Watson v. State

The appellant, Charles Watson, was indicted and charged with one count of the unlawful possession of a controlled substance, cocaine, a violation of § 13A-12-212, Ala. Code 1975 (case no. CC-00-4414). In a subsequent indictment (case no. CC-00-4600), Watson was indicted and charged with murder made capital in the death of Darrell Bentley, because Bentley was killed during the course of first-degree robbery, see § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975; alternatively, the indictment charged Watson with the intentional murder of Darrell Bentley, a violation of § 13A-6-2, Ala. Code 1975. The cases were consolidated for trial. After hearing the evidence, the jury convicted Watson of unlawful possession of cocaine, of capital murder, and of intentional murder. The circuit court then sentenced Watson to 10 years' imprisonment for the cocaine possession conviction, life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the capital-murder conviction, and life imprisonment for the murder conviction. All of the sentences were to run consecutively. This appeal followed.