Sewell v. State

• Decision Date: 27 April 1886
• Citation: 76 Ga. 836
• Parties: SEWELL v. THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

76 Ga. 836

SEWELL v. THE STATE OF GEORGIA.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

April 27, 1886

March Term, 1886.

The evidence in this case was ample to sustain the conviction; and there was no error in the charge that if the prisoner fled, his flight was a circumstance that could be considered by the jury in determining his guilt, unless it was shown to be from another cause than from a sense of guilt, or was otherwise explained. 20 Ga. 156, 166; 26 Id., 276, 281; 63 Id., 170.^[*]

Judgment affirmed. (Head-note by the court.)

HALL, Justice.

[Jackson Sewell was indicted for simple larceny in stealing a bale of cotton. The evidence showed that a bale of cotton was stolen from a gin-house where it was kept; that tracks of a wagon were followed from that point for some distance into another county, where the pursuers saw the wagon and mule in a lot. They learned at starting that the defendant had obtained a mule on the previous day. They went on to get a warrant and waited for the defendant to come by on his return. One of them proposed to arrest him. He jumped out of the wagon and ran away. The cotton was recovered from the place where it had been carried.

The jury found the defendant guilty. He moved for a new trial, on the ground that the verdict was contrary to law and evidence, and because the court charged as stated in the head-note. The motion was overruled, and the defendant excepted.]

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Notes:

^[*] See 54 Cal. 151; S. C.; 35 Am. R., 69.

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