Gilstrap v. State, 39587
| Decision Date | 05 April 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 39587,39587 |
| Citation | 250 Ga. 814,301 S.E.2d 277 |
| Parties | Eugene GILSTRAP, Jr. v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Tony L. Axam, Franklin, Axam & Ashburne, Atlanta, for Eugene Gilstrap, jr.
Lewis R. Slaton, Dist. Atty., Atlanta, Benjamin H. Oehlert, III, Asst. Dist. Atty., Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Nicholas G. Dumich, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Eugene Gilstrap, Jr. was convicted of the aggravated assault of Cora Sharp and the murder of Luther Zinamon. The defendant was sentenced to ten years for the aggravated assault to run consecutively to the sentence of life imprisonment imposed for the conviction of murder.
At trial Cora Sharp testified that at approximately 9:00 p.m. on November 7, 1981 she was travelling down Johnson Road in Fulton County when she heard a noise sounding like "a shot" or a "tire blowing out." Looking in her rearview mirror she saw that a taxicab had crashed into a utility pole. As Sharp backed her car toward the taxicab, she observed a man disembark from the cab and approach her car. Sharp testified that she stopped her car "about six feet" from the cab. The man approached her car and, from a distance of four feet, shot into her car, stating "I don't need no damn witnesses." Both the driver's and passenger's side windows were shattered. Sharp then observed her assailant "running back towards the cab." The witness testified that she was able to get a close look at her assailant because he was standing under a street light when he fired at her.
Sharp drove to a neighboring house to call police, and, within minutes, returned to the scene with a patrolman. She described her assailant to the patrolman as "tall with a moustache and beard." After discovering that the cab driver was dead, the patrolman asked Sharp to ride around the neighborhood with him to see if Sharp could recognize her assailant. Sharp agreed. As the patrolman began to drive away from the scene he noticed a car stopped behind him. As he pulled to one side of the street to allow the car to pass, Sharp identified the defendant, the driver of the car, as her assailant. The patrolman immediately apprehended the defendant and placed him under arrest. Sharp testified that while she had not "known" the defendant, she had seen him "once or twice" previously at the Perry Homes complex. Other evidence at trial indicated that Sharp and the defendant had attended Archer High School at the same time.
At the time of arrest the defendant had over $1300 on his person. The investigating officer testified that the defendant told him he had won this sum gambling.
The parties stipulated that Luther Zinamon, the driver of the taxicab, died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Several witnesses testified that the defendant had been in their presence from 7:30 p.m. on November 7 until his arrest by police. Each of these witnesses testified that they had gathered at a place known as Farley's Garage to repair cars and gamble throughout the day of the murder; that the defendant initially arrived at Farley's Garage at 3:00 p.m. that day, but left and returned again around 7:30 p.m.; that just before 9:00 p.m. some of the men left Farley's Garage to go to a liquor store before it closed; that shortly after 9:00 p.m. the remaining men, including the defendant, left, travelling caravan-style in four automobiles down Johnson Road toward the home of one member of their group. There was testimony indicating that when the police detained the defendant at the murder scene, two or three of the defendant's friends stopped and informed the police that the defendant had been with them for the last two hours. The police dispersed this group without taking any statements. One of the remaining members of the defendant's group testified that he drove past the police blockade without stopping for fear of being arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. These witnesses later contacted the defendant's attorney and offered to testify in his behalf.
Wynn Hawkins, the manager of the taxicab company which had employed the murder victim testified that the victim worked full time for the company as a mechanic and only drove a cab a few nights each week to earn additional money. Hawkins testified that "on a good night" the victim would take in between $70 and $100 in fares. Hawkins stated that the victim had a policy of carrying no more than five dollars in change on his person when he drove the cab; as his fares increased he would drive to his home and deposit sums of cash greater than five dollars there. Hawkins expressed his opinion that it was "not likely" the victim would have taken in "as much as $1800"...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Wilson v. Attaway
...Wiggins. Georgia courts have held that first offender convictions may be used to impeach prosecution witnesses. See Gilstrap v. State, 250 Ga. 814, 301 S.E.2d 277, 279 (1983); Favors v. State, 234 Ga. 80, 214 S.E.2d 645, 651 Also, Georgia courts have upheld relying on first offender convict......
-
Williams v. State
...contentions regarding Davis v. Alaska, supra. See generally Favors v. State, 234 Ga. 80(3), 214 S.E.2d 645 (1975); Gilstrap v. State, 250 Ga. 814(2), 301 S.E.2d 277 (1983); Smith v. State, 154 Ga.App. 190(3), 267 S.E.2d 826 (1980). Appellant also appears to be arguing in this enumeration th......
-
State v. Rocco
...of Appeals in Tilley, supra at 100, 351 S.E.2d 464, cited Favors v. State, 234 Ga. 80, 214 S.E.2d 645 (1975), and Gilstrap v. State, 250 Ga. 814(2), 301 S.E.2d 277 (1983), wherein this Court held that a prosecution witness in a criminal case could be impeached through use of a criminal conv......
-
Goforth v. Wigley
...et seq.) may be used in a criminal trial to impeach a state's witness, Favors v. State, 234 Ga. 80(3), 214 S.E.2d 645; Gilstrap v. State, 250 Ga. 814(2), 301 S.E.2d 277, or a defense witness, Moon v. State, 154 Ga.App. 312(1), 268 S.E.2d In Hightower v. Gen. Motors Corp., 255 Ga. 349, 352, ......