Peacock v. State, 28515

• Decision Date: 28 January 1974
• Docket Number: No. 28515,28515
• Citation: 203 S.E.2d 533,231 Ga. 644
• Parties: Charles PEACOCK v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 533

203 S.E.2d 533

231 Ga. 644

Charles PEACOCK v. The STATE.

No. 28515.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Jan. 28, 1974.

Evans, Dozier, Mann & Wingate, Tommy C. Mann. Macon, for appellant.

Fred Hasty, Dist. Atty., Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Courtney Wilder Stanton, Asst. Atty. Gen., Michael Dyer, Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court

MOBLEY, Chief Justice.

Charles J. Peacock was convicted of the murder of Kenneth Spivey, also known as 'Rabbit,' and his sentence was fixed at life imprisonment. In his appeal to this court two issues are involved in the consideration of the errors he enumerates, whether the corpus delicti was established, and whether there was sufficient participation by the appellant in the crime to constitute him a principal.

1. 'The essential elements in the proof of the corpus delicti in a case of homicide are: that the person alleged in the indictment to have been killed is actually dead; and that his death was caused or accomplished by violence, or other direct criminal agency of some other humand being. . . . Where a dead body is found with injuries apparently sufficient to cause death, under circumstances which exclude an inference of accident or suicide, the criminal agency is sufficiently shown.' Reddick v. State, 202 Ga. 209(1b, c), 42 S.E.2d 742. The corpus delicti may be proved by circumstantial evidence. Wrisper v. State, 193 Ga. 157, 17 S.E.2d 714; Jester v. State, 193 Ga. 202(1), 17 S.E.2d 736; Alexander v. State, 223 Ga. 34(2), 153 S.E.2d 431.

It is unrefuted, and in fact the appellant confirms in his testimony, that Kenneth Spivey was shot twice in the head on October 22, 1972, at a location on the Ocmulgee River in Bibb County, and his body put in an eddy in the river where the water is trapped and the current does not flow. He was not seen in life again by his roommate. On October 26, 1972, a corpse was discovered by a canoeist in the same location in the river. After recovery from the river, examination revealed two bullet holes in the head of the corpse, one hole behind each ear of the skull. Bullet fragments were found in the brain of the corpse, which could have caused death. Death was attributable to no cause other than the gunshot wounds in the head. Both Spivey in life, and the corpse in death, had long, blond hair. The shooting in the head of Kenneth Spivey, and the dumping of his body in the river, where a corpse with like wounds and hair is recovered four days later, sufficiently established the death of the victim named in the indictment. That death was by violence is established by the gunshot wounds. The presence of two bullet holes in the head of the deceased, carefully placed behind the ears, are circumstances which exclude an inference of accident or suicide.

We conclude that the corpus delicti of the homicide of Kenneth Spivey was established. The trial court did not err in overruling the appellant's motion for directed verdict of acquittal on the ground that corpus delicti of the homicide had not been proved.

2. The evidence showed that: About noon on October 22, 1972, a group of young Bibb County residents, including the appellant, went to a Jones County trailer park and attempted to buy drugs. They were unsuccessful, but agreed to try again that night. The group gathered together again that night, consisting of the appellant, Gary Sorells and James Salter, co-indictees, Danny Thurston and Linda Carter. The appellant and Sorells...