Opinion ID: 1679508
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: events after griffin's discharge

Text: Griffin made initial contact with the Southwest Alabama Mental Health Center in Evergreen on May 5, 1983, requested continuation of the prescription for Ludiomil, and stated that he was going to Chicago to live with relatives. He apparently went to Chicago but returned to Evergreen within three to four weeks and again appeared at the mental health center. The center referred Griffin to an Evergreen physician, who issued a prescription for Ludiomil. About one week later, a treatment coordinator at the mental health center referred him to a second physician, who continued Griffin on Ludiomil with an added prescription of Serax. Griffin contacted the Bryce Hospital legal aid office in June for assistance in his divorce proceedings, then pending in Fayette County. In mid-June, his court-appointed lawyer requested the Fayette County Circuit Court to grant her leave to withdraw as Griffin's counsel on grounds that he was not then competent to assist his lawyer; was unable to understand and make rational decisions; and, due to his mental condition, was unable to maintain a lawyer-client relationship. The documents from the lawyer were made a part of Griffin's medical records at Bryce, but they did not come to the attention of Harpole, the unit coordinator. The events of July 15, 1983, are summarized by the Court of Criminal Appeals in Griffin v. State, 500 So.2d 83, at 85-87 (Ala.Cr.App.1986), as follows: On July 15, 1983, the deceased victim, Patrick Dale, accompanied by his mother and a friend, went to the Holiday Inn Lounge in Evergreen. The appellant solicited and procured a ride home with Patrick Dale in exchange for five dollars worth of gas. After their departure from the Holiday Inn Lounge, in Dale's car, [Griffin] shot and killed the deceased on a Wilcox County road. [Griffin] also stole the deceased's car and thereafter drove the car to the Chaparral Club in the Nortport-Tuscaloosa area. Upon his arrival, [Griffin] telephoned Iris Dollar, who later met him at the Chaparral Club. [Griffin] spent the next two nights with Iris Dollar in Tuscaloosa. Reuben Cunningham, the son-in-law of Iris Dollar, purchased the deceased's car from [Griffin] for a price of $200.00. Both Cunningham and Dollar testified that they had observed the shotgun in the car prior to his making the purchase. [Griffin] returned to Evergreen by bus after spending two days in Tuscaloosa. .... [Griffin] was admitted to Evergreen Hospital after an apparent suicide attempt by consumption of alcohol and an overdose of drugs. He was discharged from the hospital with instructions to take medication for five days. On July 22, 1983, the day following his discharge, [Griffin] was arrested. On July 25, 1983, (Griffin) was interviewed by Investigator Gibson and Sheriff Arnold, and gave a statement, which he signed after making a few corrections. Griffin was convicted in the Wilcox County Circuit Court of murder during the course of committing a robbery. At the time of trial in the instant civil case, Griffin was confined to the prison system's Holman Unit in Atmore, serving a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.