Woods v. State, 8 Div. 46

• Decision Date: 25 July 1978
• Docket Number: 8 Div. 46
• Citation: 364 So.2d 1178
• Parties: Jacob Esaw WOODS, alias v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 1178

364 So.2d 1178

Jacob Esaw WOODS, alias v. STATE.

8 Div. 46.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

July 25, 1978.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 29, 1978.

Michael B. Maddox, of Guin, Bouldin, Porch & Maddox, Russellville, for appellant.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen. and Linda C. Breland, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

SIMMONS, Retired Circuit Judge.

Appellant-defendant was indicted for murder in the first degree. At arraignment, in the presence of counsel, appellant entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Following a trial by jury, appellant was found guilty: the court (not the jury) duly adjudged him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He appealed.

Appellant was an indigent. Appointed counsel at nisi prius represents appellant on this appeal.

Defendant filed a motion for a new trial which the court overruled. The motion asserted inter alia: (1) that this verdict is contrary to the evidence in the case; (2) that the verdict is contrary to the "way" (sic) of the evidence in this case; and (3) for the verdict of the jury disregards the testimony of Dr. J. W. Glaister and Dr. Joseph Woddail, which testimony was not rebutted by any witness. The ruling of the court on this motion is the subject of appellant's contention for reversal of the judgment and remand of the cause.

We think evidence pertinent to this issue should be delineated in reasonable detail to the end that the mental condition of defendant on the date of the homicide (May 29, 1976) may appear.

The deceased victim was Wanda Randolph, a ten-year-old black child. Defendant was a black man sixty-three or sixty-four years of age at the time of the homicide.

It appears that defendant was acquainted with the victim sometime before May 29, 1976. On that date he came to her house in the daytime when both of her parents were away.

Betty Jean Randolph (the victim's sister), fourteen years of age, testified that she and her six-year-old brother James were at their home on Gaines Street in the early afternoon of May 29, 1976. At that time, Betty Jean testified, defendant came to the front door and said, "I caught you, I caught you." When the children saw that appellant had a knife in his hand, they fled to their grandmother Reynolds' house a short distance away. Defendant followed right behind them. Betty Jean further testified when she arrived at the house, her two sisters Mattie and Wanda were on the porch, "but they just run on in, didn't pay any attention to me." All four children then entered the house and walked through it to the bathroom where two plumbers were working on the fixtures.

Betty Jean also testified that at this time she told Mattie and Wanda, who were standing in the door, that "Jacob (defendant) was after me and my brother with a knife and I heard him step on the porch." When she heard the footsteps on the porch, she and her brother hid behind "the orange chair" just outside the bathroom. From that vantage point, Betty Jean saw defendant enter the house and heard him say, "I caught you, I caught you." Appellant then went into the bathroom. Betty Jean left her hiding place telling her brother to stay behind the chair. After saying, "I caught you, I caught you," defendant slapped Wanda. Wanda screamed. She fell into the bathtub on her back. Betty Jean then saw defendant pull a knife with his right hand. Mattie ran and Wanda screamed for help. Defendant ran out into the yard with his knife in his hand. Betty Jean testified that defendant ran down the road and "told me he was going to kill me."

On cross-examination, Betty Jean stated that about a day before the trouble happened, defendant accused her of going with white boys. This happened at the house of witness. She said defendant acted "kind of normal like."

On re-direct, witness testified that neither she nor her sisters had been going around or playing with white boys.

Mattie Randolph testified that just before the incident she was at the home of her grandmother, Willie Reynolds. She got a key and admitted some plumbers into the house of her grandmother. This was done at her grandmother's request who was at work.

Defendant came to the bathroom and said, "I caught you, I caught you." Witness then crawled under his arm and he said, "I caught you, I caught you." Witness did not see what happened.

James Randolph, father of the children (Wanda, et al.) called by the State, testified on cross-examination that, on an occasion prior to the incident, defendant came to his house and "accused them (my children) of things and I told him not to come back no more." Woods told him that he had seen a bunch of boys hanging around them. He told defendant he was wrong. Woods told him that he "would be sorry." He did not notice anything unusual about defendant.

