Gowens v. State
Gowens v. State
Opinion
The appellant, Oscar Kenneth Gowens, was indicted for the murder of Ronnie Williams, in violation of §
The evidence presented at trial tends to show the following. The appellant was divorced, and his ex-wife was dating the victim. Mark Brown testified that was employed by the appellant, who owned an automobile repair shop. The appellant's ex-wife worked at Fort McClellan. Brown stated that he would often ride with the appellant while the appellant spied on his ex-wife. Brown testified that on those occasions he and the appellant would go to Fort McClellan to watch the appellant's ex-wife. Brown further testified that on one occasion he and the appellant had followed the appellant's ex-wife to the victim's mobile home.
According to Brown, on the evening of August 23, 1989, he and the appellant went to the victim's mobile home. Brown testified that while he sat in the vehicle, the appellant went to the victim's mobile home, unscrewed the light bulb in the porch light, and went into the victim's mobile home. Brown stated that while the appellant was in the mobile home, he heard a gunshot and saw a flash of light. According to Brown, the appellant came out of the mobile home, got into the vehicle and put a gun under the seat of the vehicle. Brown testified that the appellant threatened him if Brown told anyone about the shooting.
The victim died as a result of a bullet wound to the head from a .38 caliber handgun. Ballistic tests established that the bullet that killed the victim was fired from a .38 caliber Titan Tiger handgun owned by the appellant's ex-wife.
The appellant testified that on the night of the shooting, he was working late repairing a dump truck owned by Robert and Cherie King. He further testified that he did not know the victim and that he did not kill the victim.
During the trial, the prosecution called Robert King and Cherie King as witnesses. Essentially, the Kings testified that their written statements were not accurate as to the date that the appellant had performed the repair work on their dump truck. The Kings testified that the appellant had asked them to tell the investigator that he had worked on their truck on August 23, 1989, because, he told them, his ex-wife and he were having a dispute and she was trying to take his garage business. The Kings further testified that when they found out that the appellant was being investigated for murder, they told the investigator the truth. Additionally, *Page 526 Cherie King testified that when she was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, she learned that the appellant was charged with murder and testified truthfully before the grand jury.
The appellant argues that the trial court erred in failing to suppress the Kings' testimony in which they recanted their earlier statements because, he argues, he had relied upon the Kings' written statements provided to him by the prosecution as an alibi defense. The appellant contends that the prosecution violated Brady v. Maryland,
Brady provides that the prosecution must provide the defense with any information in its possession favorable to the defendant. Brady,
However, it must be noted that this Court does not consider the fact that the Kings had recanted their statements to be the type of exculpatory material as contemplated by Brady and Rule 16, Ala.Crim.R.P. On the contrary, the Kings' testimony recanting the statements removes the appellant's alibi defense and, thus, is inculpatory. We know of no case requiring the prosecution to provide a criminal defendant with inculpatory substantive testimony of its witnesses. Rather, if the statements are not exculpatory, the statements of prospective witnesses need not be produced by the State. Hartley; Cliftonv. State,
Ex parte Frazier,"In order to grant a motion for new trial alleging perjured testimony, the trial court must be reasonably well satisfied 1) that testimony given by a witness at trial was false; 2) that there is a significant chance that had the jury heard the truth, it would have reached a different result; 3) that the evidence tending to prove the witness's perjury has been discovered since the trial; and 4) that evidence could not have been discovered before or during trial by the exercise of due diligence."
We decline to decide whether Mr. Brown's testimony was false. "The trial court is the factfinder in a hearing on a motion for a new trial, and a condition to the granting of a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence is that the trial court must believe the evidence presented." McMillian v. State,
The appellant concedes that the United States Supreme Court has held that an accused is not constitutionally entitled to the State's witness list prior to trial. Weatherford v. Bursey,
The judgment of the trial court is due to be, and it is hereby, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Oscar Kenneth Gowens v. State.
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published