Watkins v. State, 6 Div. 925

• Decision Date: 05 July 1983
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 925
• Citation: 509 So.2d 1056
• Parties: Darryl Travis WATKINS v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 1056

509 So.2d 1056

Darryl Travis WATKINS v. STATE.

6 Div. 925.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

July 5, 1983.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 16, 1983.

J. Louis Wilkinson, Birmingham, for appellant.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Ed Carnes and Martha Gail Ingram, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.

SAM TAYLOR, Judge.

Appellant was indicted and convicted under § 13A-5-31 (a)(2) Code of Alabama 1975, for robbery or attempts thereof when the victim is intentionally killed by the defendant. After a separate hearing on aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the jury fixed his punishment at death. Subsequently, the trial court weighed the aggravating and mitigating circumstances pursuant to § 13A-5-33, Code of Alabama 1975, and sentenced appellant to death. The court issued both oral and written findings of fact from the trial and the sentence hearings which set forth the aggravating circumstances the court found sufficient to support the sentence of death. ¹

The facts of this case are detailed in the companion case of Raines v. State, 429 So.2d 1104 (Ala.Cr.App.), aff'd, Ex Parte Raines, 429 So.2d 1111 (Ala.1982). However, because of the nature of the offense and the gravity of the punishment involved in this case, we will set forth the crucial facts as presented at trial below.

Mrs. Jean Mayfield testified that her husband, Mr. Milton Mayfield, was employed at Eugster Meat Market in the Powderly area of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, on November 26, 1980. Mr. Mayfield, the victim of this crime, was seventy-nine years of age. Mrs. Mayfield recalled that their son drove Mr. Mayfield to work at 7:15 a.m. that day. Mrs. Mayfield next saw her husband sometime after 11:00 a.m. in the intensive care unit of University Hospital in Birmingham. She testified that around 5:30 p.m., after tests revealed there was no brain activity, Mr. Mayfield was disconnected from life supporting systems which had been attached to him. Mr. Mayfield was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.

W.L. Allen, Chief Deputy Coroner for Jefferson County, testified that the autopsy on Mr. Mayfield revealed that his death was caused by a gunshot wound to the head. The bullet entered around the bridge of the nose, passed through the brain, and came to rest in the subcutaneous tissue of the right side of the scalp.

Mrs. Mary Owens testified that she and her husband, L.E. Owens, owned and operated Eugster Meat Market, where Mr. Mayfield worked. On November 26, 1980, sometime after 10:00 a.m., appellant and another man entered the store and walked down the side of the meat counter. Appellant jumped up onto the counter, pushing Mrs. Owens, who was behind the counter, and said "Move it, move it." Appellant held a gun in one hand and a yellow bag in the other hand which he shook at Mr. Owens, who was inside the checkout area. Mr. Mayfield, who was standing about twenty feet away, was slicing bacon and could not hear over the noise from the machine. Mr. Mayfield turned his head slightly toward appellant, and appellant immediately shot him.

Appellant turned the gun on Mrs. Owens and Mr. Owens told her to "get down." After lying down on the floor, Mrs. Owens heard appellant tell Mr. Owens to open the cash drawer and give him all of its contents. Mr. Owens cooperated, and asked Mrs. Owens positively identified appellant in court as the man who robbed the market and shot Mr. Mayfield.

                appellant not to shoot any more.  Appellant's accomplice then said "Let's get out of here," and as they started to flee, appellant told his accomplice "I shot one."   Mrs. Owens then ran back to Mr. Mayfield, where she saw he had been shot in the head
                

Mrs. Sherrie Morgan testified she was a customer in Eugster Meat Market at the time of the robbery. Mrs. Morgan corroborated Mrs. Owens's testimony, although she stated she heard, but did not see, the gun fired by appellant. Mrs. Morgan also identified appellant in court as the man she saw jump up onto the counter during the robbery at Eugster. She, too, heard appellant say "I shot one" as he and his accomplice left the market.

Mr. L.E. Owens testified his business, Eugster Meat Market, was robbed by two men on November 26, 1980. Again, Mr. Owens corroborated Mrs. Owens's testimony and identified appellant in court as the man who jumped onto the counter. He stated appellant shot Mr. Mayfield before he could give him the money. Approximately twenty-four hundred dollars was taken from the cash register during the robbery.

