Case Title: Stephens v. State

Citation: 552 So. 2d 162

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1989-07-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
552 So. 2d 162 (1989)
Ex parte State of Alabama.
(Re Edward Earnest STEPHENS
v.
STATE).
88-102.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
July 21, 1989.
Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Andy S. Poole, Asst. Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
Jeffery C. Duffey, Montgomery, for respondent.
STEAGALL, Justice.
We granted the writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals, which reversed Edward Earnest Stephens's conviction of first degree robbery. The issue to be addressed is whether the trial court erred in failing to recite verbatim Stephens's requested jury charge regarding corroboration testimony when the court instructed the jury on that issue. The Court of Criminal Appeals cited Chavers v. State, 361 So. 2d 1106 (Ala.1978), and Roy v. State, 375 So. 2d 1289 (Ala.Crim. App.1979), in support of its decision that the trial court's refusal to give Stephens's requested jury charge verbatim was reversible error. We do not agree.
This Court has previously stated:
Chavers v. State, 361 So. 2d  at 1107 (citation omitted). This entitlement, however, is not absolute.
Rule 14, Ala.Temp.R.Crim.P. See, also, Ala.Code 1975, § 12-16-13; Lambeth v. State, 380 So. 2d 923 (Ala.1979); Cephus v. State, 539 So. 2d 400 (Ala.Crim.App.1988), *163 cert. denied, February 3, 1989; and Lundy v. State, 539 So. 2d 324 (Ala.Crim.App. 1988).
The portion of Stephens's requested charge at issue reads:
This is a correct statement of the law. Thompson v. State, 374 So. 2d 388 (Ala. 1979); McCoy v. State, 397 So. 2d 577 (Ala. Crim.App.1981). The trial court's jury charge read, in part:
After a careful review of the record, including the entire oral charge given to the jury by the trial court, this Court is convinced that the instruction requested by Stephens was substantially and fairly given by the trial court in its general charge to the jury. There was no reversible error.
For this reason, the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded to that court with instructions to enter an order consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and MADDOX, ADAMS, HOUSTON and KENNEDY, JJ., concur.
JONES and ALMON, JJ., dissent.