Thornton v. State, s. 25808
Decision Date | 05 November 1970 |
Docket Number | Nos. 25808,26047,s. 25808 |
Citation | 226 Ga. 837,178 S.E.2d 193 |
Parties | Gary THORNTON v. The STATE. LeRoy STYNCHCOMBE, Sheriff v. Gary THORNTON. |
Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Gary Thornton appealed his conviction of the offense of armed robbery and life imprisonment sentence (Case no. 25808). While this appeal was pending, he filed a petition for habeas corpus, from the grant of which the appellant sheriff appeals (Case no. 26047).
1. The evidence amply authorized the verdict of guilty of the offense of armed robbery.
2. The charge of the court enumerated as the first error is: This charge in and of itself would have been harmful error but it was not error or harmful in view of the circumstances that the death penalty was eliminated as a punishment and that the court, immediately after the above enumerated charge, charged the jury: The court further charged the jury: 'I charge you further that should you find the defendant guilty of armed robbery, that is, robbery by the use of an offensive weapon, you may in your discretion fix his punishment by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than twenty years. In the event you find the defendant guilty of armed robbery and wish to fix the punishment at not less than one nor more than twenty years, the form of your verdict would be: 'We, the Jury, find the defendant guilty of armed robbery and fix his punishment at blank number of years, filling in the number of years you determine to be proper. It shall not be less than one and not greater than twenty, and it may be any term of service between those two figures. " Under these circumstances the charge was not harmful error.
3. The other enumeration of error complains of the italicized portion of the following charge: ...
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Smith v. Smith, Civ. A. No. 14304
...Subsequent to these decisions, however, the Georgia Supreme Court has persisted to uphold similar charges;8 Thornton v. State, 226 Ga. 837, 178 S.E.2d 193 (1970); Williams v. State, 226 Ga. 140, 173 S.E.2d 182 (1970); and have refused to consider the constitutionality of the alibi charge on......
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Bassett v. Smith, 71-2513.
...219 Tenn. 4, 405 S.W.2d 768, 773 (1966); Commonwealth v. Sullivan, 354 Mass. 598, 239 N.E.2d 5, 10 (1969). 5 See Thornton v. State, 226 Ga. 837, 178 S.E.2d 193 (1970). 1 That principle is implicitly recognized throughout the majority 2 The Eighth Circuit invalidated the Iowa alibi instructi......
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Smith v. Smith, 71-1311.
...Stump and Johnson. Parham v. State, 120 Ga. App. 723, 171 S.E.2d 911 (1969). The Georgia Supreme Court, however, in Thornton v. State, 226 Ga. 837, 178 S.E. 2d 193 (1970), held the Georgia charge to be distinguishable on its face from the Iowa charge and refused to follow Earlier Georgia ca......
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Merneigh v. State
...doubt.' See and compare Young v. State, 225 Ga. 255, 167 S.E.2d 586; Chaffin v. State, 225 Ga. 602, 170 S.E.2d 426; Thornton v. State, 226 Ga. 837, 178 S.E.2d 193; Parham v. State, 120 Ga.App. 723, 171 S.E.2d 911; Pritchard v. State, 122 Ga.App. 780, 178 S.E.2d 808; Smith v. Smith, (Shoemak......