Chaffin v. State, 25395
| Decision Date | 29 September 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 25395,25395 |
| Citation | 170 S.E.2d 426,225 Ga. 602 |
| Parties | James M. CHAFFIN v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Glenn Zell, Atlanta, for appellant.
Lewis R. Slaton, Dist. Atty., Tony H. Hight, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
James M. Chaffin was convicted on January 21, 1969, of robbery by force with a recommendation of mercy and in accordance with the punishment fixed by the jury, the court sentenced him to imprisonment in the Penitentiary of this State for the term of fifteen years. He appealed from the order of the court overruling his amended motion for a new trial.
In each enumeration of error argued by counsel for the appellant, complaint is made that the court erred in its instructions to the jury concerning appellant's defense of alibi. The court instructed the jury as follows:
Appellant contends that this charge placed upon him the burden of proving his defense of alibi, thereby shifting the burden of proof to him; that the charge deprived him of the 'benefit of the presumption of innocence' and relieved 'the State of the burden of proving each element of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt'; that the first two sentences of the charge are inconsistent with the third sentence of the charge; and that the charge violated his 'constitutional right of liberty without due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section I, paragraph III (Code Section § 2-103) of the Georgia Constitution.'
The court instructed the jury that ...
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Smith v. Smith, Civ. A. No. 14304
...second principle of the two-pronged approach of Harrison that the Georgia courts have upheld the alibi charge. E. g., Chaffin v. State, 225 Ga. 602, 170 S.E.2d 426 (1969); Young v. State, 225 Ga. 255, 167 S.E.2d 586 (1969); Laminack v. State, 187 Ga. 648, 2 S.E.2d 99 (1939); Jones v. State,......
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Chaffin v. Stynchcombe 8212 6732
...instruction as to the defendant's burden of proving an alibi defense. His claim was rejected and his conviction was affirmed. 225 Ga. 602, 170 S.E.2d 426 (1969). Thereafter, he renewed that claim in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to the United States District Court for the Northern ......
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Merneigh v. State
...of the jury, but not necessarily beyond a reasonable doubt.' See and compare Young v. State, 225 Ga. 255, 167 S.E.2d 586; Chaffin v. State, 225 Ga. 602, 170 S.E.2d 426; Thornton v. State, 226 Ga. 837, 178 S.E.2d 193; Parham v. State, 120 Ga.App. 723, 171 S.E.2d 911; Pritchard v. State, 122 ......
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Williams v. State
...the charge as a whole does not require a reversal of the judgment. Young v. State, 225 Ga. 255(3), 167 S.E.2d 586; Chaffin v. State, 225 Ga. 602, 170 S.E.2d 426. There is no merit in this contention of the 2. The appellant contends that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for new......