Fincher v. State, 18673

• Decision Date: 13 October 1954
• Docket Number: No. 18673,18673
• Citation: 84 S.E.2d 76,211 Ga. 89
• Parties: Charies FINCHER v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 76

84 S.E.2d 76

211 Ga. 89

Charies FINCHER v. The STATE.

No. 18673.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Oct. 13, 1954.

Charles Fincher, Bobby Tuggle, and Luther Hailey were jointly indicted in Newton County for robbery by force and violence. The indictment alleges that they unlawfully, wrongfully, fraudulently, and by force and violence took from the person of Hubert Standard, without his consent and with an intent to steal the same, $100 in lawful money and a wrist watch having a value of $125. Hailey pleaded guilty. Fincher and Tuggle were tried together, convicted of the offense charged, and the verdict fixed their punishment at not less than 15 nor more than 20 years in the penitentiary. Separate motions for new trial were made by them on the usual general grounds, and each amended his motion by adding several special grounds. Their motions as amended were denied, and they sued out separate writs of error to this court. The State's evidence and Fincher and Tuggle's statements to the jury were in substance as follows:

Hubert Standard, the party alleged to have been robbed, testified that he was nearly 72 years old. He operated a small store. When leaving his store at the close of business on the day of the robbery, he had a billfold in his hip-pocket containing $110. He also had in his pocket $15 or $20 in currency and some change, including six silver dollars. About 6:30 p. m. on the day of the robbery he and another person together drank a quart of beer. He then went to a place in Newton County operated by the defendant Bobby Tuggle, arriving there about 8:30 at night. Before entering Tuggle's place, a boy whom he did not know offered him a drink of whisky, which he first declined but later took. It was the first drink of whisky he had taken in eleven years. Soon after entering Tuggle's place, he became 'trembly' and passed out completely. He did not thereafter know anything until the following Tuesday afternoon, when he woke up in the hospital. All of his money and his wrist watch had been taken from him after he reached Tuggle's place on Sunday night.

After reciting the facts relating to his medical education, Dr. J. B. Mitchell further testified that Hubert Standard was brought to his hospital at Porterdale about 9:30 a. m. on December 14, 1953, and was then examined and treated by the witness. He was unconscious at that time and very cold, so much so that no available thermometer would register any body temperature. He remained unconscious for about 48 hours. Several severe bruises and cuts were found on his head and body, which appeared to have been inflicted by brass knucks. The injuries which he found on the head and body of Mr. Standard could not, in his opinion, have been inflicted from a fall; but were the result of a rather severe beating, and there were also skin abrasions indicating that he had been dragged. He described at considerable length the number of cuts and bruises which he found on the head and body of Mr. Standard, many of which were severe in nature. Mr. Standard stayed in the hospital five days, and his wounds had not completely healed when he left.

Luther Hailey, who was jointly indicted with Fincher and Tuggle, testified that he was only 18 years old; that Bobby Tuggle ran a place in Newton County where they had a juke box, danced and could eat; but on the night of December 13, when Mr. Standard is alleged to have been robbed, he saw a girl by the name of Betty Lane there. He was drinking that Sunday night and got his whisky at Tuggle's place. Mr. Standard arrived there soon after dark and was drunk and had some whisky with him, a small amount in a pint fruit jar; and he, Standard, Tuggle, and Fincher drank some of it. Later a poker game was suggested and all the men present, except himself, participated in the game. After the game had been in progress for a short time, he was asked to put a coin in the juke box. At that time and for no reason known to him, Mr. Standard slapped him. Immediately afterwards Bobby Tuggle slapped Mr. Standard down and dragged him out into the yard. There Tuggle repeatedly struck and beat Mr. Standard with his fists and with a navy coat which Mr. Standard had with him. Later Tuggle threw Mr. Standard's coat out into the yard near the place where he was lying. By direction from Charles Fincher, he (the witness) got Mr. Standard's billfold, which contained only $92, out of his pocket and gave the money to Fincher and threw his billfold containing some papers across the road. It was a cold, rainy night and Mr. Standard, who was severely injured from the blows inflicted upon him, was unable to leave and lay in the yard until early the next morning when he was carried back into Tuggle's place. Mr. Standard's son later came to Tuggle's place, procured an ambulance, and Mr. Standard was carried to the hospital in an unconscious condition. During the early hours of the morning, after Mr. Standard had been beaten during the night, Fincher gave Mr. Standard's wrist watch to him, and he gave it to Tuggle, and Tuggle then said that it belonged to some boy who was supposed to come back and pick it up that day. The band on the watch had been broken. Fincher gave Tuggle four silver dollars, and they were on the bed in which Tuggle and Fincher had slept when he left, but he did not know where Fincher got them. He also saw Fincher give Tuggle a pair of bloody brass knucks on the morning after the robbery, and Betty Lane put them in her cedar chest. He, Fincher and Tuggle were arrested by Sheriff Berry soon after Mr. Standard was carried to the hospital. They saw the warrant and it charged them jointly with the offense of robbing Mr. Standard. After being placed in jail, Fincher and Tuggle tried to get him to take the blame for all of it, saying that they could get out on bond and would get him a lawyer and try to get the case settled out of court. He was later placed in a separate cell by sheriff Berry, and while there he gave a written statement of the facts concerning the robbery to an agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, but in that statement he incorrectly said that Fincher was the one who took the money out of Mr. Standard's coat pocket. He was then returned to the cell where Fincher and Tuggle were, but was later removed as they kept beating him because he would not assume full responsibility for the occurrence. He also testified that Fincher gave sheriff Berry $40 of the money which had been taken out of Mr. Standard's billfold; and that Fincher used $35 of it for the purpose of buying whisky from Ralph Pope and 'they' sold it. He also said that Fincher spent some of the money while in jail. The only article which he took from Mr. Standard was his billfold, which contained only $92 at that time. He never saw Fincher hit Mr. Standard at any time, but he saw him around Mr. Standard in the yard during the night. The knucks did not belong to him, and the first time he saw them Fincher 'had them out there that night.' He did not know who took Mr. Standard's watch off him, but denied that he (the witness) did. They did not get a doctor for Mr. Standard during the night, although there was a telephone a quarter of a mile away. He got in a car with some boy for the purpose of getting a doctor, but Fincher got him out of the car and got the boy away. For some reason 'they' did not want him to leave Tuggle's place.

Betty Lane testified that she had been working at Tuggle's place for about two months before December 13. She stayed there at night, but she and Tuggle occupied different quarters over the store. She was there the night Mr. Standard is alleged to have been robbed, but retired before any disturbance occurred. Tuggle, Fincher, Hailey, and Dewey Bradley spent the night there in Tuggle's quarters. It was a cold, rainy night, and during the early hours of the morning Mr. Standard's groans woke her up. She had some of those there to carry him in the store and build a fire for the purpose of warming him. She saw Fincher with four silver dollars about 3;30 during the night Mr. Standard was beaten, and she later found four silver dollars in the middle of Tuggle's bed under the cover. She also saw Hailey give Tuggle a wrist watch, the band of which was broken, and he at that time said that he had found it down in Tuggle's store. She gave the four silver dollars to sheriff Berry, and several days later gave him Mr. Standard's watch which she had taken possession of after Tuggle's arrest. On the morning after Mr. Standard is alleged to have been robbed, Fincher had in his possession a pair of brass knucks, and he stated to Tuggle, 'I have got something I must get rid of.' She later found the knucks in...