Duncan v. State
Duncan v. State
Opinion
Carl Franklin Duncan was indicted for murder in violation of §
On the afternoon of April 22, 1983, the appellant arrived in Tuscaloosa County from Dalton, Georgia, where he had been working on a bridge construction project. Upon arriving in Tuscaloosa County, the appellant went to his company's headquarters on Highway 216. There, he talked with his supervisor and drank two beers. The supervisor said the appellant had been drinking prior to his arrival at headquarters.
When the appellant left headquarters, he proceeded to a trailer also located on Highway 216 which belonged to his friend, Eddie Collins. Bambi Powell, who lived with Collins at the trailer, arrived home around 5:25 p.m. and observed the appellant drinking a beer with Collins. The appellant soon left the trailer.
A car similar to the appellant's was seen "fishtailing" on Highway 216 after leaving Collins' driveway. Moments later, the appellant's car collided with a vehicle driven by Karen Hutson Morris on Highway 216. The collision occurred in Morris' lane of traffic and Morris died as a result of injuries suffered in that collision. A number of beer cans were observed in the appellant's car after the accident.
The appellant was taken to the emergency room of Druid City Hospital for treatment of his injuries. Dr. Harry Goodall ordered a blood alcohol test and the result of that test showed the appellant's blood alcohol level to be .204 percent.
This argument is totally without merit. The commentary to §
"It is clear that the legislature may create two or more criminal offenses which may be committed by a single act.Coleman v. State,
"When such an event occurs, the State may want to elect to prosecute for either offense, or under either statute. Coleman, supra,
The legislature has created two different offenses which could apply to the appellant's conduct in this cause. The State did not err in electing to prosecute him for murder.
Furthermore, the version of §
The appellant concedes that there is not a statute creating the doctor-patient privilege in Alabama and there is no such privilege under common law. See, C. Gamble, McElroy's AlabamaEvidence, § 413.01 (3rd ed. 1977).
The appellant claims that "the courts of this State have moved in the direction of recognizing a doctor-patient privilege" and urges this court to establish such a privilege. For this proposition, the appellant cites us to Horne v.Patton,
In Horne, supra, a civil case, the Alabama Supreme Court stated that ". . . a medical doctor is under a general duty not to make extra-judicial disclosures of information acquired in the court of the doctor-patient relationship. . ." Horne, supra 287 So.2d at 829-30. (Emphasis added).
We do not find that a doctor-patient testimonial privilege has been established in Alabama by Horne, supra or any other authority. Therefore, the results of the appellant's blood alcohol test were properly admitted during the course of Dr. Goodall's testimony.
This cause is due to be and is, hereby, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All the Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Carl Franklin Duncan, Alias v. State.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published