Crumb v. State, No. 16710.

• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
• Writing for the Court: ATKINSON, Presiding Justice
• Citation: 54 S.E.2d 639,205 Ga. 547
• Parties: CRUMB. v. STATE.
• Docket Number: No. 16710.
• Decision Date: 12 July 1949

205 Ga. 547
54 S.E.2d 639

CRUMB.
v.
STATE.

No. 16710.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

July 12, 1949.

[54 S.E.2d 639]Syllabus by the Court.

Where, in a challenge to the array of traverse jurors by a Negro defendant in a criminal case, it is shown that in the county in which the case is called for trial, more than 50 per cent of the population, approximately 50 per cent of the males over 21 years of age, and approximately 33 per cent of those upon the tax digest, are Negroes, and that no Negroes were on the jury list and none had served as jurors for 30 or 40 years, and where the State made no showing to justify such exclusion, it established a violation of his rights under the "equal protection of the law" clause of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

Error from City of Blakely; Jas. W. Bonner, Judge.

John Crumb was convicted of unlawfully pointing a weapon at another, and he brings error.

Reversed.

John Crumb was indicted by the grand jury of Early County at the January, 1948, term for a misdemeanor, by unlawfully pointing a weapon at another as defined in the Code, § 26-5107. The case was transferred from the Superior Court to the City Court of Blakely for trial. He was tried in that court on February 22, 1949, and convicted. In the bill of exceptions certain constitutional questions are invoked which accounts for the jurisdition of this court to review the rulings there made.

Upon the call of the case the accused filed a plea in abatement, a motion to quash the indictment, and a challenge to the array of jurors. In view of the decision to follow it becomes necessary to deal only with the challenge to the array of jurors.

Before pleading to the merits the accused filed a challenge to the array of the traverse jurors put upon him. In substance, it alleged that the accused was a member of the Negro race, that the jury commissioners of the county for a period of thirty years had placed only members of the white race on the jury list, and that a large per cent of the population, of the males over 21 years of age, and of the names on the tax digest were Negroes. That there were numerous Negro citizens of the county competent and qualified to serve as jurors but they had been systematically, purposely, and expressly excluded therefrom solely on account of their race. It was alleged that this was a violation of his rights under specified provisions of the State Constitution, certain provisions of the United States Code, and the "due process of law" clause and the "equal protection of the law" clauses of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Code, § 1-815.

Evidence in support thereof showed that by the 1940 census of Early County there were 9074 whites and 9614 Negroes, and as to those 21 years of age or older there were 2468 whites and 2250 Negroes; that upon the tax digest there were between 2600 and 2700 whites and at least 1000 Negroes. The Clerk of the Superior Court testified that there were no Negroes on the jury list, either the grand-jury list of the traverse-jury list; that he had been Clerk twelve years and had never seen a Negro serve as a

[54 S.E.2d 640]

juror. The Chairman of the Board of Jury Commissioners testified: "I take the names of persons whom I qualify and certify as jurors from the books of the tax digest of the county * * * We have looked through them, but as I understand our duty, we can qualify anyone that we think fit. * * * We never thought any Negro citizen in the county qualified for the grand jury or petit jury * * * None of their names appear on the list made up in 1946 or 1948, neither on the grand jury or petit jury list. I have been a citizen here about forty years. I have been attending court on and off during that forty years. I have observed both grand jurors and petit jurors...