Diggs v. State

• Decision Date: 19 October 1954
• Docket Number: No. 35338,No. 2,35338,2
• Citation: 90 Ga.App. 853,84 S.E.2d 611
• Parties: DIGGS v. The STATE
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 611

84 S.E.2d 611

90 Ga.App. 853

DIGGS v. The STATE.

No. 35338.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 2.

Oct. 19, 1954.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. There is sufficient evidence upon which to base the verdict of guilty.

2. The special grounds are without merit, for the reasons given in the body of the opinion.

Ida Mae Diggs was convicted in the Superior Court of Ware County of larceny from the house. A motion for a new trial was made on the general grounds, and later amended by adding three special grounds. All the grounds were overruled, and the case is here complaining of such overruling.

The evidence shows substantially: Between 12:30 and 1:30 p. m., on October 15, 1953, the defendant and three other girls went into Fashion Shoppe, a store and place of business in Waycross, Ware County, Georgia. Mrs. H. A. Long, the saleslady, was busy with another customer in the front of the store when they came into the store, and it was several minutes before she was free to assist them. In the meantime, the girls went toward the rear of the store and pulled out and looked at several suits. Mrs. Long assisted one of the girls to try to find a suit and a coat, but she could find nothing she liked. While Mrs. Long helped the other girl, the defendant pulled out several suits and showed them to the other two girls. Mrs. Long testified that she distinctly remembered seeing the defendant handle a blue suit which was later recovered from the police, and was one of the items of merchandise described in the indictment. Mrs. Long also testified that she saw the other two girls near the skirt rack, but did not remember seeing the defendant there. Mrs. Long did not remember what the defendant did with the suits that she pulled from the rack, but did not see her put them back. All of the girls left the store without buying anything. Mrs. Long did not remember what the other girls were wearing, but testified that the defendant was dressed in a large wide-bottomed ballerina skirt and blouse, and that the skirt 'was large enough to very easily conceal something under it.' After they left, Mrs. Long started to put away the suits, but was interrupted by another customer before she finished. Mrs. Long did not check or examine the suits when the girls left or when the store closed that night, and did not remember whether the blue suit was there or not. She testified that she did not see any of the girls take or carry away anything out of the store or steal anything therefrom; and that on October 15, 1953, there were missing or taken from Fashion Shoppe four wool suits and eight wool and orlon skirts, which she later identified and recovered from the police the following morning.

On October 15, 1953, shortly before 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the defendant and two other girls went into Beck's, a dress shop across the street from the rear of Fashion Shoppe, where Mrs. Estelle Adams, a saleslady, assisted one of the other girls to try on some dresses, while the defendant pulled out and looked at several dresses. The three girls left the store without purchasing anything. Mrs. Adams testified that she did not see the girls take anything from Beck's and she was with them about all the time. Mrs. W. A. Childs, manager of Beck's, testified that on October 15, 1953, there was taken from Beck's six wool jersey blouses, which she recovered from the police.

When Mrs. W. A. Childs, the manager of Beck's, returned from lunch about 2 o'clock, she saw a Chevrolet car with a Florida license parked on the street across from her store and at the rear of Fashion Shoppe. She watched a girl other than the defendant put two packages in the back of the car and lock it. As this other girl locked the car, Mrs. Childs saw Robert Edwards come around the corner and meet the girl at the car. Mrs. Childs testified that she became suspicious and tried to find a policeman, but did not see one at that time. She watched the man and girl drive around the corner and park the car across the street from Kenwin Shop. Mrs. Childs then walked down the street, where she found Buddy Cribb, a policeman, at the corner of Kenwin Shop and turned the matter over to him. As Mrs. Childs walked back down the street toward her shop, she passed Robinson's Department Store and saw the defendant and one of the other girls come out of Robinson's. In front of Robinson's the other girl gave the defendant a package in a plain paper bag without markings folded into a small package. The defendant carried the package and gave it to another girl standing near the car driven by Robert Edwards, who put it in the car. Mrs. Childs watched them a few minutes and saw four girls, including the defendant, and Robert Edwards together near the parked car, and another girl in the car. Mrs. Childs testified that they didn't go up to the car, but acted as if they thought someone had seen them or something. She testified that they were standing near the car and would pass and say something to each other as they passed. Mrs. Childs walked back down the street to the policeman, who had called for a patrol car. Witness testified that she saw the defendant and one of the other girls carry a package to the car Edwards was driving. 'I saw Ida Mae Diggs carry a package to the car.' Witness identified certain recovered merchandise as being merchandise which was missed from the Fashion Shoppe. This merchandise had been recovered by the policeman from the car driven by Edwards.

Officer Cribb and Mrs. Childs watched the group of people, and Cribb testified that the three girls on the street near the car were the three girls who were tried and convicted at the last term of court, and that the defendant was with them. He also testified that he saw the man behind the wheel of the car and another girl in the car with him. As Cribb and Mrs. Childs watched, the four girls near the car started to walk down the street and across the railroad crossing. The car was started up and followed the same route, passing the girls about the railroad crossing. The patrol car arrived, with officers Moore and Griffis, who intercepted the car and arrested Robert Edwards in it. When the officers arrested Edwards, the four girls were about a block away. Officers Griffis and Cribb testified that, when Edwards was arrested, they started running toward the YMCA, a block and a half away. Officer Griffis jumped from the car and pursued them, he testifying that he caught the defendant as she attempted to enter the basement of the YMCA after the other girls had entered its basement. The other three girls were arrested shortly thereafter. No account was made of the other girl in the car with Edwards.

Officer Griffis testified that when he arrested the defendant, she refused to tell him her name and told him that she lived in Waycross, whereas he later found that she lived in Jacksonville.

Officer Cribb testified that in the back seat of the car under a chenille spread were found numerous dresses, skirts, and ladies' underwear in paper bags, some of which were identified as belonging to Fashion Shoppe. There were also about two dozen paper bags without markings on them and folded in four ways into a small package in the back seat of the car, and about fifty such paper bags unfolded in the trunk compartment of the car.

It was further testified that the defendant was not tried at the last term of the court and her bond forfeited because they said she was sick and the doctor sent a letter that she could not appear.

The defendant introduced no evidence other than her own statement, wherein she stated that she asked Robert Edwards to drive her to Waycross to see a lady named Evelyn...