Putman v. State
| Decision Date | 18 October 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 39721,39721 |
| Citation | 308 S.E.2d 145,251 Ga. 605 |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
| Parties | PUTMAN v. The STATE. |
Elsie Higgs Griner, Galen P. Alderman, Griner & Alderman, Daniel L. Studstill, Perry, Moore & Studstill, Nashville, for William Howard Putman.
Lew S. Barrow, Dist. Atty., Robert B. Ellis, Jr., Jeffrey D. Garmon, Asst. Dist. Attys. Nashville, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Wiliam B. Hills, Jr., Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Janice G. Hildenbrand, Staff Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
In the early morning hours of July 10, 1980, David Hardin and his wife Katie, residents of Kentucky, were shot to death at an Interstate 75 rest area near Lenox, Georgia. Truck driver William Howard Putman was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. A Cook County jury found Putman guilty on both counts and recommended the death penalty. This appeal follows. We affirm.
1. The victims spent the week preceding their deaths vacationing in Daytona Beach with their three children and David's niece Beverly Culver. They left Daytona Beach in their blue Dodge sedan on the evening of July 9 and arrived at the Lenox rest area some time prior to 3:00 a.m. on the tenth. They parked in the automobile parking lot of the rest area and went to sleep.
Later arrivals at the rest area included Verlin Colter, who parked two spaces to the right of the Hardins, and Dessie Harris, who parked across the drive-through, opposite the Hardin automobile.
Dessie testified that, upon her arrival, she spread a blanket on the hood of her car. As she sat on the blanket, smoking a cigarette, she observed a dark-colored "semi," pulling a flat-bed trailer, drive slowly several times through the automobile parking lot. The truck eventually parked at the end of the parking lot. The driver got out, reached into the cab of the truck, retrieved an object and walked toward her car. He stopped under a nearby tree, approximately five feet from Dessie, and whistled at her. She stared at him but said nothing. The man then walked behind her car and proceeded across the parking lot. He went around to the front of the Hardin automobile and stood there for a few moments.
In the meantime, Verlin Colter arrived and parked. He observed that a dark-colored semi with an empty, yellow flat-bed trailer was parked at the end of the automobile parking lot and that a man was standing in front of the blue Dodge, whose occupants were all apparently asleep.
Dessie testified that the man walked around to the driver's side of the Hardin automobile. She heard a loud noise and then the man ran to the passenger side of the car.
Verlin testified that, just as he lay down in his automobile, he heard a loud noise that sounded like a firecracker. He looked up and saw a woman in the front passenger seat of the Dodge opening the passenger door. The man he had seen earlier ran around the car to her door.
Beverly Culver, who had been asleep in the back seat of the Dodge with Katie's two older children, testified that she was awakened by a loud noise. She saw a man standing outside the car, next to David Hardin, who lay in the driver's seat with his head resting on the back of the seat, next to the door. The man hurried to the passenger side of the car.
Beverly, Verlin and Dessie all observed what happened next: As Katie Hardin tried to get out of the car, the man grabbed her and demanded that she go with him. She refused, and screamed for David, who lay fatally wounded in the driver's seat. The man shot Katie in the head. He then reached into the car and placed something into the waist-band of his pants. He ran to his truck and drove off, headed north.
Verlin called the police, who arrived at the rest area just before 5:30 a.m. Based on information obtained from the witnesses, a lookout was posted for a white male, proceeding north on Interstate 75, driving a dark-blue or black truck pulling an empty, yellow flat-bed trailer.
A truck fitting this description was spotted by police just south of Cordele and followed to a rest area in Dooly County. The truck parked in the exit lane of the rest area and the driver went to the restroom. Backup units arrived and the driver, William Howard Putman, was arrested after he returned to his truck. Officers smelled alcohol on Putman's breath and he was initially taken to the Dooly County Sheriff's Office for an intoximeter test, which indicated that Putman's blood alcohol level was .13 grams/percent. Putman had what appeared to be blood on his left pants leg.
Officers recovered a .38 caliber revolver from under the driver's seat of Putman's truck. The revolver had three live rounds and two spent cartridges in its chamber. A gun case and David Hardin's wallet lay on the passenger seat.
