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BUSH v. STATE12/1/1995
firmed, 460 So.2d 216 (Ala. 1984).
"Although a robbery committed as a 'mere afterthought' and unrelated to the murder will not sustain a conviction under § 13A-5-40(a)(2) for the capital offense of murder-robbery, see Bufford v. State, [382 So.2d 1162 (Ala.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 382 So.2d 1175 (Ala. 1980)]; O'Pry v. State, [642 S.W.2d 748 (Tex. Cr. App. 1981)], the question of a defendant's intent at the time of the commission of the crime is usually an issue for the jury to resolve. Crowe v. State, 435 So.2d 1371, 1379 (Ala. Cr. App. 1983). The jury may infer from the facts
and circumstances that the robbery began when the accused attacked the victim and the capital offense was consummated when the defendant took the victim's property and fled. Cobern v. State, 273 Ala. 550, 142 So.2d 871 . . . (1962). The defendant's intent to rob the victim can be inferred where ' he intervening time, if any, between the killing and robbery was part of a continuous chain of events.' Thomas v. State, 460 So.2d at 212. . . . See also Cobern v. State; Crowe v. State; Bufford v. State; Clements v. State."
Hallford v. State, 548 So.2d 526, 534-35 (Ala.Cr.App.), aff'd, 548 So.2d 547 (Ala. 1988), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 945, 110 S.Ct. 354, 107 L.Ed.2d 342 (1989) (quoting Connolly v. State, 500 So.2d 57, 63 (Ala. Cr. App. 1985), aff'd, 500 So.2d 68 (Ala. 1986)).
The appellant's intent to commit a theft in the Majik Market can be reasonably inferred from the facts and circumstances surrounding the offense. The offense was a typical convenience store robbery, where the clerk is gunned down execution style so that there will be no witness, which unfortunately has become a common occurrence in our society. The circumstances surrounding the shooting of Dominguez and Holmes — the time and the location, the use of a pistol, the appellant's obvious impression that the only person in the store at the time was the lone clerk, the appellant's ordering Holmes to go back to the bathroom, and the appellant's flight from the area in a getaway car — have the tendency to lead one to conclude that the appellant was there to rob. The facts and circumstances surrounding the offense subsequently committed in the Seven-Eleven store, which is connected with the charged offense as a part of the continuing transaction, support this conclusion. Adams, the clerk of the Seven-Eleven store, was shot execution style with the same pistol that killed Dominguez and wounded Holmes and under similar circumstances. In the case of the Seven-Eleven store, the clerk was killed instantly; there was no witness to tell what had happened. When the crime was discovered at the Seven-Eleven store, the cash register was open, and a package of Kool cigarettes in a paper bag with a cash register receipt attached showing a sale about the time of the killing was found on the floor. These facts support a reasonable conclusion that a theft or attempted theft of money occurred in the Seven-Eleven store, which in turn supports a reasonable conclusion that when the appellant entered the Majik Market and used force against Dominguez, he intended to rob. When the officers arrived at the Majik Market after the shooting, they discovered that the cash register was closed. Holmes, who was familiar with the Majik Market, testified that the "zodiac sign tags" were kept in a rack behind the counter where the cash register was located.
While the facts and circumstances surrounding the offense may be inconclusive without the appellant's confessions, they do tend to prima facie show the corpus delicti of robbery or an attempted robbery. However, when the confessions and admissions of the appellant are considered as an aid in determining the corp
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