Coile v. State
| Citation | 288 S.E.2d 859,161 Ga.App. 51 |
| Decision Date | 22 January 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 63197,63197 |
| Parties | COILE v. The STATE. |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals (Georgia) |
Charles A. Tingle, Lilburn, for appellant.
Bryant Huff, Dist. Atty., Gerald W. Brown, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
Defendant appeals her conviction for armed robbery. Held :
1. A police officer state's witness testified that in response to a lookout he had located the automobile used in the robbery in the vicinity of a certain restaurant. When asked if he subsequently went to the restaurant, he stated that he had because he had received a radio message that a wanted person was at the restaurant, with defendant's name given, which told him "that we had outstanding bad check warrants on her." A defense motion for mistrial because this testimony had improperly placed defendant's character in issue was denied and the trial court instructed the jury to disregard the testimony concerning other offenses.
Defendant asserts error in the denial of the mistrial, relying on Boyd v. State, 146 Ga.App. 359, 246 S.E.2d 396, where it was held that an instruction to disregard such testimony was an insufficient cure because an experienced police officer who should know better had deliberately placed defendant's character in issue.
The facts in the instant case are different. The officer was responding in narrative form to questions about what he did to locate the perpetrators of the robbery. The remark concerning bad checks explained what had led him to defendant, and does not appear to be an attempt to strengthen a weak case as was inferred in Boyd v. State, supra. Compare Lee v. State, 154 Ga.App. 562(3), 269 S.E.2d 65; Jackson v. State, 156 Ga.App. 255(2), 274 S.E.2d 665.
Holcomb v. State, 130 Ga.App. 154, 155, 202 S.E.2d 529.
There was no error in denying a mistrial.
2. Error is enumerated because the trial court failed to charge on the affirmative defense of coercion. Defendant did not request such a charge and her counsel stated that he had no objections "at this time" to the charge as given.
Pretermitting whether defendant properly preserved the right to raise this issue on appeal, we find no merit in the enumeration.
The state's evidence showed that defendant acted as the driver of the getaway car for Oliver, her male companion, who actually performed the robbery. The only evidence bearing on coercion was in defendant's testimony where she stated that the only reason she had a relationship with Oliver, which had existed for a period of three and a half years, was her fear of his physically harming her or members of her family. She did not testify that at the time of the robbery she...
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