Wright v. State, 6 Div. 558
| Decision Date | 06 October 1981 |
| Docket Number | 6 Div. 558 |
| Citation | 405 So.2d 74 |
| Parties | Jimmy Lee WRIGHT, alias v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and William Dudley Motlow, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Possession of burglary tools; three years.
During the months of January and March, 1980, burglaries occurred at the residences of John Thornton in Walker County, and William Love in the Forestdale area of Jefferson County. A total of $350,000 was taken from the safes in these two homes. During this period, deputies of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department received information from a confidential informant concerning these burglaries. As a result of this information, surveillance was conducted by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.
On April 15, 1980, Sgt. Linn Moore saw the appellant drive away from the residence of Sam Tombrello in a black Cutlass. The appellant was accompanied by Dominick Locareo, Sam Tombrello, Jeff Adder and Richard Marazavitz. The five men proceeded north on Highway 78 West to the rear of Charles Hollis' residence. Sgt. Moore observed the men carrying something into the residence.
After some fifteen minutes the appellant and another party left the house, the appellant entered the Cutlass automobile, and the other party entered a brown truck parked in the driveway. The appellant and the other party proceeded to drive down the driveway. At that time Sgt. Moore and other officers moved in and arrested the appellant and the man in the truck. The other three men were arrested in the basement of the residence and charged with burglary. During this time, Mr. Hollis and his wife were in the upper level of the house eating supper.
Sgt. Moore testified that the appellant has signed a consent form giving permission to search the Cutlass automobile. He also identified a rights waiver form in which the appellant acknowledged that he had been given his Miranda warnings.
During the trial, retired Sgt. Detective James W. Jones, Jr. was qualified as an expert in identifying tools used in safe burglaries. He stated that he had been a detective for thirty-one years, with eighteen years in the burglary detail, and had investigated between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred safe burglaries. Sgt. Jones identified the various tools which had been taken from the Cutlass automobile driven by the appellant, and entered into evidence as State's Exhibits Nos. 9 through 15, as tools commonly used for breaking into a safe. Among those tools were one crow-bar, a sledge hammer with a sawed-off handle, long-handle sledge hammer, a small hammer, a pry-bar, a chisel, and a punch.
Frank Jones and H. M. Wade, Jr. of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department testified, over appellant's objection, regarding the occurrence of prior safe burglaries with similar tools in the area.
I
Possession of burglary tools is defined in § 13A-7-8, Code of Alabama 1975, as follows:
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Hollins v. State
...to by the witnesses and the circumstances as revealed by the evidence. Cook v. State, 409 So.2d 965 (Ala.Cr.App.1981); Wright v. State, 405 So.2d 74 (Ala.Cr.App.1981). The State's evidence was sufficient in this regard to establish its case under the Appellant further contends that the tria......
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Poole v. State
...429 So.2d 636, 639 (Ala.Cr.App.1982). It is well established that the issue of intent is for the jury's determination. Wright v. State, 405 So.2d 74, 76 (Ala.Cr.App.1981). The appellant's presence at the scene of the burglary coupled with his possession of the burglary tools, Mains v. State......