Merino v. State
| Decision Date | 10 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 27866,27866 |
| Citation | 230 Ga. 604,198 S.E.2d 311 |
| Parties | John E. MERINO et al. v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Thomas C. Bianco, Atlanta, for appellants.
Edward E. McGarity, Dist. Atty., McDonough, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Courtney Wilder Stanton, Asst. Atty. Gen., David J. Bailey, Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
Merino and Negron appeal their convictions and sentences for armed robbery. The issues on appeal are (1) whether the trial judge erred in overruling a motion for a directed verdict of not guilty for the defendant Merino, and (2) the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdicts of guilty. Held:
1. The defendant Merino has enumerated as error the refusal of the trial court to direct a verdict of acquittal. Prior to the Appellate Practice Act of 1965, as amended (Ga.L.1965, pp. 18-20; Ga.L.1966, pp. 493, 494; Code Ann. § 6-702), it was never error for the trial judge to deny a motion for a directed verdict in a criminal case, and this court so held in a myriad of cases. After the enactment of the statute, supra, this court held in Sutton v. State, 223 Ga. 313, 154 S.E.2d 578, that the above law superseded all such decisions in that it allowed a defendant in a criminal case to enumerate as error the overruling of his motion for a directed verdict. Subsequent to the enactment of the Appellate Practice Act the General Assembly enacted the Civil Practice Act (Ga.L.1966, p. 609). It became effective September 1, 1967. As this court pointed out in Pritchard v. State, 224 Ga. 776, 779, 164 S.E.2d 808, the Civil Practice Act specifically repealed Code § 110-104, the statutory law authorizing the direction of verdicts which was in existence at the time the decision in Sutton v. State, supra, was rendered and enacted a new section dealing with directed verdicts (Ga.L.1966, pp. 609, 656; Ga.L.1967, pp. 226, 237, 246, 248; Code Ann. § 81A-150). The court further pointed out that the later section applies only in civil cases thus leaving no statutory authority for the direction of a verdict in criminal case. After the decision in Pritchard, supra, this court continued to hold that it was not error for the trial court to refuse to direct a verdict in a criminal case. Carter v. State, 227 Ga. 788, 183 S.E.2d 392; Allen v. State, 228 Ga. 859, 188 S.E.2d 793. While continuing to so hold, however, the court pointed to the provisions of the 1971 statute authorizing the direction of a verdict of acquittal in criminal cases (Ga.L.1971, pp. 460, 461; Code Ann. § 27-1802(a)).
This statute provides that in a criminal case 'where there is no conflict in the evidence, and the evidence introduced, with all reasonable deductions and inferences therefrom, shall demand a verdict of acquittal or 'not guilty' . . . the court may direct the verdict of acquittal. . . .' While the wording of this statute appears merely to authorize a verdict of acquittal under such circumstances, the entire language must be construed in the light of the Appellate Practice Act authorizing an enumeration of error on the refusal of the trial court to direct a verdict of not guilty in a criminal case. As we view the statute, when there is no conflict in the evidence and it clearly demands a verdict of acquittal as a matter of law there is a duty upon the trial judge to grant a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal and his failure to do so will constitute reversible error on appeal. Unless this construction is given to the statute the provisions of the Appellate Practice Act would be rendered meaningless since it would be fruitless to enumerate as error the refusal to direct a verdict of not guilty unless there was such a duty upon the trial judge as would constitute error upon his refusal so...
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Collins v. State
...(1957). Unless a verdict of acquittal is demanded as a matter of law, the refusal to direct the verdict is not error. Merino v. State, 230 Ga. 604, 198 S.E.2d 311 (1973). The victim was acting under intimidation. Any assent on her part was induced by fear as a result of being taken to a rem......
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Clark v. State
...the trial judge did not err, as urged in enumerated error 4, in denying the motion for a directed verdict of acquittal. Merino v. State, 230 Ga. 604, 605, 198 S.E.2d 311. The matter of the contended variance between the allegations of the indictment and the proof is dealt with in Division 4......
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Merrill v. State, 48419
...judge to deny a motion for a directed verdict in a criminal case.' This confusion is now ended by the recent decision of Merino v. State, 230 Ga. 604, 198 S.E.2d 311. There at page 605, at page 312 of 198 S.E.2d the Supreme Court made clear that '(I)t constitutes reversible error for the tr......
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Butler v. State
...to grant a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal and his failure to do so will constitute reversible error on appeal.' Id. p. 605, 198 S.E.2d at p. 312. Because the evidence against Butler was entirely circumstantial, our inquiry here is whether the evidence construed most favorably to......