Powell v. State
Powell v. State
Opinion
In case no. CC-00-078, Marlin Powell was charged in a two-count indictment with attempted murder, a violation of §§
On appeal, Powell's appointed counsel filed a "no-merit" brief in substantial compliance with Anders v. California,
Powell's fourth issue was also not preserved for review but warrants discussion because it implicates the jurisdiction of the trial court. Powell contends that his convictions for attempted murder and for assault in the first degree violated his right to be free from double jeopardy because, he says, they arose from the same act. This double-jeopardy claim implicates the jurisdiction of the trial court and, therefore, is not subject to waiver. See Rolling v. State,
The record supports Powell's assertion; it reflects that all three charges stemmed from a single act. The evidence at trial indicated that on May 23, 2000, Powell shot Omar Harris in the head with a pistol while Harris was sitting in his vehicle. Although Harris survived the shooting, he suffered serious physical injuries.1 As a result of this single incident, Powell was indicted for attempted murder, assault in the first degree, and discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile. The indictment charging Powell with attempted murder and assault read:
"The Grand Jury of said county charge that before the finding of this indictment Marlin Powell, whose name is otherwise unknown to the Grand Jury, did with intent to commit the crime of murder, attempt to commit said crime by, to-wit: shooting another person, to-wit: Omar Harris, with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a pistol, a better description of which is otherwise unknown to the Grand Jury, in violation of
13A-4-2 of the Code of Alabama, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.
"Count II: Assault I
"The Grand Jury of said county charge that before the finding of this indictment Marlin Powell, whose name is otherwise unknown to the Grand Jury, did with intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, cause serious physical injury to another person, to-wit: Omar Harris, by means of a deadly weapon, to-wit: a gun, a better description of which is otherwise unknown to the Grand Jury, in violation of
13A-6-20 (a)(1) of the Code of Alabama, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama."
(C. 1.)
Under the facts in this case, assault in the first degree was a lesser-included *Page 1208
offense of attempted murder. Powell could not constitutionally be convicted of both attempted murder and assault for the same conduct. See §
The transcript of the sentencing hearing, the trial court's written sentencing order, and the case action summary for case no. CC-00-078 all indicate that Powell was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the attempted-murder conviction and that he was not sentenced for the assault conviction. However, as this Court stated in Lorance,
Although Powell did not make this argument, we note that, unlike his convictions for attempted murder and assault, Powell's convictions for attempted murder and for discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile do not violate the principles of double jeopardy. Although this Court has never addressed this issue directly, we have previously affirmed convictions for attempted murder and for discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile that arose from the same conduct. See, e.g.,Woodson v. State,
With respect to the conviction for discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile, however, we note that the record does not indicate what sentence Powell received. The case action summary indicates that Powell was found guilty on that charge and that he was sentenced on June 26, 2001 — the date of the sentencing hearing — but it does not indicate what sentence he received; it states only that the sentence for that conviction is to run concurrently with the sentence imposed in case no. CC-00-078. The trial court's written sentencing order also indicates that Powell was found guilty of discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile; however, the sentence Powell received for that conviction is unreadable on the copy of the order in the record before this Court. Therefore, because we must remand this case for the trial court to vacate Powell's conviction for assault in the first degree, we also instruct the trial court on remand to correct the record to reflect what sentence Powell received for his conviction for discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile.
Based on the foregoing, Powell's convictions for attempted murder and for discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile and his sentence for the attempted-murder conviction are affirmed. Because the trial court lacked jurisdiction to adjudge Powell guilty of assault in the first degree, we remand this case to the trial court for it to vacate that conviction, and for it to correct the record to reflect what sentence was imposed for Powell's conviction *Page 1209 for discharging a firearm into an occupied automobile. Due return shall be filed with this Court no later than 35 days from the date of this opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART; AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.*
McMillan, P.J., and Cobb, Baschab, and Wise, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Marlin Powell v. State of Alabama.
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published