Burnett v. State
| Decision Date | 24 June 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 29763,29763 |
| Citation | 218 S.E.2d 4,234 Ga. 741 |
| Parties | Albert BURNETT, Jr. v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
John Wright Jones, Savannah, for appellant.
Andrew J. Ryan, Jr., Dist. Atty., Robert R. Lorbenbaum, Asst. Dist. Atty., Savannah, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., B. Dean Grindle, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.
Appellant was arrested in February, 1973, and indicted in July, 1973, by the grand jury of Chatham County for the offense of rape. He was tried before a jury on March 26, 1974, found guilty and sentenced to 19 years imprisonment. His motion for new trial was overruled and the case is here on appeal.
In his enumerations of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial because the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction by the jury. Appellant also contends the trial court erred in permitting appellant's conviction on the charge of rape to stand because it is based on the unsupported testimony of the alleged victim. In addition, appellant urges the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of a witness for the state who observed appellant looking into windows of houses at the time of his arrest. Finally, appellant contends that the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of two other witnesses for the state who testified that appellant made similar attacks on them. We have examined each of these contentions and find them to be without merit. Therefore, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed.
The evidence presented at trial may be summarized briefly, as follows: In December, 1972, the victim of the alleged rape arrived home from work in Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia. In response to a knock at her door, the victim opened the door and was confronted by appellant who was armed with a knife and who immediately placed the knife to the victim's throat and inquired whether the victim had any money on hand. The victim testified that appellant also asked if anyone else was home at the time and then escorted the victim into the courtyard where he threatened to kill her, and then ordered her to disrobe. The victim testified further that appellant actually told her to remove only her undergarments and not all of her clothes. When she did, the victim was raped by appellant. Immediately following the sexual assault, the victim testified she unsuccessfully attempted to reach her daughter by telephone and then immediately reported the incident to the police. An officer responded to the victim's call. He testified that when he arrived at the scene the victim was crying and upset and her clothes were in disarray. Thereafter, the victim was carried to Memorial Hospital for examination. The physician who examined the victim testified that the victim was in a severe emotional state, similar to a person who had suffered a serious personal trauma. Laboratory samples were taken but none were presented in evidence.
The victim gave a description of the assailant to the police. Appellant was arrested several weeks later when a citizen in the same neighborhood alerted police to a suspect, later identified as appellant, whom she saw looking into residence windows in the neighborhood. The location of this incident was within two blocks of the home of the victim in this case. The police came to the neighborhood and arrested appellant. He was found to have a knife in his possession at the time of his arrest. Over appellant's objection, the state introduced evidence of appellant's intrusive conduct at the time of his arrest which was some seven or eight weeks subsequent to the sexual assault involved in this case. Over objection, the state also offered the testimony of two would-be rape victims who positively identified appellant as their attacker. Each of these incidents occurred in a townhouse located in the same general area (within five blocks) of the site of the sexual assault involved in the present case and took place within a month and a half time period of it.
The trial court charged the jury, on the corroboration issue, that they could not convict the defendant of rape upon the unsupported testimony of the female. The trial court also charged the jury that before they would be authorized to convict there must be other evidence independent of the female's testimony sufficient to connect the accused with the alleged crime and that all of the evidence taken together must convince the jurors beyond a reasonable doubt as to the alleged rape.
Under the facts of this case, the jury was fully authorized to find that the charge of rape by the victim had been corroborated by other evidence. Immediately after the attack, the victim sought to inform her daughter of the attack. The victim also called the police and then again called her daughter to inform her of the incident. The complaint was made to persons to whom a complaint or outcry would naturally be made. Upon the arrival of the police, the victim...
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State v. Henderson
...Cal.3d 35, 117 Cal.Rptr. 664, 528 P.2d 752 (1974) (subsequent burglary where entry was gained by similar conduct) and Burnett v. State, 234 Ga. 741, 218 S.E.2d 4 (1975) (several sexual attacks in the same apartment complex). The state has not cited and we have not found any authority with t......
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Johnson v. State
...has been most liberally extended in the area of sexual offenses. Jessen v. State, 234 Ga. 791, 218 S.E.2d 52 (1975); Burnett v. State, 234 Ga. 741, 218 S.E.2d 4 (1975); Hunt v. State, 233 Ga. 329, 211 S.E.2d 288 (1974); Dorsey v. State, 204 Ga. 345, 49 S.E.2d 886 The complained-of evidence ......
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Copeland v. State, 62627
...by the accused in a similar manner are admissible to show motive, plan, scheme, bent of mind and course of conduct. Burnett v. State, 234 Ga. 741, 744, 218 S.E.2d 4. It makes no difference that appellant was not prosecuted for and convicted of the first rape. See Rivers v. State, 147 Ga.App......
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Lingerfelt v. State
...be some logical connection between the crimes from which proof of one would tend to establish proof of the other." Burnett v. State, 234 Ga. 741, 744, 218 S.E.2d 4, 6 (1975). Both offenses under consideration here occurred early in the morning, and both involved young mothers who lived in t......