Carver v. State, 51474
| Decision Date | 07 January 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 51474,No. 2,51474,2 |
| Citation | 137 Ga.App. 240,223 S.E.2d 275 |
| Parties | W. H. CARVER v. The STATE |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
E. Kontz Bennett, Jr., Waycross, for appellant.
Dewey Hayes, Dist. Atty., Stephen B. Taylor, Sp. Asst. Dist. Atty., Douglas, for appellee.
The defendant was convicted of four counts of burglary. He was sentenced to six years on each count to run concurrently. He appeals the judgment of conviction and sentence.
The evidence shows that a businss establishment was burglarized on January 23, 1973; a safe containing Georgia inspection stickers was stolen. Three other burglaries occurred during the night of March 6, 1973. In all four of the burglaries, the front door of the business establishment had been forced open.
Appellant's automobile and house were searched by law enforcement officials on March 9, 1973. Among the items seized were articles reported stolen in each of the above burglaries. The Georgia motor vehicle stickers were found in a Band-Aid box on a mantelpiece of a bedroom in appellant's residence.
On March 12, 1973, two items were seized from the home of Gerald Aultman. These two items were determined to have been stolen in one of the March 6, 1973, burglaries. Aultman turned over six additional items which were identified as having been stolen in the March 6 burglaries. Aultman testified that he obtained the items from appellant.
Appellant testified in his own behalf. He denied having stolen the items found in his car and house; he denied having sold the items to Aultman. In explaining his possession of the stolen items, he testified as follows:
Appellant testified that he had received the portable typewriter (one of the stolen articles) from Aultman. As to the stolen Georgia inspection stickers, he said that he had seen the Band-Aid box on the mantelpiece of the extra bedroom, which had been occupied by a Freddie Brown. He presumed the box had Band-Aids in it. Held:
1. Appellant was arrested on March 9, 1973, and was indicted on April 11, 1973. He escaped from the county jail on June 28, 1973, while awaiting trial on the present burglary charges. The State introduced evidence of defendant's escape. Appellant urges error in the court's failure to grant a mistrial because evidence of his escape from jail was introduced. He argues that the characterization of his flight from the jail as 'escape' had the effect of putting his character in evidence before he chose to do so. On a prosecution for a particular crime, evidence which in any manner shows or tends to show that the accused has committed another crime wholly distinct, independent, and separate from that for which he is on trial, even though it be a crime of the same sort, is irrelevant and inadmissible, unless there be shown some logical connection between the two from which it can be said that proof of one tends to establish the other. Bacon v. State, 209 Ga. 261, 71 S.E.2d 615.
The courts have held that evidence of escape from jail, where the defendant has been confined awaiting jail on the charge for which he is being tried, is admissible as tending to establish his guilt. Smith v. State, 106 Ga. 673(2), 32 S.E. 851; Coley v. State, 135 Ga.App. 810, 812, 219 S.E.2d 35. See also Patterson v. State, ...
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Johnson v. State, 56929
...194 S.E.2d 678. Where a suspect escapes from jail, such evidence is admissible as tending to establish his guilt. Carver v. State, 137 Ga.App. 240, 242, 223 S.E.2d 275; Welborn v. State, supra. Further, evidence that the defendant forfeited his appearance bond is admissible as tending to sh......
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Turner v. State
...State, 260 Ga. 515, 518(3)(b), 397 S.E.2d 683 (1990); Welborn v. State, 236 Ga. 319, 320, 223 S.E.2d 698 (1976); Carver v. State, 137 Ga.App. 240, 242(1), 223 S.E.2d 275 (1976). The amount of time that lapsed is "a factor to be weighed by the jury, along with the other circumstances surroun......
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Pruitt v. State
...be admissible on the trial of the case to prove flight. See Welborn v. State, 236 Ga. 319, 320(1), 223 S.E.2d 698; Carver v. State, 137 Ga.App. 240, 241(1), 223 S.E.2d 275. 3. A Jackson-Denno hearing (Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908) as a part of the pretrial w......
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Smith v. State
...The testimony of the guard explained appellant's absence. The evidence had probative value for jury consideration. In Carver v. State, 137 Ga.App. 240(1), 223 S.E.2d 275, we upheld a conviction over similar objections, because flight, even an escape from jail after the offense, is a circums......