Wilburn v. State
| Decision Date | 31 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 27895,27895 |
| Parties | Herman Franklin WILBURN v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Harrison & Garner, G. Hughel Harrison, Lawrenceville, for appellant.
W. Bryant Huff, Dist. Atty., Gary L. Davis, Dawson Jackson, Lawrenceville, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Courtney Wilder Stanton, Asst. Atty. Gen., B. Dean Grindle, Jr., Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
Herman Franklin Wilburn was indicted and convicted of the murder of Bonnie Skinner (also known as Mrs. Herman Franklin Wilburn) by shooting her with a pistol. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The evidence shows that the defendant and the deceased had lived together as man and wife at the home of his father for about a year; that his father and his 17-year-old brother Jack also lived in the home. On the night of September 8, 1972, the defendant, the deceased and Jack went to a movie in the deceased's car. About 11:00 p.m., they brought Jack back to the home and the defendant and the deceased went for a ride. Jack never saw the deceased again but about 3:15 o'clock the next morning the defendant returned to the home alone. He gave Jack his .38 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol and asked him to wipe the deceased's fingerprints off it. Jack unloaded the pistol, wiped the fingerprints and blood from it, and laid it on the tank in the lavatory. At the request of the defendant, Jack also wiped some blood out of the seat of the car. Jack and the defendant then went in the car to look for their father. The defendant told Jack that the deceased was trying to shoot him, and that he just twisted the gun around, that it discharged, and that he then threw her body in the Chattahoochee River at Rogers Bridge. While they were riding, the defendant was drinking liquor and when he went to sleep, Jack turned the car around and came back to their home about 7:00 a.m. The father was home at that time and Jack reported the facts to him. The defendant was drunk and asleep in the car at that time and had the pistol stuck in his belt. The father took the pistol and later gave it to the police officers. Jack and his father went to Rodgers Bridge and found fresh bloodstains on the bridge. Jack went to get the police.
About 2:00 o'clock on the morning of the homicide, the defendant went to the home of a friend and told him that he had been to the river, that he and the deceased had had an argument about her talking with a truck driver, that the deceased had 'pointed a gun at him and he started to wring it out of her hand and the gun went off.' The defendant had blood on his hands and some on his shirt. He washed his hands at his friend's house and stayed there about an hour.
The police officers who were summoned arrived at the defendant's home about 7:30 a.m. and found the defendant sleeping in the front seat of the car; there was blood on the dash inside the car; the officers awakened the defendant and asked him where Bonnie Skinner was and he said he did not know. He stated that he did not know 'where the bloodstains came from.' The defendant was not then placed under arrest nor were his movements restricted. The defendant got out of the car, was walking around it and stated that he guessed 'he blew her brains out.' The remark was made spontaneously by him and was not in response to any question. The defendant had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and was cursing. After the officers were there about 45 minutes the defendant was arrested on a public drunk charge.
Detective Puckett testified that he found the body of a white female he identified as Bonnie Skinner in the Chattahoochee River; that he knew it was she because he had seen her driver's license photograph earlier in the day and because he had been told what kind of clothes she was wearing at the time her body was thrown into the river.
One witness testified that Bonnie Skinner worked at a Truck Stop on Highway I-85; that she and the defendant came by the Truck Stop on the night of the homicide sometime between 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. and that Bonnie was driving the car.
Dennis A. Mills, a Gwinnett County Detective, testified that on September 9th about 7:35 a.m. he received a radio call which initiated his investigation. He went to the home of the defendant where another officer was already present and asked the defendant where his wife was. The defendant told him she was in the house. Officer Mills left the defendant's home and went to the police station where he talked with the defendant's brother, Jack. Officer Mills returned to the defendant's home and made some pictures of the automobile of the deceased which showed bloodstains on the seat, on the floorboard on the right, in the front seat area, and a few bloodstains around the door area on the driver's side. He went to Rogers Bridge in Duluth about 9:00 a.m. and observed bloodstains on the bridge. A search was conducted of the river and the body of Bonnie Skinner was found about 1:00 p.m. that day about 12 feet from the Gwinnett County shore line-the river was 50 feet wide at that point. Earlier in the day at 11:40 a.m., Officer Mills talked with the defendant at the police station. At that time he was placed under arrest for murder. The defendant was advised of his constitutional rights, stated that he understood them and wanted to make a statement. The defendant told the officers that Bonnie Skinner was not actually his wife but that they had lived together off and on for the last four years; that he was drinking liquor and beer that night, that he, Bonnie, and his brother Jack went to a drive-in movie that night and left there about 12:30 a.m.; that he took his brother home; that he and Bonnie went to the Truck Stop; that Bonnie got out of the car, went over in the parking lot and talked to a truck driver; they left the Truck Stop with Bonnie driving the car; that an argument developed over her talking with the truck driver; that she slapped him, that while they were driving down the road, she pulled his gun from underneath the seat on the driver's side, cocked it, and pointed it at him; that he grabbed the...
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