Ray v. State, No. 30260
| Decision Date | 28 October 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 30260 |
| Citation | 219 S.E.2d 761,235 Ga. 467 |
| Parties | William B. RAY v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Roger E. Bradley, Blue Ridge, for appellant.
C. B. Holcomb, Dist. Atty., Frank C. Mills, III, Asst. Dist. Atty., Canton, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Lois F. Oakley, Staff Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.
The defendant was indicted and tried for the offense of murder in Gilmer Superior Court. He was convicted and given a life sentence from which he appeals and enumerates eight alleged errors.
1. The first enumeration of error complains of the admission of certain evidence consisting of blood-stained carpet removed from the premises where the deceased and defendant lived. The evidence was removed during the initial investigation at the scene, and no motion to suppress was filed as required by Code Ann. § 27-313. Probable cause existed at the time the evidence was removed and when the defendant was arrested. It was not error to admit this evidence. She Bridges v. State, 227 Ga. 24, 25, 178 S.E.2d 861 (1970).
2. The second enumeration of error complains of the admission of an in-custody statement made by the defendant. The trial court conducted a hearing out of the presence of the jury to ascertain whether the statement was freely and voluntarily made. An agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation testified that after he explained the defendant's rights to him three or four times to make sure he understood them, the defendant executed a written waiver of counsel and gave the statement complained of in this enumeration of error. The trial court made a determination that the statement was freely and voluntarily made, and the evidence produced at the hearing was sufficient to sustain such determination. There was no error in admitting this statement. High v. State, 233 Ga. 153, 154, 210 S.E.2d 673 (1974).
3. Enumerations of error numbers 3, 4, 5 and 8 complain of the sufficiency of the evidence, that the evidence did not exclude every other reasonable hypothesis and that the evidence did not authorize a charge on murder.
The victim was found lying on her back just outside the door of the trailer where she and the defendant lived. The evidence revealed that she and the defendant had been drinking and arguing during the day, that she had a 0.24% blood alcohol reading and that he had a 0.21% blood alcohol reading. A neighbor testified that at about 6 p.m. she heard a scream, ran to the door, saw the defendant pulling the deceased back into the trailer by the hair, saw the victim had blood on her face and appeared to be struggling to get away from the defendant. This witness further testified that about ten minutes later the defendant came to the witness' door and asked for help to take his 'wife' to the doctor and stated that she was about dead. The witness then called the police who arrested the defendant at the scene.
The medical testimony showed that death was caused by shock from blows to the head and neck coupled with degenerative disease of the heart and brain with the most damaging blow being to the victim's neck.
The defendant testified that although he and the victim had argued, he had only struck her one time and that such blow was on the shoulder with the palm of his hand.
The evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction as charged in the indictment, to wit: that the defendant did 'kill one Jessie Waters Cox, a human being, by beating . . . (her) with fist, and certain objects, the exact description being unknown.' These enumerations of error are without merit. Strong v. State, 232 Ga. 294, 298, 206 S.E.2d 461 (1974).
4. The...
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