John Wilburn, State Toxicologist, testified that Wanda's death "was due to a hemorrhage, which was associated with the stab wound of the chest."

Stratt Barnes, the plumber working in the bathroom, testified that the defendant slapped Wanda into the bathtub and then hit her again. Defendant then acted like he was going to pick her up, but instead he stabbed her with a knife which Barnes did not see until defendant pulled it out. Defendant wiped the knife off and then backed out the door. The fatal incident occurred in about ten seconds. Barnes assisted the wounded child who died right away. Defendant ran.

P. J. Hargett testified as a witness for the State. He was the plumber's helper in the bathroom where the homicide occurred. This testimony was about the same as the plumber's.

John Robinson, a city policeman in Russellville where the incident occurred, stated he first went inside the house and then went outside and saw a man running down a gravel road hollering he was the one that killed the little girl and that he stabbed her. The man, Robinson testified, told him that he had told her to quit running around with white kids. He also stated that the defendant said the knife was in his left inside coat pocket, and it was then retrieved by Officer Gaba. Robinson testified that he had not noticed anything unusual about defendant.

Mike Gaba, a Russellville police officer, was next put up by the State. He testified about defendant running toward him and Officer Robinson. He also testified that defendant said " . . . I killed her, I told her not to mess around with those white boys." He also told about finding the knife on defendant's person. He noticed nothing unusual about defendant's appearance.

Terrell Potter, an investigator for the District Attorney's office, was the State's next witness. He testified about taking some photographs at the scene. These were admitted in evidence. He also took a photograph of the victim's wound on her body.

Officer Burns Saint testified for the State about the lab in Florence.

The State then rested.

The defendant called Dr. Joe Woddail as a witness. Dr. Woddail was a physician with a specialty in psychiatry at Bryce Hospital for four and one-half years. Dr. Woddail was a member of the Forensic Board at Bryce Hospital. This Board evaluates mental patients at Bryce who are charged with crimes and sent to Bryce for examinations. Dr. Woddail was also a consultant to the Board. He examined defendant who was sent there by the court.

The Board was composed of Marie Robinson, a social worker; Margaret Kay Witt, a psychologist, with a master's degree; Annette Brodsky, who has a Ph.D. in psychology; Patricia Larkins, who has a master's degree in psychology, and Dr. Woddail.

Dr. Woddail further testified that "when a person is admitted to the Forensic Program, he would first get a physical examination by a general physician. I would do a mental status examination, the social worker would get a history from the patient's family or from the patient and from the family and from any other reliable source that they would obtain information from and the psychologist would perform psychometric tests and after we got all this data together, we would try to make an evaluation."

An evaluation was made of defendant.

"Q What determination did the Board reach concerning Mr. Woods?

"A Well the first time, we met on October 6, 1976, there was an opinion of the Board as a whole that further information was needed to arrive at an opinion and then on November 10, it was determined that he was not competent to stand trial at this time.

"Q Did you, as a Psychiatrist, make a determination as to what condition he was suffering from?

"A I did.

"Q What did you decide, in your professional opinion, he was suffering from?

"A Schizophrenia Paranoia.

"Q What do you mean, when you say Schizophrenia?

"A Well, it's a similar term that we use instead of using the word psychosis or a legal term, which is insanity. As far as we're concerned, they are all the same thing. Now, Schizophrenia paranoid type is a specific type of a major mental illness or a psychosis, depending on what the person's symptoms are. In his case, he had two major symptoms that persisted in this diagnosis. One, he was withdrawn and cut loose from reality. The other was an over suspiciousness. Now when I say over suspiciousness, I'm not talking about normal suspiciousness in his relationship with the people there and me and his relationship that he discussed in his community and some of his beliefs, which could not be changed, were so exaggerated and suspicious in manner until it just fitted the criteria of paranoid schizophrenia. Had his illness progressed a little further, he would have

"MR. JOLLY: I object to had his illness progressed any further and to what there might have been.

"THE COURT: Overruled.

"A He would have had, in my experience, illusinations (sic) which is voices talking to him or saying things that weren't really there and this is what I stated in my Mental Status Examination. It was very difficult to make this decision, at that time, as to whether he was responding to voices that weren't there. I could...