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Smith v. State12/22/2000
U.S. 477 (1981)); Myers v. State, 401 So. 2d 288 (Ala. Crim. App. 1981), and cases cited therein. Whether a confession was voluntary is initially a question of law, to be determined by the trial court. Marschke v. State, 450 So. 2d 177 (Ala. Crim. App. 1984); Myers v. State. The trial court's determination on that question will not be disturbed on appeal unless it appears contrary to the great weight of the evidence or is manifestly wrong. Marschke v. State; Minor v. State, 437 So. 2d 651 (Ala. Crim. App. 1983); Balentine v. State, 339 So. 2d 1063 (Ala. Crim. App. 1976). The trial court need only be convinced by a preponderance of the evidence that a confession or inculpatory statement was voluntarily made. Harris v. State, 420 So. 2d 812 (Ala. Crim. App. 1982); Myers v. State. "` ny conflicts in the testimony or credibility of witnesses during a suppression hearing is a matter for resolution by the trial court. Absent a gross abuse of discretion, a trial court's resolution of this conflict should not be reversed on appeal.'" Johnson v. State, 680 So. 2d 1005, 1007 (Ala. Crim. App. 1996) (quoting Sheely v. State, 629 So. 2d 23, 29 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993)).
"`"In reviewing the correctness of the trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress, this Court makes all the reasonable inferences and credibility choices supportive of the decision of the trial court."' Kennedy v. State, 640 So. 2d 22, 26 (Ala.Cr.App. 1993), quoting Bradley v. State, 494 So. 2d 750, 761 (Ala.Cr.App. 1985), aff'd, 494 So. 2d 772 (Ala.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 923 ... (1987). A trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress will not be disturbed unless it is `palpably contrary to the great weight of the evidence.' Parker v. State, 587 So. 2d 1072, 1088 (Ala.Cr.App. 1991)." Rutledge v. State, 680 So. 2d 997, 1002 (Ala. Crim. App. 1996).
After reviewing the totality of the circumstances surrounding the taking of the appellant's inculpatory statement, we conclude that the trial court's finding that the statement was given voluntarily after proper Miranda warnings is not contrary to the great weight of the evidence or manifestly wrong. Clearly, the preponderance of the evidence supports the trial court's conclusion that the statement was voluntarily made after an intelligent, knowing, and voluntary waiver by the appellant of his Miranda rights. Any conflicts in the evidence and questions of the credibility of witnesses were for the trial court to resolve. After considering all the facts and circumstances, we hold that the trial court correctly admitted the statement into evidence.
VII.
The appellant contends that the trial court's failure to hold a hearing to determine his competency to stand trial was reversible error. He argues that his low IQ and diminished mental ability and condition mandated such a hearing.
A conviction obtained while the defendant is incompetent to stand trial violates due process. Anderson v. State, 510 So. 2d 578 (Ala. Crim. App. 1987). The test for determining competency to stand trial is whether the defendant "has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding -- and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him." Id. at 579 (quoting Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 402 (1960)). See also Ex parte La Flore, 445 So. 2d 932 (Ala. 1983).
"Section 15-16-21, Code of Alabama 1975, states:
"`If any person charged with any felony is held in confinement under indictment and the trial court shall have reasonable ground to doubt his sanity, the trial of such person for such offense shall be suspended until the jury shall inquire into the f
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