Todd v. State, 34300
| Citation | 243 Ga. 539,255 S.E.2d 5 |
| Decision Date | 24 April 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 34300,34300 |
| Parties | TODD v. The STATE. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Georgia |
Louise T. Hornsby, Fulton County Public Defender, Eloise W. Newhard, Atlanta, for appellant.
Ralph Lee Todd, pro se.
Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., William B. Hill, Jr., Staff Asst. Atty. Gen., Lewis R. Slaton, Dist. Atty., Victor Alexander, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
The appellant, Ralph Lee Todd, was indicted on October 1, 1976, for the murder of Blair Thomas. He was tried by a jury and found guilty; the state had sought the death penalty, but because the jury was unable to reach a verdict as to sentence, the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment. 1
The evidence showed that two female Clark College students left Church's Fried Chicken near Morris Brown College about midnight on September 12, 1976. As they walked toward the campus, a man behind them who was wearing a dark blue jacket and dark blue skullcap grabbed their collars and pointed a gun at one student's head. Their assailant said that they had robbed his cousin and he wanted the money. The two women denied this. One of them said she only had a dollar which she gave the assailant.
He then forced the students to walk to a nearby field. As they reached the field, one of the young women fell to her knees, crying. Both of them then noticed Blair Thomas and another male student coming down the street. One of the young women called out for help; the other shouted that the man had a gun. The assailant then told the young men to get away and fired at them. Both fell to the ground and then got up and ran, but Blair Thomas had sustained a fatal gunshot wound from which he died shortly.
A detective investigating the case obtained Todd's name as a suspect. On September 18, 1976, he showed one of the two young women a photographic lineup consisting of six color pictures; she selected Todd's picture. She later picked Todd out of a lineup. Neither the other young woman nor the surviving young man could identify Todd.
Following the photographic lineup, Todd was arrested and his apartment was searched pursuant to a warrant. The police confiscated several items, including a high school class ring, three skullcaps, and a pawn ticket for a .38 pistol. A crime lab microanalyst testified at the trial that the bullet which killed Thomas had been fired from this pistol.
Todd himself testified that on the night of September 12, 1976, he was at home with his girlfriend with whom he lived. He also testified that he had loaned his pistol to a friend, Willis LaFrance Taylor, about September 2. He was not sure when Taylor had returned it except that he did so on a Monday morning. Todd also testified that when Taylor returned the gun a bullet was missing. He asked Taylor what had happened to it and Taylor replied that he thought he had shot someone. Todd said he didn't take this remark seriously.
Todd's girlfriend corroborated his testimony and, along with other defense witnesses, testified that there was a marked physical similarity between Taylor and Todd.
On rebuttal, a detective testified that the defendant reported to him that he saw a Larry Greenway shoot the victim.
1. Todd's first enumeration of error is that the trial court erred in overruling his motion for new trial on the general grounds. The evidence supports the verdict of guilty, and the trial court did not err in overruling the motion. Ridley v. State, 236 Ga. 147(1), 223 S.E.2d 131 (1976).
2. Todd's second enumeration of error is that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to have the court reporter read the testimony of Willis LaFrance Taylor from the transcript of the preliminary hearing because Taylor was not present at the trial. The evidence showed that Taylor had been listed as a state witness for the trial. On the first day of trial, December 6, 1976, the defendant learned that the state did not intend to call Taylor. He had not been subpoenaed by the state. According to defense counsel, he procured a subpoena for Taylor about noon on December 6 and gave it to the sheriff. The sheriff was unable to locate Taylor. The deputy sheriff assigned to the trial court testified that he was asked to locate and serve a subpoena on Taylor on December 7 through use of a telephone number that turned out to be that of Taylor's great aunt. He further testified that although to his personal knowledge no subpoena was issued, he did obtain an address which he gave to defense counsel that same day. He also said he told defense counsel that he had been told that Taylor was at work but whomever he talked to did not know where he worked. Defense witnesses corroborated defense counsel's statement that prior to trial they had made some efforts to locate Taylor, but defense counsel admitted that the pre-trial search was limited:
The issue before the trial court was whether defendant had shown that the witness was "inaccessible" under Code Ann. § 38-314. The evidence supports the trial court's determination that defendant did not show that Taylor could not "with due diligence be found within the state." LaCount v. State, 237 Ga. 181, 182, 227 S.E.2d 31, 33 (1976). Defendant was not entitled to rely on the appearance of the witness' name on the state's witness list. Bonds v. State, 232 Ga. 694(5), 208 S.E.2d 561 (1974). This was a death penalty case; the efforts by the defense to locate this witness were minimal, bordering on the strategic, rather than diligent. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling defendant's motion. Whatley v. State, 230 Ga. 523, 198 S.E.2d 176 (1973).
3. Todd's third enumeration of error is that the trial court either failed to exercise or abused its discretion in not declaring a mistrial when the jury sent out a note declaring that it was "hopelessly deadlocked" and announcing how it stood. The record shows that the note was sent to the trial judge at 11:30 a. m. The trial judge asked counsel for authority as to whether he need declare a mistrial, and then decided to research the problem himself. He told the sheriff to take the jury to lunch at noon, and stated that he would announce his decision at 1 p. m. At 12:10, however, he announced that he had received a second note in which the jury announced that it wished to continue its deliberations. The record is clear that the trial judge did not err in allowing deliberation to continue while he researched the matter and in not declaring a mistrial after the second note. The trial judge is not bound to accept the jury's feeling that it is hopelessly deadlocked.
4. Todd's fourth enumeration of error is that the trial court erred in charging felony murder in a recharge requested by the jury where the felony murder charge had not been included in the original charge. The state pointed out the omission of the felony murder charge after the original charge was given, but the trial...
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