Spurlin v. State, 26978
| Decision Date | 09 March 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 26978,26978 |
| Citation | 187 S.E.2d 856,228 Ga. 763 |
| Parties | Ralph SPURLIN v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1, 2. Denial of motions for continuance and for subpoena of court records was not erroneous.
3. Venue of the offense was proved.
4. Denial of the motion for mistrial was proper.
5. The two documents were duly authenticated and were therefore correctly admitted in evidence.
6. Denial of the amended motion for new trial was not error.
Marshall L. Fountain, Louisville, for appellant.
H. Reginald Thompson, Dist. Atty., Swainsboro, for appellee.
This appeal is from the judgment of conviction and sentence for the offense of armed robbery. The appellant Ralph Spurlin was indicted by the Grand Jury of Jefferson County and was tried by a jury in the Superior Court of that county. The indictment alleged in substance that he and two others on a named date in that county unlawfully and with force of arms took from a named person a '1970 Chrysler Newport Sedan automobile . . . of the property of Richmond County, Georgia, of the value of $5000.00 by use of a pistol, the same being an offensive weapon . . .' For a related case see Spurlin v. The State, 228 Ga. 2, 183 S.E.2d 765.
The appellant makes six enumerations of error.
1, 2. Two enumerations are similar and therefore may be considered together.
The first asserts that the trial court erred in overruling appellant's motion for continuance, made at the beginning of the trial, upon the ground that he had not had time to subpoena four witnesses in his behalf who were then confined in the Georgia State Prison at Reidsville. The second of these urges that the trial court erred in overruling appellant's motion, made during the testimony of a prosecuting witness, to subpoena a court record from Fulton County, Georgia.
In both of these motions denial was within the sound discretion of the trial judge and there is no showing here as to an abuse of discretion. Due diligence required efforts to secure the presence of these witnesses and the court record in advance of the trial. It appears that the appellant had not made these matters known to his court appointed counsel. These enumerations are clearly without merit.
3. The third enumeration insists that the trial court erred in overruling appellant's motion for directed verdict of acquittal upon the ground that venue of the offense charged was not proved to be within Jefferson County, Georgia. The evidence was sufficient to establish venue.
The victim of the robbery testified that when they were traveling in Jefferson County the appellant told him that all he and the co-indictees wanted was 'the gun and the car', and that while there they held the gun on him and instructed him in the manner to proceed. It thus appears that the control of the vehicle was completely taken over from the victim in Jefferson County.
This evidence comports with the statute as to armed robbery (Ga.L.1969, p. 810, Code Ann. § 26-1902). It provides in essential part tht 'A person commits armed robbery when, with intent to commit theft, he takes the property of another from the person or the immediate presence of another by use of an offensive weapon . . .'
4. An enumeration states that the trial court erred in denying appellant's motion for mistrial upon the ground that he was brought into court and put on trial before a jury while dressed in prison clothes, which unlawfully put...
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...with Code § 38-601; Musgrove v. State, 230 Ga. 46, 195 S.E.2d 407; McIntyre v. Balkcom, 229 Ga. 81, 189 S.E.2d 445; Spurlin v. State, 228 Ga. 763, 766, 187 S.E.2d 856. Although not required to do so, Warden Bruce Brown, of the Ware Correctional Institute, connected appellant with the senten......
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Slade v. State
...and a motion for mistrial is properly denied. Sharpe v. State, 119 Ga.App. 222(1), 166 S.E.2d 645 (1969). See also Spurlin v. State, 228 Ga. 763, 765(4), 187 S.E.2d 856 (1972) (no motion until close of State's evidence); Wilkes v. State, 221 Ga.App. 390, 392(2), 471 S.E.2d 332 (1996); Carsw......
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Culbertson v. State
...not a basis for reversal, inasmuch as the evidence adduced at trial otherwise revealed that he was a prisoner. See Spurlin v. State, 228 Ga. 763, 765(4), 187 S.E.2d 856 (1972); Sharpe v. State, 119 Ga.App. 222, 223(1), 166 S.E.2d 645 (1969). "Where, as in this case, the prisoner was being t......
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...a defendant who has been confined in a lawful place of confinement.' Krist v. State, 133 Ga.App. 197, 210 S.E.2d 381; Spurlin v. State, 228 Ga. 763, 765(4), 187 S.E.2d 856. (b) We conclude, however, that the trial court erred in denying McKenzey's motion in regard to his appearance before s......