Case Title: Davenport v. State

Citation: 426 So. 2d 472

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1982-02-26T00:00:00Z

Document:
426 So. 2d 472 (1982)
Ex parte State of Alabama.
(In re Kenneth Dale DAVENPORT v. The STATE of Alabama)
80-801.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
February 26, 1982.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Jeffery H. Long, Asst. Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
Kermit Mac Downs, Gadsden, for respondent.
PER CURIAM.
The Court of Criminal Appeals, 426 So. 2d 464, reversed the rape conviction of Davenport, and the State brought the case here on a petition for certiorari, seeking reversal of the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals, arguing that its decision is in conflict with prior decisions on the admissibility *473 of other acts of rape committed by the defendant on the victim. The State contends that the trial court correctly allowed the evidence as being admissible as a part of a single transaction. We agree and reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
The facts are extensively set out in the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Our point of difference with the decision is a narrow one. That court held that the subsequent acts by the defendant and others upon the person of the victim were too remote in point of time (forty minutes) to be admissible under the res gestae rule, saying:
We simply disagree and hold that the trial court did not commit reversible error in allowing the evidence under the res gestae rule, stated in C. Gamble, McElroy's Alabama Evidence § 69.01(3) (3d Ed.1977), as follows:
We do not agree that Taylor v. State, 352 So. 2d 1154 (Ala.Cr.App.1977), is distinguishable. There the court held, correctly, that the fact that the victim had been raped three times by the defendant between 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. was admissible as a part of the res gestae.
In all other respects, we agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals. However, its judgment is reversed for the reasons stated above.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
All the Justices concur, except JONES, J., who dissents.
JONES, Justice (dissenting).
I concur in the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals and, therefore, I would affirm.