Grant v. Com., 741217
| Decision Date | 05 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 741217,741217 |
| Citation | 217 S.E.2d 806,216 Va. 166 |
| Parties | George GRANT, Sr. v. COMMONWALTH of Virginia. Record |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
Donald G. Wise, Portsmouth, for plaintiff in error.
Alan Katz, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Andrew P. Miller, Atty. Gen., on brief), for defendant in error.
Before I'ANSON, C.J., and CARRICO, HARRISON, COCHRAN, HARMAN, POFF and COMPTON, JJ.
The defendant, George Grant, Sr., was convicted by the trial court, sitting without a jury, of robbery. His punishment was fixed at 10 years in the penitentiary. On appeal, the sole question is whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the conviction.
The record shows that on March 29, 1974, the defendant borrowed from Patricia Hurdle his 'girlfriend,' her 1973 Chevrolet automobile. Driving the automobile, the defendant left the Hurdle home in the City of Portsmouth at approximately 6:20 a.m. At the time, Mrs. Hurdle's .22 caliber revolver was in the glove compartment of the vehicle, a fact known by the defendant.
At approximately 8:25 a.m. that same morning, Frank M. Anderson, general manager of Alpha Rent-A-Car, located on Tidewater Drive in the City of Norfolk, was robbed in his place of business of $200 cash. Anderson's assailants were two men, Richard Hurdle, son of Patricia Hurdle, and Henry Battle. During the robbery, one of the robbers wielded an automatic pistol and the other a revolver. Thirty seconds after the robbers had fled on foot, Anderson reported the incident to the police.
At 8:30 a.m., Officer Ferebee of the Norfolk Police Department was patrolling in his police car when he received a radio message to proceed to court to appear as a witness in pending cases. '(A)t the same time,' Ferebee was advised that 'there had been a robbery at Alpha Rent-A-Car on Tidewater Drive.' About two minutes later, Ferebee's lieutenant 'came over the air' with a report that 'there was an auto acting suspicious coming down East Little Creek Road.' At that time, Ferebee was westbound on Little Creek Road, east of its intersection with Tidewater Drive. He observed a car 'that fit the description . . . headed east on East Little Creek Road.' He 'made a U-turn . . . pulled in behind the (car), checked it out,' and stopped it.
Two occupants, who turned out to be Hurdle and Battle, alighted from the stopped vehicle and approached the police car. The driver of the stopped vehicle, who turned out to be the defendant, 'glanced back' at Ferebee and then 'sped away at a high rate of speed.' Ferebee immediately 'started a high-speed chase after (the defendant).'
Ferebee pursued the defendant eastwardly on Little Creek Road. At the Walters Drive intersection, the defendant 'slammed on brakes, pulled off to the side of the road . . . jumped out of the car and started running across' a field. Attempting to 'cut off' the escape, Ferebee turned his vehicle onto Walters Drive. The defendant then 'turned around and ran back to his car, jumped in,' and sped away.
As the defendant 'pulled out' into the highway, he 'spun dirt all over' the automobile of another motorist, James Tucker. Feeling 'peeved,' Tucker pursued the offending vehicle until it stopped for a traffic light. At that point, Tucker observed the defendant drive onto the shoulder, get out of his car, and 'run down an embankment and across the street' into an apartment complex. Tucker saw the defendant 'talking to another man for a very few seconds,' and then 'they got into a blue Volkswagen and left.'
Tucker noted the license number of the Volkswagen and gave it to Officer Ferebee, who had arrived at the defendant's abandoned automobile. Through the license number, Marcus Jeter was determined to have been the driver of the Volkswagen in which the defendant had departed.
Jeter, a member of the Navy, had left his home in the apartment complex to 'cash (his) check.' As he was walking to his car, the defendant approached, said 'he needed a ride . . . downtown,' and offered $10 for the trip. Jeter agreed, and the two departed. Enroute, the defendant stated that 'he had shot a...
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Muhammad v. Com.
...the analysis in this opinion. 2 The Commonwealth did not claim that Muhammad waived assignment of error 81. * Grant v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 166, 168-69, 217 S.E.2d 806, 808 (1975) (lookout and driver of the getaway car convicted as principal in the second degree); Camphor v. State, 233 Md.......
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Muhammad v. Com.
...analysis in this opinion. 2. The Commonwealth did not claim that Muhammad waived assignment of error 81. * Grant v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 166, 168-69, 217 S.E.2d 806, 808 (1975) (lookout and driver of the getaway car convicted as principal in the second degree); Camphor v. State, 233 Md. 20......
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Thomas v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2765-04-2 (VA 2/28/2006), Record No. 2765-04-2.
...where defendant waited in getaway car—after "know[ing] something `was going to happen . . . that night'"); Grant v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 166, 169, 217 S.E.2d 806, 808 (1975) (affirming defendant's conviction for robbery as principal in second degree where defendant waited in getaway car); ......
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Rollston v. Com.
...of two confederates expressing surprise that they had been bold enough to carry out their common plan. In Grant v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 166, 217 S.E.2d 806 (1975) the Supreme Court While there is no direct evidence that the defendant was present at the scene of the robbery and actively par......