Waldrop v. State
| Citation | 144 S.E.2d 372,221 Ga. 319 |
| Decision Date | 09 September 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 23049,23049 |
| Parties | Charles WALDROP v. The STATE. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Georgia |
On the trial, the State's evidence and the defendant's statement, in substance shows:
Sammy R. Farmer testified that he lived in Itala, Alabama; that he got into an automobile with Charles Stephens, O'Neal Williams, James Kilgore and Charles Waldrop in Itala, Alabama and sat in the rear seat between Kilgore and Waldrop; that they told him that they had a job to do in Georgia which they could not do because they were too well known; that he moved forward on the seat and started to get out of the car but Waldrop put his hand on the armrest of the door and told him to come on to Georgia with them and if he did not want to go through with the job, they would see that he got back home; that just before they arrived in College Park, the others told him the job involved was the Harris Supermarket and that he would be with Kilgore; that they drove by the supermarket about 4:30 or 5 p. m. and Stephens told them how the robbery would be committed and how they would make their getaway; that they went to an apartment at 710 E. Columbia Avenue where they all sat down and began to 'stage' the crime and the plans agreed on were for him and Kilgore to do the actual robbery and that Williams, Stephens and Waldrop were to be in the second car; that he and Kilgore were to enter the front of the store at which time Williams, Stephens and Waldrop were to go to a church and wait for them; that they had two special coats, two special hats and two pistols for use in committing the robbery; that on Thursday they went to the supermarket about 9 p. m. but it was closed and for that reason they did not rob it; that the next morning they were all at the apartment and decided to go back to the supermarket and rob it; that Friday night he and Kilgore left in one car, and Williams, Waldrop and Stephens left in the other; that they arrived at the supermarket 3 to 5 minutes before closing time and waited to see whether the money had been taken out of the cash register and if the safe was opened but the robbery was not perpetrated that night; that Waldrop did not stay at the apartment with them Friday night; that Saturday morning Kilgore woke him and told him he would soon have his pockets full of money and be headed back toward Alabama; that when they got outside the apartment, he told Stephens he was not going through with the robbery and Williams got in the car with Kilgore and he was told to drive the other car; that at Stephens' direction he drove to a place where they could see the front door of the supermarket and saw Kilgore and Williams enter the door thereof and then they drove to a place just back of a church and Stephens directed him to stop; that later Kilgore and Williams stepped out from behind some bushes and got in the car; that they had a brown bag with them and wore the hats and coats identified by the employees of the supermarket as those worn by the robbers; that all five of them then went to the apartment where the money was counted and divided into five separate parts but that he did not see Waldrop get any of it.
Captain E. E. Peppers and Detective Samuel M. Gadsden who are employed by the College Park Police Department testified that they had had Apartments 29 and 31 at 710 E. Columbia Avenue under surveillance for about 10 days immediately before the commission of the robbery; that on Thursday about 9 p. m., two days before the robbery, they saw the defendant Waldrop outside the apartment with Charles Stephens, Sammy R. Farmer, O'Neal Williams and James Kilgore; that two of them had on overcoats and hats and their hands were in their pockets; that they arrested Waldrop and his four companions in the apartment about 4 to 4:30 p. m. on the day of the robbery; that in the same apartment they seized two money bags, two pistols, the two identified coats; some change; and that a pistol was recovered from the trunk of Stephens' Cadillac.
Employees of the supermarket identified O'Neal Williams and Jack Kilgore as the perpetrators of the robbery and identified the overcoats, hats and pistols used in the robbery and which were recovered from the apartment at which they were staying by the police officers at the time of their arrests.
In his unsworn statement to the jury the defendant said that Stephens came to his home in Tallapoosa, Ga., and had some liquor; that he asked him to go to Alabama with them; that they went to Itala, Ala., and got Sammy R. Farmer; that Farmer, Stephens, Kilgore, Williams and himself all came back to Atlanta to an apartment at 710 E. Columbia Avenue; that some women were there and they were drinking and having a party; that he stayed there a couple of days about half drunk; that when Stephens would invite him to ride around, he would go with them; that he was always in the car and on Saturday morning, after they had all been drinking the night before, they drove somewhere over the railroad track but that he was passed out in the back seat; that they came back to the apartment and he laid on a sofa and later went to the door and saw the other four counting money; that they tried to give him some, 'I guess for riding in the car with them and when I found out what happened, I wouldn't have accepted it, because I am not a robber' but he later specifically said he did not accept any of the money.
Larry Cohran, Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.
Albert Wallace, Sol. Gen., Charles J. Driebe, Jonesboro, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Rubye G. Jackson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for defendant in error.
Charles Waldrop, Sammy R. Farmer and Charles Stephens were jointly indicted in Clayton County for the offense of robbery. The indictment alleges that they, together with James Kilgore and O'Neal Williams entered into a conspiracy with each other to rob the Harris Supermarket; that pursuant to such conspiracy, the robbery was accomplished on February 29, 1964, and $5,710 was taken by intimidation and by use of offensive weapons from such place of business; that James Kilgore and O'Neal Williams were the actual perpetrators of the robbery; but this defendant, Sammy R. Farmer and Charles Stephens did procure, counsel and induce them to perpetrate the robbery and did in specified ways aid and abet them in its commission, though not actually present at the time and place of its commission. Waldrop was tried separately. He was convicted of robbery by use of an offensive weapon and was sentenced to serve a prison term. His amended motion for a new trial was overruled and he excepted to that judgment. Held:
1. To authorize a felony conviction on the testimony of an accomplice, it is necessary that the evidence of the accomplice be corroborated (Code § 38-121), and 'the corroborating circumstances should be such as, independently of his testimony, to lead to the inference that the defendant is guilty.' McCalla v. State, 66 Ga. 346; Callaway v. State, 151 Ga. 342, 106 S.E. 577; Langston v. State, 153 Ga. 127(3), 111 S.E. 561; Whaley v. State, 177 Ga. 757(2), 171 S.E. 290; and Jackson v. State, 219 Ga. 819, 136 S.E.2d 375. But Hargrove v. State, 125 Ga. 270, 274, 54 S.E. 164, 166; Rawlins v. State, 124 Ga. 31, 49, 52 S.E. 1; Mitchell v. State, 202 Ga. 247(3), 42 S.E.2d 767. In the present case the jury was authorized to find that the evidence of the alleged accomplice was sufficiently corroborated.
(a) Where two or more persons enter into a conspiracy to commit a penal offense and in furtherance of the conspiracy the offense is committed all of the conspirators who act together in consummating the object of the conspiracy are guilty though some be absent at the time and place of its commission. Gore v. State, 162 Ga. 267, 134 S.E. 36.
Since the evidence of the State's witness Farmer shows that this defendant actively participated in the commission of the alleged robbery and that his evidence...
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