Burnett v. State, 51409
| Decision Date | 05 January 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 51409,51409,2 |
| Citation | 223 S.E.2d 232,137 Ga.App. 183 |
| Parties | Albert BURNETT, Jr. v. The STATE |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
John Wright Jones, Savannah, for appellant.
Andrew J. Ryan, Jr., Dist. Atty., John B. Achord, Asst. Dist. Atty., Savannah, for appellee.
This is an appeal from the overruling of a motion for new trial in the Superior Court of Chatham 1 County following a conviction of the offense of aggravated assault with intent to rape (Code § 26-1302). In addition to the general grounds challenging the sufficiency of the evidence appellant asserts the court erred in permitting three female witnesses to testify over defense objections.
The fifteen-year-old prosecutrix testified that defendant had entered into her bedroom with a small knife in his hand, ordered her to come near him, and led her into the hall. When he told her to raise her nightgown, she started screaming. Whereupon the prosecutrix's mother, who had been upstairs, 'yelled downstairs to me and he ran out the door.' (T. 5). Held:
1. Defendant contends that the trial court erred in permitting, over his objections, the testimony of two women, who were allegedly rape victims. 'It is well settled in rape cases that proof of similar offenses committed by the accused in the same locality, about the same time, and where similar methods were employed by the accused in commission of such offenses, is admissible in his trial for the purpose of identifying the defendant as the guilty party and to show motive, plan, scheme, bent of mind, and course of conduct.' Burnett v. State, 234 Ga. 741, 744, 218 S.E.2d 4, 6, and citations contained therein. While most of the cases utilizing testimony of this sort involve the defendant's conduct prior to the alleged crime, proof of subsequent conduct is equally admissible under this rule. See Gunter v. State, 223 Ga. 290, 154 S.E.2d 608.
The separate crimes must, of course, be logically related to the offense being tried and must tend to establish an element of the state's case. One of the victims who testified was the mother of the prosecutrix. She had been raped in the same residence three days before her daughter's assault. She stated a pocket knife had been used to effectuate the rape and she identified defendant as her assailant.
The other witness had been raped eight days after the assault at issue here. She lived three blocks from the prosecutrix. This rape also took place in the victim's dwelling house any by threat of a pocket knife. Defendant was also positively identified by this victim.
The testimony of the two rape victims was admissible to prove defendant's intent is his assault of the prosecutrix. Although defendant's assault of the prosecutrix was aborted by her screams, the defendant's intent to rape was properly shown by similar methods he employed in the completed rapes of others. The testimony of these two victims was also relevant to prove identity. Thus, the trial court did not err in...
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Simms v. State
...the charge is Illustrative of cases in which intent to rape is established by evidence of other similar offenses is Burnett v. State, 137 Ga.App. 183, 223 S.E.2d 232 (1976). There the accused was convicted of aggravated assault with intent to rape. On appeal he argued that the trial court e......
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Williams v. State, 65085
...denying defendant's motion for directed verdict. Smith v. State, 155 Ga.App. 657(3), 272 S.E.2d 522, supra; see also: Burnett v. State, 137 Ga.App. 183, 223 S.E.2d 232; Goolsby v. State, 146 Ga.App. 17(1), 245 S.E.2d 354; Webb v. State, 154 Ga.App. 395(1), 268 S.E.2d 438; Middlebrooks v. St......
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Jenkins v. State, 66557
...involving admissibility of evidence of similar transactions, see Atkins v. State, 236 Ga. 624, 625, 225 S.E.2d 7; Burnett v. State, 137 Ga.App. 183, 184(1), 223 S.E.2d 232; Echols v. State, 149 Ga.App. 620, 627(5), 255 S.E.2d 92; Williams v. State, 156 Ga.App. 17, 18(2), 274 S.E.2d 71; Cook......
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