Campbell v. State

• Decision Date: 20 October 1994
• Docket Number: No. A94A2034,A94A2034
• Parties: CAMPBELL v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 366

449 S.E.2d 366

215 Ga.App. 14

CAMPBELL v. The STATE.

No. A94A2034.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Oct. 20, 1994.

Thomas J. Charron, Dist. Atty., Irvan A. Pearlberg, Debra H. Bernes, Nancy I. Jordan, Asst. Dist. Attys., for appellee.

BIRDSONG, Presiding Judge.

Robert Lee Campbell appeals his judgment of conviction of burglary and his sentence. Held:

1. Appellant contends the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of burglary, particularly as it was insufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of his guilt. We disagree.

The vice-president of a trucking company and the operations officer of the Berth Company left the premises to obtain some building supplies. On their return they noticed a truck, which had not been parked in the area before they left, parked approximately 500 feet from the premises. At the premises they found the door of the office trailer wide open; the window rollers of the trailer had been broken and the door unlocked from the inside. A medium built, black male, about 5'10"' in height who was wearing a light green hooded jacket was observed leaving the trailer. (The jury was able to compare the physical characteristics of appellant with the physical descriptions given by the witnesses.) The area was well-lighted at the time by a street light and their vehicle headlights. The police were called and, about 15 to 25 minutes later, appellant was apprehended a relatively short distance away. The vice-president and manager both made pretrial identifications of appellant, although they could not be positive as to their identifications until appellant put on the coat he was carrying when apprehended. The vice-president explained that appellant looked bigger once he put on the jacket. He also made an in-court identification of appellant; no timely objection was posed as to this identification. The vice-president testified during cross-examination that, while he could positively identify the coat, he could not identify appellant until the latter put on the coat. The operations manager observed appellant flee from the burglary scene. He too described appellant's green coat and testified that appellant was wearing blue pants. The operations manager testified as to the circumstances surrounding his pretrial identification of appellant. When he was returned to the premises after being apprehended, appellant was wearing blue pants. When the operations manager saw appellant in police custody, he believed he was the perpetrator of the entry in the trailer, but the manager was not positive until appellant actually put on the coat. The manager believed the coat made appellant look heavier; when appellant was just in his shirt his face looked skinnier. The manager also made an in-court identification of appellant; no objection was posed to this identification. His pretrial identification was of appellant and not merely of appellant's coat; his in-court identification was made without hesitation or doubt.

"Flight is circumstantial evidence of consciousness of guilt" and the weight to be given such evidence is for the jury to decide; the fact that a suspect flees the crime scene points to the question of guilt in a circumstantial manner. Green v. State, 206 Ga.App. 42, 44(3), 424 S.E.2d 646; Horne v. State, 204 Ga.App. 81(2), 418 S.E.2d 441.

On appeal the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict, and appellant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence; moreover, an appellate court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility. Grant v. State, 195 Ga.App. 463(1), 393 S.E.2d 737. To support the verdict, circumstantial evidence must only exclude reasonable hypotheses; it need not exclude every inference or hypothesis except that of the defendant's guilt. Smith v. State, 257 Ga. 381, 382, 359 S.E.2d 662. A determination whether other hypotheses have been excluded is primarily a jury function. Murdix v. State, 250 Ga. 272, 274(1), 297 S.E.2d 265. We conclude that the jury rationally could find that the evidence excluded every reasonable hypothesis except that of the defendant's guilt. Review of the transcript reveals ample evidence from which any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was guilty of the offense of which convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560.

2. Appellant asserts the trial court erred in allowing the State to introduce evidence that appellant was charged with another crime, thereby placing his character into issue. Specifically, appellant objected to testimony that the truck found near the crime scene had been stolen from Newnan, Georgia, and that a bus ticket from LaGrange to Newnan subsequently was found under the mattress in appellant's jail cell. The trial court concluded that this evidence had some relevance and admitted it. During cross-examination, appellant admitted that the bus ticket was his, claiming he had passed through Newnan by bus. The evidence in its totality linked appellant to the truck which had been recently parked near the crime scene. From this evidence the jury could reasonably infer that appellant drove in a truck to the crime scene, and that he had access to a means of transporting items from the crime scene. Admissibility of evidence is a matter which rests largely within the discretion of the trial court; unless the potential for prejudice in the admission of evidence substantially outweighs its probative value, the Georgia rule favors the admission of any relevant evidence, no matter how slight its probative value. Norman v. State, 197 Ga.App. 333, 336(4), 398 S.E.2d 395. Evidence of doubtful...