Rainwater v. State, 43526
| Decision Date | 03 September 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 43526,43526 |
| Citation | 256 Ga. 271,347 S.E.2d 586 |
| Parties | RAINWATER v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Robert B. Silliman, Marietta, for George Goodman Rainwater.
Thomas J. Charron, Dist. Atty., Marietta, Nancy I. Jordan, Asst. Dist. Atty., Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., J. Michael Davis, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
George Goodman Rainwater was convicted of the murder of his wife, Betty Jean Rainwater, and sentenced to life imprisonment. 1
The victim's sister and a friend of the victim testified at trial that on April 6, 1985 they drove with the victim to a trailer she shared with her husband. Shortly after their arrival the defendant announced his dissatisfaction with the victim's haircut and began pulling her hair. The defendant then hit the victim several times in the head and about the mouth with his fist. The victim collapsed and the defendant commanded her to get up. When she did not he kicked her in the ribs and head. The victim did not respond except to beg the defendant to stop beating her. Over the victim's objections the victim's sister and friend transported her to the hospital. The victim was bleeding profusely and in a coma on their arrival. Surgery was performed to relieve an acute subdural hematoma. The victim survived the surgery, but remained hospitalized for nearly three months in a semicomatose state. She was subsequently transferred to a nursing home where she died three weeks later. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy stated his opinion that the victim's death was a direct result of the consequences of the head injuries she sustained on April 6, 1985.
The defendant offered in evidence a statement he made to police following his arrest in which he acknowledged being angry at the victim because she had gone shopping with her sister, and hitting her on her return. This statement was admitted without objection. In his statement the defendant spoke at length of his turbulent relationship with the victim during the past thirteen years. The defendant stated that the victim would leave him for two or three weeks at a time, "and then she would come back.... and I would smack her upside the head and everything was all right."
1. In addition to the defendant's statements that he had hit the victim in the past, two witnesses testified, over the defendant's objections, to numerous instances in which they had observed the defendant beat the victim, or had taken the victim to the hospital, or otherwise provided her refuge following these beatings. The defendant argues the trial court erred in admitting evidence of his physical abuse of the victim prior to April 6, 1985 because it injected his character. Evidence of his previous difficulties with the victim was admissible to show his intent and bent of mind in striking the victim on the day in question. Mitchell v. State, 254 Ga. 353 (5b), 329 S.E.2d 481 (1985).
The defendant contends the evidence fails to meet "the third prong" of the test for admission of independent crimes. See Walraven v. State, 250 Ga. 401(4(b)), 297 S.E.2d 278 (1982), and Robinson v. State, 246 Ga. 469(2), 271 S.E.2d 786 (1980). 2 However, as we have pointed out above, this evidence was not admitted under the rule governing proof of independent crimes, but as evidence of the relationship between the defendant and the victim.
2. The defendant argues the trial court erred in not giving the defendant's request to charge on the presumption of innocence.
The record shows that during the charge conference, the trial court agreed to give this request to charge if the defendant would eliminate the first sentence from the charge. The defendant's attorney responded, "I will withdraw the first sentence, Judge, and we submit it without that." The trial...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
McTaggart v. State
...relationship between the same people involved in the prosecution and are related and connected by such nexus. SeeRainwater v. State, 256 Ga. 271, 272(1), 347 S.E.2d 586 (1986); Mitchell v. State, 254 Ga. 353, 355(5)(b), 329 S.E.2d 481 (1985); see also Stewart v. State, 263 Ga. 843, 847-850,......
-
Bohannon v. State
...between the accused and the victim to be subject to the same rules governing admission of similar crimes, see Rainwater v. State, 256 Ga. 271, 272(1), 347 S.E.2d 586 (1986), in Maxwell the Supreme Court held that the three-pronged inquiry for similar transaction evidence outlined in William......
-
Stewart v. State
...the rule governing similar transactions, but as evidence of the relationship between the defendant and the victim. Rainwater v. State, 256 Ga. 271, 347 S.E.2d 586 (1986). The reason for this is that prior difficulties between a defendant and the person who eventually becomes his victim, for......
-
Wickizer v. State
...admissible to show intent in striking his spouse on the day on which injuries were inflicted that caused her death. Rainwater v. State (1986), 256 Ga. 271, 347 S.E.2d 586. Conversely, other decisions have found evidence of prior conduct inadmissible under Rule 404(b) to prove intent. Montan......