Putman was returned to Cook County at approximately 7:30 a.m. Dessie Harris was at the courthouse, having just given a statement to investigators. As she stood outside smoking a cigarette, Putman arrived in a police car. She immediately recognized him as the man who had shot David and Katie Hardin.
At approximately 2:30 p.m. of the same day, the body of William Gerald Hodges was found slumped over the wheel of his automobile in the parking lot of a truck stop in Valdosta. He had been shot in the head and shoulder. The pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified that a time of death could not be established with any certainty. However, lividity patterns indicated that death had occurred some time prior to Hodges' arrival at the morgue at 3:10 p.m. A .38 caliber bullet was recovered from the interior of his automobile and another was recovered from inside his skull.
After Putman's arrival in Cook County, his clothing was removed from him and the contents of his pockets were inventoried. In his shirt pockets were two .38 caliber cartridges and an insurance card bearing the name William G. Hodges. In the pockets of his trousers were a gold Timex wristwatch and two gold rings, one having a red stone and the other a blue stone. The rings and the watch were identified by friends as having belonged to William Hodges. Serological examination of the reddish-brown substance on the leg of Putman's trousers and on the blue-stone ring established that the substance was blood having characteristics consistent with the blood of William Hodges and inconsistent with the blood of 98.3 percent of the general population.
A fresh dent was discovered on the right rear corner of the roof of Hodges' automobile. The dent was horizontal, two or three inches long. Yellow paint was present in the grooves of the dent, and loose flakes of yellow paint surrounded the dent. The yellow paint was the same color as the trailer of Putman's truck.
The .38 caliber revolver found in Putman's truck was purchased by him at a Talledega, Alabama, pawn shop on May 9, 1980. Ballistics examination showed that the bullet removed from the skull of David Hardin, the bullet removed from the skull of Katie Hardin, the bullet removed from the skull of William Hodges and the bullet removed from the interior of Hodges' automobile had all been fired from the same gun: Putman's .38 caliber revolver.
Putman testified that he was returning from Florida on the 9th and 10th of July. He admitted that he stopped at the truck stop in Valdosta at approximately 10:00 p.m. on the 9th. He said he had two beers and three mixed drinks, and then went to sleep in his truck. When he left a couple of hours later, he took with him a hitchhiker known to him only as "Jeff." He stopped briefly at the first rest area north of Valdosta on Interstate 75, near Hahira, to wash his hands, and subsequently let Jeff out at an exit near Adel. He then proceeded directly to the rest area in Dooly County where he was arrested. Putman denied having stopped at the Lenox rest area. He admitted owning the .38 revolver found in his truck, but denied having shot anyone with it.
In his fifth enumeration of error, Putman contends the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for the murders of David and Katie Hardin. We disagree. The evidence is not insufficient, it is overwhelming. This enumeration of error is meritless.
2. In his first enumeration of error, Putman contends the trial court erred by allowing the state to introduce evidence of the Lowndes County murder, relying on OCGA § 24-2-2 (Code Ann. § 38-202), which provides: "The general character of the parties and especially their conduct in other transactions are irrelevant matter unless the nature of the action involves such character and renders necessary or proper the investigation of such conduct."
We find no error. The state proved that Putman was the perpetrator of the Lowndes County crimes. The Lowndes County crimes and the Cook County crimes were part of a continuous course of conduct, closely connected in time, place and manner of commission. Compare Walraven v. State, 250 Ga. 401(4b), 297 S.E.2d 278 (1982). The evidence, considered in its entirety, including the evidence proving the commission by Putman of the Lowndes County murder, effectively rebuts Putman's contention that what really happened was that some unknown person removed Putman's gun from his truck, used it to commit murder, and later "tossed the gun back into his tractor where it was ripe for 'finding' by officers of the law."
Rivers v. State, 250 Ga. 288, 297(5), 298 S.E.2d 10 (1982). This enumeration of error is without merit.
3. In his second enumeration of error, Putman contends the trial court erred by admitting two photographs, taken shortly after the crime, depicting two of the children who had been...
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