Johnson v. State
| Decision Date | 14 September 1939 |
| Docket Number | 12946. |
| Citation | 4 S.E.2d 813,188 Ga. 662 |
| Parties | JOHNSON v. STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. The declaration of another person that he alone committed the crime for which the defendant was on trial, where his declaration was made in a house, whereas the crime was committed in the yard, the declarant not naming the person whom he had killed, and it not being shown whether his declaration was made before or after the crime was committed or, if after, how long after, is not admissible in evidence in favor of the accused, and as a part of the res gestae.
2. Likewise the court correctly refused to allow a witness for the defendant to testify that a named person, who was not the defendant, left his car in which he was sitting, saying in the hearing of the witness that he was going upon the porch to prevent any one from running over his son; the defendant having said in his statement that the person so stating his intention came upon the porch on the occasion stated, and started after the defendant and ran him away from the place, so that the defendant was not there when the deceased was killed.
3. The evidence authorized the conviction of murder.
Wm A. Ingram, of Cartersville, for plaintiff in error.
J H. Paschall, Sol. Gen., of Calhoun, and Ellis G. Arnall, Atty. Gen., and Duke Davis, Asst. Atty. Gen., Cleburne E. Gregory, Jr., of Decatur, for the State.
B. F. Johnson was tried and found guilty of murder, with a recommendation. To his motion for new trial on the general grounds he filed an amendment containing two special grounds. The first of these complained of the court's exclusion of the evidence of Nellie Mae Watts, who testified as a witness for the defendant: The movant insisted that the deceased was killed some time near or just before the time Robert Bailey entered the room where he made his statement to the witness; that there was only one negro killed that night,--the deceased for whose killing the defendant was tried, and that he was killed out in the yard. The other ground complained of the exclusion of testimony of Custis Sington, a witness for the defendant, that Gene Bailey, the father of Robert Bailey, left his car in which he had been sitting in front of the house at which the deceased was killed, to go to the front porch of the house, and as he was leaving the car he said that his son, Robert Bailey, was in a fuss with the defendant, and that he was going upon the porch to prevent any one from running over Robert Bailey; that this witness testified that Robert Bailey and the defendant were on the porch fussing, and that Gene Bailey went to the porch; and the movant contended in this ground that the defendant had said in his statement that Gene Bailey, when he came upon the porch on this occasion, started after the defendant and ran him away from the place so that he was not there when the deceased was killed. The exact evidence which it is contended in this ground was excluded is not quoted, but the substance only was stated in the ground. A new trial was refused, and the defendant excepted.
1. The first special assignment of error complains that the court erred in excluding the evidence of Nellie Mae Watts, that one Robert Bailey had come into the house with an open 'switch-bladed' knife, a double-cola bottle, and a fire poker in his hand, and stated that he had killed a negro, but refused to state who it was that he killed. There was no error in this ruling. On the trial of one indicted...
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