Tankersley v. State
Tankersley v. State
Opinion
Donald Wayne Tankersley was convicted of burglary and sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment. The victim of this burglary was Charles Tankersley, the uncle of appellant, Donald Wayne Tankersley. Charles Tankersley received a phone call from an unknown individual telling him that his son had taken ill while at an auto show in Birmingham. Mr. Tankersley and his wife left their home in Cullman County to go to Birmingham to see about their son. Before leaving home, the Tankersleys called a sister-in-law in Birmingham and asked her to check the local hospitals to find out where their son was. During the course of the trip, they stopped and called the sister-in-law again. She reported that their son was fine and had not been ill at all. The Tankersleys' suspicion was aroused and Mr. Tankersley called a neighbor, Mr. Buck Shearer, and asked him to go check on his house. Mr. Shearer, accompanied by another man, Greg Young, went to the Tankersleys' house and entered, using a key which had been left outside by the Tankersleys for emergencies. Mr. Shearer observed that three guns were missing from their place near the stairs and were leaning against a wall upstairs. They then went down to the basement, where they found a man standing there in the dark. This man told Shearer and Young that he was Charles Tankersley's nephew. He said that he had just left Tankersley's son in Birmingham and came out to the home to collect some type of paper on an automobile. He said he had entered through a garage door. He told Shearer and Young that his (appellant's) wife had brought him to the house, but had probably been frightened off by them, and possibly would be coming back in a short time with the police. After a few minutes, the burglar stated that his wife must be lost and he thought he should walk up to the corner so that "When she comes by I will flag her down." Appellant then left. Some six months later, Mr. Shearer was asked to observe some people in a line-up. The appellant was one of the participants in this line-up, but had not been indicted at that time. Appellant's counsel was present when Mr. Shearer reviewed the line-up, but was not *Page 488 present when the police asked Shearer about his conclusions. Mr. Shearer said that he was 90 percent certain that the appellant, Tankersley, was the burglar.
The law is reasonably well-settled that there is no right to counsel at a pre-indictment-line-up. Kirby v. Illinois,
Applying the totality of the circumstances test, we conclude that the identification of witness Buck Shearer was reliable. While it is true that the witness stated that he was 90 percent sure that appellant, Tankersley, was the culprit, this does not prevent the identification from being a positive identification. It is rather a matter for the jury to consider on passing on the weight and sufficiency of the testimony.Gholston v. State,
"The credibility of this evidence was for the trial judge to determine. The truthfulness or falsity of the evidence presented is not for this court to decide."
We will not disturb this determination on appeal.
Consequently, this case is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All the Judges concur. *Page 489
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Donald Wayne Tankersley v. State.
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published