Cline v. State

Appellant, Hoyt Gary Cline, was indicted in March 1988, by an Etowah County Grand Jury for attempted murder, a violation of §§ 13A-4-2 and13A-6-2, Code of Alabama 1975. A trial ensued on April 19, 1989, in which a jury found appellant guilty as charged in the indictment. The evidence established that, during an altercation with the victim, Frank Payne, appellant slashed the victim's throat with a knife, inflicting a five-inch cut from the victim's larynx to the back of his jawbone, which required 52 stitches to close. The wound was "within just millimeters" of the jugular vein and the carotid…