Smith v. State

• Decision Date: 28 September 1910
• Docket Number: (No. 2,659.)
• Citation: 68 S.E. 1071,8 Ga.App. 297
• Parties: SMITH v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

68 S.E. 1071

8 Ga.App. 297

SMITH

v.STATE.

(No. 2, 659.)

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Sept. 28, 1910.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Escape (§ 5^*) — Escape from Municipal Chain Gang—Aiding "Escape."

The crime of escaping from a chain gang where municipal or misdemeanor convicts are worked is an act continuous in its nature, and is not finally completed until the convict is retaken. A person who knowingly assists a convict to "escape" from such a chain gang, or to elude the officers after he has once gotten away and prior to his recapture, is punishable under section 315 of the Penal Code of 1895.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Escape, Cent. Dig. § 6; Dec. Dig. § 5.*

For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, vol. 3, pp. 2460-2463.]

Error from City Court of Columbus; G. Y. Tigner, Judge.

Robert Smith was convicted of aiding a prisoner to escape from a chain gang, and brings error. Affirmed.

Wynn & Wohlwender, for plaintiff in error.

T. H. Fort, Sol., for the State.

POWELL,, J. The defendant was convicted of violating section 315 of the Penal Code of 1895, which provides: "If any person shall aid or assist, or attempt to aid or assist, a prisoner to escape, so confined or imprisoned, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." The expression, "so confined or imprisoned, " refers to section 314 of the Penal Code of 1895, which provides: "If any person shall be convicted of an offense below the grade of felony, and shall escape from the chain gang or other place of confinement, or imprisonment for the violationof any municipal, county or state laws, and be thereafter retaken, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." The evidence discloses that, while the chain gang of the city of Columbus was being worked upon the streets, one of the convicts escaped, and that later in the day he met the defendant and asked for an ax. The defendant furnished the ax, and the convict, in the defendant's presence, cut off from his person the shackles which he was wearing pending his service in the chain gang, and by this the convict was able finally to make good his escape.

There are several sections of the Penal Code which relate to rescue and escapes. Some of these sections, relate to rescue and escapes from the personal custody of officers; others to escapes, from places of confinement, using the word "confinement" in a broader sense than the mere limits of prison walls. As to escapes from the personal custody of officers, the offense is complete whenever the prisoner gets entirely away. So long as the pursuit is in progress and the fleeing prisoner is in sight of the officers or posse, the escape is not complete; but when he outruns them, or successfully eludes them and gets away, the escape is complete, and thereafter the offense of aiding an escape cannot attach to that particular transaction. Cf. Perry v. State, 63 Ga. 402 (3). We think (though it is not without some doubt, and only after considerable study of the question, that we have come to this conclusion) that the rule as to escaping from a chain gang is different. Where convicts are being worked upon a...