck. The body had grass, leaves and blood on it and was nude from the waist down. Officer Faught also identified state's exhibits 8 and 9 as photographs of the deceased at the parking deck.

Officer L. E. Stricklin, an evidence technician with the Birmingham Police Department on June 20, 1979, testified that he went to the parking deck around 9:50 a. m. Officer Stricklin testified that he and Officer C. R. Wyatt participated in the investigation at the scene. Officer Stricklin's testimony concerned items of evidence which were recovered and preserved at the scene. He testified in detail as to certain items of clothing that were found in a park approximately 75 to 100 feet from the parking deck. Officer Stricklin stated that the evidence which was recovered at and near the scene was turned over to the state crime lab.

Mr. Henry Crenshaw testified that his residence is located near the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in the McCalla area of Jefferson County. Between 4:30 and 5:00 p. m., on June 19, 1979, while walking through the cemetery, Mr. Crenshaw saw a brown Nova automobile parked behind some bushes on the back road leading into the cemetery. As Mr. Crenshaw continued walking he saw "a big tall man" who weighed "about 200 pounds" walk around the automobile. About a minute later the automobile backed up and began "running real fast on that rough road" out of the cemetery. Mr. Crenshaw explained that the road "was an old abandoned road; had ruts in it some places almost knee deep." Mr. Crenshaw walked to his cousin's house, told him what he had seen and the two returned to the cemetery to where the car had been parked.

Mr. Crenshaw and his counsin saw "two big puddles of blood on the ground," a shoe and "a big long screwdriver ... covered with blood." Mr. Crenshaw described the shoe as being black, the kind "you can slip your feet in" or a "shower shoe." He identified state's exhibit 2 as a photograph of the shoe he saw. Mr. Crenshaw stated that the screwdriver had a red striped handle.

Mr. Crenshaw testified that he later saw a brown Nova like the one he had seen in the cemetery at Ethel Sanders' house in July. He identified state's exhibit 11 as a photograph of the car. Mrs. Sanders was appellant's aunt. Her residence was approximately one mile from the cemetery. Mr. Crenshaw stated that he had seen appellant in the cemetery on Easter Sunday; appellant's father was buried there. Mr. Crenshaw stated that appellant "was a big, tall man then, and looked like he weighed around 200 pounds." At the time appellant was arrested he was six feet four inches tall and weighed 215 pounds. Mr. Crenshaw identified appellant at trial but stated that he was "a lot smaller." According to Mr. Sammy Joe Bryant, Jr., of the Birmingham City Jail, appellant had lost around 100 pounds between the time he was arrested and the time of his trial.

Deputy Bill Carter of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department testified that he was directed to the cemetery in question by Mr. Crenshaw on June 20. Deputy Carter saw the puddles of blood, the shoe and the screwdriver which had been there the day before and turned these items over to Officer C. R. Wyatt when he arrived approximately one hour later.

Officer C. R. Wyatt, an evidence technician with the Birmingham Police Department, testified concerning his collection of evidence at the parking deck and at the cemetery. He identified state's exhibit 2 as a photograph of the sandal that was found in the cemetery. Officer Wyatt also received a blood sample from appellant at the Birmingham City Jail on July 19, 1979.

Mrs. Ethel Sanders testified that appellant, her nephew, lived in the McCalla area with his grandmother in 1979 before he left on July 5 for Detroit, where he had lived previously with his mother and sisters. Mrs. Sanders testified that appellant had worked at Bullock & Ron's Cafe while he lived in McCalla. She also remembered that he had worked at the Omelet Shoppe at one time.

Mrs. Sanders stated that, when appellant left for Detroit, he left his brown Nova automobile with her. "He wanted me to pay a note on it until he got back." She identified state's exhibit 11 as a photograph of appellant's car. Mrs. Sanders testified that she cut herself and bled a "little bit" inside appellant's car trunk on one occasion. She had previously testified at appellant's preliminary hearing that she had not cut herself while going inside the trunk. Mrs. Sanders thought that her blood type was A positive.

Officer John Guerrero of the El Paso, Texas, Police Department, testified that, on July 16, 1979, he met in El Paso with Sergeant Charles Melton of the Birmingham Police Department and proceeded with Sergeant Melton to the Greyhound Bus Depot where they apprehended appellant. Officer Guerrero stated that appellant was sleeping at the time he was arrested and had a carrying case with the name "Tony Washington" next to his leg. Officer Guerrero testified that appellant denied that he was Tony or Anthony Washington three times when he was arrested. Appellant was given his Miranda warnings, was searched and handcuffed. One of the items found in appellant's carrying case that was later inventoried at the Police Department was a flat-head screwdriver eight to ten inches long. Officer Guerrero identified appellant in court but stated that appellant had lost weight.

Sergeant Charles Melton saw the deceased at the parking deck and at the morgue. He also saw the screwdriver and the shoe Officer Wyatt brought to the morgue that same day. Sergeant Melton described the shoe as a "K-Mart shower shoe." He stated that he placed the shoe on the deceased's foot and that the outline of a footprint inside the shoe coincided with the deceased's foot. Sergeant Melton identified state's exhibit 2 as a photograph of the shoe.

Sergeant Melton later obtained an arrest warrant for appellant and joined with Officer Guerrero in El Paso in making the arrest. He returned to Birmingham with appellant on July 19 and obtained a saliva sample from him.

Mr. Kevin Noppinger, a forensic serologist with the Department of Forensic Sciences, stated that he received certain items of evidence regarding the investigation of the deceased's death. Mr. Noppinger ascertained from his analysis of the various articles of evidence he received that the deceased had Type A blood with enzyme AK, Type 1-1 and that appellant had Type O blood. The blood on the screwdriver was Type A as was the blood on the leaves and grass he received. The blood on the leaves and grass also tested positive for enzyme AK, Type 1-1. No bloodstains were found on the shower shoe.

In July of 1979 Mr. Noppinger examined appellant...

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