Johnson v. State, 45551
| Decision Date | 06 November 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 45551,45551,1 |
| Citation | 122 Ga.App. 769,178 S.E.2d 772 |
| Parties | Katherine JOHNSON v. The STATE |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Charles E. Solomon, Jr., L. M. Wyatt, LaGrange, for appellant.
Eldridge W. Fleming, Dist. Atty., Hogansville, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court.
1. The defendant was indicted and tried for theft by taking and theft by receiving stolen property. The jury acquitted the defendant of theft by taking but convicted her of theft by receiving stolen property. The trial court charged the jury: 'that if you find the offense alleged in the indictment was committed by someone and that very soon thereafter the whole or any part of the goods so taken at the time the offense was committed, if any offense was committed, was found in the recent possession of the defendant, such possession, if not satisfactorily explained consistent with her innocence, would authorize you to identify the defendant as the guilty party and to convict her of the crime charged.' As the court did not limit the application of this charge to either offense, the jury was free to apply it to the theft by receiving stolen property. This constitutes harmful error. It has been held that the rule of recent possession of stolen property has no application to a charge of theft by receiving stolen property. Gaskin v. State, 119 Ga.App. 593, 168 S.E.2d 183.
2. The defendant contends that the verdict was without evidence to support it because the State did not prove ownership or theft of the goods and did not establish that the defendant knew the goods were stolen. The essential elements of the crime are that property was stolen and the defendant received, disposed of, or retained stolen property which he knew or should have known was stolen. Code § 26-1806. The indictment charged that the offense was committed on January 20, 1970 and the goods, 25 girdles, were allegedly owned by and stolen from the International Playtex Corporation. Six girdles were received in evidence and it was established by two witnesses for the State that they obtained them from the defendant. An employee of International testified that the six girdles were manufactured by his firm in LaGrange; and three were manufactured in January 1970, one in December 1969, one in October 1969, and gave no date of manufacture for the sixth. When asked if they had been 'released and sold,' this witness stated The testimony of this employee is the only evidence adduced by the State thay any girdles were stolen from International. There is a complete lack of any direct evidence that any of this type of apparel was missing from the firm in any quantity. The employee's testimony only...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Bonner v. State
...fact, retained possession of them. Id. ; Johnson v. State , 135 Ga.App. 768, 768 (2), 219 S.E.2d 25 (1975) ; Johnson v. State , 122 Ga.App. 769, 771 (2), 178 S.E.2d 772 (1970) ; Rogers v. State , 29 Ga.App. 363, 115 S.E. 668 (1923).Moreover, a conviction under this statute also required tha......
-
Graham v. State
...same is not alone sufficient to authorize a conviction for the offense of theft by knowingly receiving stolen property. Johnson v. State, 122 Ga.App. 769, 178 S.E.2d 772; Gaskin v. State, 119 Ga.App. 593, 594, 168 S.E.2d 183; Bird v. State, 72 Ga.App. 843(4), 35 S.E.2d 483." Heard v. State,......
-
Heard v. State
...same is not alone sufficient to authorize a conviction for the offense of theft by knowingly receiving stolen property. Johnson v. State, 122 Ga.App. 769, 178 S.E.2d 772; Gaskin v. State, 119 Ga.App. 593, 594, 168 S.E.2d 183; Bird v. State, 72 Ga.App. 843(4), 35 S.E.2d 483. As to this offen......
-
Slack v. State
...it can be found that the defendant initially received the [card] with knowledge that [it] had been stolen..." Johnson v. State, 122 Ga.App. 769, 770, 178 S.E.2d 772 (1970). Moreover, appellant does not contend that the evidence adduced at trial would have been sufficient to convict appellan......