Watts v. Grimes
Decision Date | 08 April 1968 |
Docket Number | No. 24535,24535 |
Citation | 224 Ga. 227,161 S.E.2d 286 |
Parties | Alice WATTS v. T. Ralph GRIMES, Sheriff. |
Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Walter M. Henritze, Jr., Atlanta, for appellant.
Lewis R. Slaton, Sol. Gen., J. Roger Thompson, J. Walter LeCraw, Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Fulton County denying the writ of habeas corpus to Alice Watts, who had been convicted of a felony (shoplifting) and sentenced to serve five years. Her contention is that she is being illegally detained because the trial judge denied bail to her pending her appeal. Held:
Section 7 of the Appellate Practice Act (Ga.L.1965, pp. 18, 22; Code Ann. § 6-1001) provides: The language, 'If the sentence be bailable,' means where it is bailable in the sound discretion of the trial judge. Vanderford v. Brand, 126 Ga. 67(2), 69, 54 S.E. 822, 9 Ann.Cas. 617; Fountain v. Crum, 148 Ga. 272, 96 S.E. 337; Crumley v. Gibbs, 149 Ga. 119, 99 S.E. 297; Ingram v. Grimes, 213 Ga. 652, 100 S.E.2d 914; Sellers v. State, 112 Ga.App. 607, 145 S.E.2d 827. Only in misdemeanor cases is one convicted entitled to bail as a matter of law. Code § 27-901.
The granting or refusing of bail in felony cases after indictment and conviction is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court, and this court will not control that discretion unless it has been flagrantly abused. Bishop v. Wilbanks, 161 Ga. 305, 130 S.E. 819; Smith v. State, 203 Ga. 636, 47 S.E.2d 866.
We are of the opinion that Judge Etheridge was correct in denying the writ of habeas corpus, as no abuse of discretion in denying the petitioner bail was shown on the part of Judge Long, who tried the petitioner's case. He had ample cause to deny bail. In its verdict finding the petitioner guilty the jury fixed her punishment at five years and recommended that she be punished as for a misdemeanor. On this issue the court heard from the solicitor general, who presented her F.B.I. record, which showed a conviction for shoplifting in December, 1957, on which she was given a probation sentence, which was later revoked, and that she had been...
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...discretion of the trial court, and this court will not control that discretion unless it has been flagrantly abused.' Watts v. Grimes, 224 Ga. 227, 161 S.E.2d 286 (1968). '(T)he burden of seeking a stay of execution and a release on bond is upon the applicant.' Moore v. State, 151 Ga.App. 4......
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