Tootle v. State

• Decision Date: 15 June 1937
• Docket Number: 26274.
• Citation: 191 S.E. 876,55 Ga.App. 865
• Parties: TOOTLE v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

191 S.E. 876

55 Ga.App. 865

TOOTLE v. STATE.

No. 26274.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, First Division

June 15, 1937

Syllabus by the Court.

The testimony of the accomplice of the defendant that he and the defendant entered into an agreement to steal hogs and sell them and split the proceeds fifty-fifty, and that in pursuance of this agreement he got the hog for which he and the defendant were indicted for stealing from the defendant and sold it to a named person, was corroborated by testimony which, independently of the testimony of such accomplice connected defendant with the theft of the hog. The trial judge therefore did not err in overruling the defendant's motion for new trial based only on the general grounds.

Error from Superior Court, Tattnall County; J. T. Grice, Judge.

Emmett Tootle was convicted of theft of a hog, and he brings error.

Affirmed.

H. H Elders, of Reidsville, for plaintiff in error.

J. P Dukes, Sol. Gen., of Pembroke, for the State.

GUERRY Judge.

The defendant was convicted of the theft of a certain hog, the property of J. R. Rushing. His motion for new trial containing only the general grounds, was overruled, and he excepts. Rushing testified to the loss of the hog described in the indictment, and that the hog, at or about the time it was stolen, was on the open range around his place. Thad Lanier, husband of the defendant's step-granddaughter, a witness for the State, testified that on or about the second Saturday in June, he and the defendant agreed to steal some hogs and sell them and split the proceeds fifty-fifty. "In pursuance of that agreement we got a white sow hog [the indictment described a white sow hog 'crop in one ear and split and underbut in the other ear'] and I carried it and sold it to Mr. Foy Lewis. * * * I got that hog and sold it the second Monday in June. * * * I am the fellow just plead guilty to this stealing. * * * I got this white sow out of Mr. Tootle's lot. * * * I was there in my car and my wife was with me. I went there and took Mr. Tootle home. We left Jesup about eight o'clock Sunday morning to bring Mr. Tootle home, and got to his home about noon. I got these hogs Monday morning. Me and my wife were together. That is the same hog I have plead guilty to stealing. * * * I have seen Mr. Emmett Tootle since I have been in jail here in Reidsville; he come to the jail and said, 'Lanier, I understand you are going to have a preliminary hearing, and I want you to waive it and give me time to get Budley Beasley to settle it,' and I told him I didn't believe he could settle it, and he then said he would give me $50 beween then and court if I would plead guilty and take it all on myself." Mrs. Thad Lanier testified in part for the State as follows: "I saw Emmett Tootle in Jesup with my sister, and we all went to my sister's later and ate supper. Me and my husband then went home, and the next morning, we brought grandpapa home and stayed there with him until next morning, Monday morning. My husband carried two hogs back to Jesup with him next morning. * * * I heard grandfather tell Thad that he had some...