Brown v. State
Brown v. State
Opinion
Assault with intent to murder; sentence: twenty years imprisonment.
The appellant has been previously convicted for the September 1, 1977, robbery of the Cannon Oil Company gasoline station in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This court affirmed that conviction without opinion on October 3, 1978. Brown v. State, 6 Div. 707. The assault with intent to murder, with which this appeal is concerned, occurred while appellant was perpetrating the robbery of the gasoline station. The testimony was that on September 1, 1977, at approximately 4:00 a.m., Albert Hallman (a cashier employed by the gasoline station) was hit on the head and knocked to the floor by appellant. Within the next several minutes, appellant placed a "coke" box over Hallman's head, kicked him, threatened to kill him, shot him twice, and left him for dead.
In the determination of this question, we must look to the rule enunciated in Blockburger v. United States,
". . . The applicable rule is that, where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not. . . ."
In Colston v. State, Ala.,
*Page 559"A plea of former jeopardy is unavailing unless the offense presently charged is precisely the same in law and on fact as the former one relied on under the plea. And this is true even if both cases are founded on the same facts but the crimes charged were not the same in law . . ." (Citations omitted.)
In the instant case, the issue is whether the offenses of robbery and assault with intent to murder are the same in fact and in law. The three essential elements of robbery are: (a) a felonious intent, (b) force, or putting in fear as a means of affecting the intent, and (c) by that means, the taking and carrying away the property of another from his person or in his presence, all three elements concurring in point of time.Gissendaner v. State, Ala.Cr.App.,
It has likewise been held that an essential element of robbery is a larcenous intent. Odom v. State, Ala.Cr.App.,
It is therefore apparent that the appellant committed two separate and distinct crimes which arose out of the same transaction, but which required two separate intents; one, the intent to rob, and the other, the intent to kill. Colston, supra. The evidence in the instant case also showed that after
the robbery was consummated and before the appellant left the scene, he repeatedly shot the victim and left him for dead. This was clearly proof of an additional fact to show the appellant's intent to kill which was not a required element of proof of the offense of robbery. See: Whitehead v. State,
". . . `A single act may be an offense against two statutes; and if each statute requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not, an acquittal or conviction under either statute does not exempt the defendant from prosecution and punishment under the other.' . . ." (Emphasis supplied.)
See also: Beckley v. State, Ala.Cr.App.,
AFFIRMED.
All the Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Robert Brown, Alias v. State.
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published