Mullis v. State
| Decision Date | 02 May 1944 |
| Docket Number | 14843. |
| Citation | 30 S.E.2d 99,197 Ga. 550 |
| Parties | MULLIS v. STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. The official minutes of a meeting of the mayor and council of a municipality may be proved by the production of the original book of minutes, identified as such by the clerk of the corporation and shown to have come from his custody.
(a) An objection to the introduction in evidence of a municipal ordinance on the ground 'that it is unconstitutional,' without clearly designating the particular provision of the constitution alleged to have been offended and specifying wherein the ordinance violates such constitutional provision, presents no question for decision by this court.
2. Where the court conditionally admits evidence, reserving a final ruling upon its competency until a later stage of the trial, it is the duty of counsel objecting to the admission of such testimony to invoke a subsequent ruling thereon, and upon his failure so to do the admission of such evidence is not error.
3. There was sufficient evidence to authorize the verdict.
The accused was convicted of murder with a recommendation to mercy. The case was previously before this court. Mullis v. State, 196 Ga. 569, 27 S.E.2d 91.
The evidence was substantially the same as appears in the previous decision, though in the instant case there was the following evidence which does not appear therein: This incident occurred about 10 p. m., approximately two hours before the homicide. In this second trial, there was testimony that the homicide was committed in the town of Cadwell and also evidence relating to certain ordinances of the town illustrating the right of the deceased policeman to make an arrest. These ordinances will be subsequently referred to in the opinion.
L. F Watson and E. L. Stephens, both of Dublin, for plaintiff in error.
James F. Nelson, Sol. Gen., of Dublin, Victor and T. Grady Head Atty. Gen., and Davidson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.
ATKINSON, Justice (after stating the foregoing facts).
1. Ground two of the amended motion (ground one having been expressly abandoned) alleges error in permitting the State to introduce in evidence the following ordinance of the town of Cadwell: 'Moved and carried that the police have the authority to make cases against any white person caught in the negro quarters after sundown.' The objection interposed to the admission thereof was: (1) 'Because it is no ordinance of the Town of Cadwell.' (2) 'Because an ordinance can be proved in only two ways, first by official certified copy under seal of the clerk, second by production of original book of ordinances.' (3) 'That it is unconstitutional and would be absolutely void even if it were an ordinance, because it is not general in its application.' (4) 'It is not a certified copy under the seal of the clerk, and is not the original ordinance of the city.'
We do not pass upon the validity, the force, or the effect of this ordinance, but merely upon the objections urged against its admission in evidence.
Evidence relating to the introduction of the ordinance came from several sources. C. J. Beddingfield testified: A. L. Cameron testified: Homer Wynn testified: While the testimony showed that at one time there was in existence an ordinance book, the record does not disclose whether this book was ever adopted as a book of ordinances by the mayor and council. The solicitor-general tendered in evidence the original minutes of the meeting of the mayor and council on October 7, 1940 showing the passage of the ordinance hereinbefore stated. The Code, § 38-606 provides: 'Exemplifications of the records and minutes of municipal corporations of this State, when certified by the clerks or keepers of such records, under seal, shall be admitted in evidence under the same rules and regulations as exemplifications of the records of the courts of record of this State.' In Metropolitan Street Railroad Co. v. Johnson, 90 Ga. 500(3), 16 S.E. 49, it was held: Accordingly, it was not error for the court to permit the introduction, under proper proof, of the original minutes showing the adoption of the ordinance in question, rather than to require a certified copy thereof. This was competent evidence of an expression of formal corporate action. 'The official minutes of the city council may be proved by the production of the briginal book of minutes identified as such by the clerk of the corporation, and shown to have come from his custody.' City of Columbus v. Ogletree, 102 Ga. 293(7), 297, 29 S.E. 749, 750. See also Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Peterson, 168 Ga. 259, 147 S.E. 513; Farrar Lumber Co. v. City of Dalton, 20 Ga.App. 138, 140, 92 S.E. 946.
(a) That portion of the objection to the...
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