Hartley v. State
Hartley v. State
Opinion
The appellant, Rex Hartley, was convicted of attempted kidnapping in the first degree. He was sentenced to life in prison. With the help of advisory counsel, the appellant represented himself both at trial and on appeal.
The appellant was indicted under §
"A person commits the crime of kidnapping in the first degree if he abducts another person with intent to
". . . .
"(2) Use him as a shield or hostage."
Attempt is defined in §
"A person is guilty of an attempt to commit a crime if, with the intent to commit a specific offense, he does any overt act towards the commission of such offense."
The state's evidence tended to show that on October 18, 1989, three inmates were missing from the State Cattle Ranch, a minimum security camp in Hale County. Two officers, Officer Britford and Sergeant Nevin, went to search for the inmates. Approximately one hour later the officers returned to the ranch to find that the inmates had returned. All three inmates smelled of alcohol. The officers told them to pack up their belongings because they were going to the county jail for a breath test. The inmates were loaded into a van and were *Page 4 approximately seven miles from the ranch when the appellant put a knife under Officer Britford's throat and said "Stop the van or I'm going to cut you!" The van skidded down the highway and turned sideways. Sergeant Nevin stated that when the van stopped, he got out of his seat and turned on the interior light and that the appellant told him that if Nevin did not sit down he would cut Officer Britford's throat. The appellant then told another inmate to grab Nevin. Sergeant Nevin grabbed his revolver, pointed it at the appellant and told him to give up. The appellant then sat down. Sergeant Nevin described the knife used by the appellant as a 10-inch black hunting knife.
"We must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State." Holder v. State,
"Rex Hartley, whose name is otherwise unknown to the Grand Jury other than as stated, did abduct Randy Britford, with the intent to use him as a shield or a hostage in violation of §
13A-6-43 (b), Code of Alabama 1975."
The fact that the appellant was ultimately found guilty of attempted kidnapping does not make the indictment void. "Under Alabama law there is no requirement that an indictment specify that a defendant attempted to commit a particular substantive offense for that defendant to be convicted of attempting to commit the offense. Bateman v. State,
Though the appellant does not make this argument, the fact that the indictment contains an incorrect reference to a subsection of the statute (it cites §
Moreover, the appellant is not entitled to discover statements of prosecution witnesses. Britain v. State,
"[T]he discovery or inspection of reports, memoranda, witness lists, or other internal state documents made by the district attorney or his agents, or by law enforcement agents, in connection with the investiption or prosecution of the case, or of statements made by state witnesses or prospective state witnesses, is not authorized."
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment in this case is due to be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All the Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Rex Hartley v. State.
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published