Mr. William Sanders testified he was the security guard at Eugster's on November 26, 1980. He recalled that two men came into the store around 11:00 a.m. One stopped at the cashier's cage, and the second man walked to the back of the store where Mr. Sanders stood. Suddenly, Mr. Sanders was struck in the side with a gun and knocked to the ground by the second man. The assailant took his gun and told Mr. Sanders, "If you get up I am going to kill you."

While the second man held him at gunpoint, Mr. Sanders heard a shot fired at the front of the market. He also heard the first man say "I just shot one," as they started to leave.

Mr. Sanders was subsequently able to identify the man who held the gun on him as Chestine Raines. ² He could not identify appellant as the man at the front of the store, however.

Sergeant Albert Wallace testified he was the chief detective assigned to investigate Mr. Milton Mayfield's murder for the Birmingham Police Department. His testimony recounted details of the investigation as it involved interviewing witnesses and establishing identification for the suspects by photographic arrays and lineups.

After the state rested its case at the close of the guilt phase of the trial, appellant rested his case without presenting any evidence.

At the sentencing phase of appellant's trial, the state produced evidence that appellant had previously been convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person, that being a 1976 conviction for robbery when appellant was sixteen years old.

The appellant took the stand in his own behalf and stated that he was twenty-two years old. He admitted the prior conviction of robbery and testified he served three years and eight months in the penitentiary for that offense. Appellant denied any involvement in the death of Mr. Mayfield. He did know and associate with Chestine (Chastine) Raines during November of 1980, but did not see Raines on November 26, 1980.

Despite appellant's earnest argument to the contrary, we again recognize the holdings of this court and the Alabama Supreme Court that the death penalty provisions under which appellant was convicted are constitutional. Ex Parte Raines, supra; Beck v. State, 396 So. 2d 645 (Ala.1980); Potts v. State, 426 So. 2d 886 (Ala.Cr.App.1982), aff'd, Potts v. State, 426 So. 2d 896 (Ala. 1983).

Reviewing the facts of this case in light of the facts and holdings of Raines Appellant raises only one issue which has not been answered by the holdings of the companion case of Raines, supra. Appellant contends he was denied due process of law by the state's failure to disclose exculpatory information for which there had been a general request by motion of appellant. Our review of the record indicates, however, that the issue may more appropriately be framed as involving the timing of the disclosure, the materiality of the report and the responsibility of appellant's counsel to take the opportunity to effectively use the disclosed information, rather than the state's failure to disclose the information prior to trial.

                supra, we also again find that Mr. Mayfield was a "victim" of the robbery at Eugster Meat Market as that term is defined in § 13A-5-31(a)(2), Code of Alabama 1975.   Ex Parte Raines, supra.  Any contention that Mr. Mayfield was a mere bystander, as opposed to a victim of the robbery, is refuted by applying the reasoning of Woods v. State, 55 Ala.  App. 450, 316 So.2d 698 (1975), which was quoted by this court in Raines, supra
                

Appellant was appointed counsel and arraigned on July 8, 1981. At that time, the case was set for trial on October 26, 1981 and passed to April 12, 1982. Appellant filed a lengthy motion to compel production or disclosure on or about August 3, 1981. Although a hearing on the motion was set for August 20, 1981, for some reason not apparent from the record, the only hearing reflected in the transcript was held on April 12, 1982, immediately prior to trial. However, the record reflects no attempt or motion by appellant to have the motion set down for hearing at any earlier date.

At the pretrial hearing on the motion, the trial court inquired as to whether the prosecutor was aware of any exculpatory information which had not been made known to appellant. The record reflects the following exchange:

"MR. GOMANY: No, sir, Judge. Of course, I forgot much of the transcript details, but I imagine that would be about it. Except one thing, just looking through here, I just came across--I read something in a supplementary report that Birmingham police officers filled out on this time it happened. You might want to take a look at it, it might be considered exculpatory.

"THE COURT: Mr. Wilkinson, have you seen the incident report, I guess you would call these documents, from the Birmingham Police Department as relates to this case?

"MR. WILKINSON: No, sir. And we would request them.

"THE COURT: Mr. Gomany, I am going to grant Mr. Wilkinson's request as it relates to this particular document and allow him to observe and see this. Mark this Defendant's Exhibit 1 for identification, since it is your motion." (R. 4-5)

At appellant's request, the trial court reserved any final ruling on appellant's motion for production until after appellant had the opportunity to review the report. The following discussion was then held:

"MR. WILKINSON: Judge, in view of what one says--on the motion, says about the possibility of there being a witness who overheard...