Kaple v. State

Decision Date25 September 1995
Docket NumberNo. S95A1108,S95A1108
Citation462 S.E.2d 134,265 Ga. 772
PartiesKAPLE v. The STATE.
CourtGeorgia Supreme Court

Samuel H. Harrison, Harrison & Harrison, Lawrenceville, for Kaple.

Daniel J. Porter, Dist. Atty., Lawrenceville, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Atlanta, Tracy Aronowitz, Asst. Dist. Atty., Lawrenceville, Susan V. Boleyn, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Marla-Deen Brooks, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for State.

HUNSTEIN, Justice.

Daniel Kaple was convicted of murder and theft by taking for the death of his fiancee Brenda Jo Franks and for the theft of her automobile. 1 He was sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder conviction and twenty years imprisonment for the theft by taking conviction. He appeals and we affirm.

1. Viewed to support the verdict, the evidence at trial established that appellant strangled his fiancee, Brenda Jo Franks, and put her body in the trunk of her automobile which he drove to Ohio. Appellant later dumped her body on a small dirt road in Ohio where it was discovered three days after her disappearance. Appellant made numerous false statements about the ownership of the car which was registered to the victim, and he also stole a license plate in Ohio which he put on the car. Appellant was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, still in possession of the victim's vehicle. The evidence adduced was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty of murder and theft by taking beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

2. We have carefully reviewed appellant's remaining enumerations of error and have found them to be without merit. 2

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.

1 The murder and theft occurred on or about March 22, 1993. Kaple was indicted in Gwinnett County on May 19, 1993. He was found guilty of murder and theft by taking on May 5, 1994 and sentenced the same day. His motion for new trial was filed June 2, 1994, amended December 30, 1994, and denied on February 21, 1995. His notice of appeal was filed on March 3, 1995, and the appeal was docketed in this Court on April 10, 1995. The case was submitted for decision without oral argument on June 26, 1995.

2 Kaple also contends that the searches of his apartment conducted by the police were invalid and that the trial court erred by admitting letters he had written to the victim as evidence of past...

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4 cases
  • Jones v. State
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • 5 octobre 1998
    ...(1979); Sheppard v. State, 267 Ga. 276(1), 476 S.E.2d 760 (1996); Waldrip v. State, 267 Ga. 739, 482 S.E.2d 299 (1997); Kaple v. State, 265 Ga. 772, 462 S.E.2d 134 (1995); Huewitt v. State, 218 Ga.App. 566, 462 S.E.2d 463 2. Pursuant to a challenge by the State, the trial court disallowed o......
  • HARDIN CONST. GROUP v. Fuller Enterprises
    • United States
    • Georgia Court of Appeals
    • 15 juillet 1998
    ... ... It gives relief in any case which may be brought in any of the Courts of [this] State. That is, in all instances where the plaintiff is, in the exercise of a proper diligence, attempting by a judicial proceeding, to assert his right ... ...
  • Riddick v. Developers
    • United States
    • Georgia Court of Appeals
    • 14 septembre 2011
  • Alliance Partners v. Harris Trust & Sav. Bank
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • 4 mars 1996
    ... ... 515] Twenty years ago, this court held that OCGA § 44-14-161 did not violate equal protection or due process because there was insufficient state action in the Georgia foreclosure procedure. 4 We reasoned that the power of sale "is a purely contractual matter between two parties in the ... ...
1 books & journal articles
  • Construction Law - Brian J. Morrissey
    • United States
    • Mercer University School of Law Mercer Law Reviews No. 48-1, September 1996
    • Invalid date
    ...but, in any event, the provisions of [the Civil Practice Act] governing . . . discovery . . . shall apply to all such proceedings." 185. 265 Ga. at 772, 462 S.E.2d at 131. 186. 218 Ga. App. 193, 461 s.e.2d 250 (1995), rev'd, 266 Ga. 592, 468 s.e.2d 350 (1996). 187. 218 Ga. App. at 196, 461 ......

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