Woodall v. State
| Decision Date | 04 November 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 30240,30240 |
| Citation | 235 Ga. 525,221 S.E.2d 794 |
| Parties | Alton Bariece WOODALL v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Wynn Pelham, Lawrenceville, for appellant.
Bryant Huff, Dist. Atty., Dawson Jackson, Asst. Dist. Atty., Lawrenceville, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., John W. Dunsmore, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.
This is an appeal by Alton Bariece Woodall from a conviction by jury on a charge of armed robbery and sentence of 15 years imprisonment. Defendant was acquitted of a charge of kidnapping in the same trial. The main issue presented in this appeal is the sufficiency of the eivdence to sustain the verdict of guilty of armed robbery. The conviction of Gordon Welch, a co-indictee tried separately, was affirmed in Welch v. State, 235 Ga. 243, 215 S.E.2d 247 (1975).
On December 9, 1974, George West, manager of a service station south of Duluth in Gwinnett County, was closing up the station for the day. At around 9:45 p.m., a man who identified himself as Joe Downs came to the station, offered West a beer and asked West to make some telephone calls for him. Downs conversed with West until 10:55, when Downs left to go to the beer store. He returned shortly and went to use the phone in the booth on the station lot.
While Downs was in the phone booth, West saw a short man wearing a ski mask and overcoat, holding a shotgun, standing by a gas pump. The man ordered West to go inside and get the money out of the cash register. At first West refused, but the masked man persuaded him by pulling the bolt on the shotgun.
West entered the station and unlocked the register. When he noticed that the robber had not followed him inside, he relocked the register and tried to escape through the other door, which was locked. While West looked for the right key, Downs entered the office. West told him that a robbery was in progress and not to do anything foolish. The robber came to the door and ordered both men to come out of the office. West unlocked the cash register, and Downs and West went outside with the robber behind.
The robber ordered West to get into West's car. The robber got into the back seat and ordered West to drive. When he noticed that Downs had disappeared the robber said: 'Where is the other guy?' West looked around and saw Downs' car on the lot, but Downs was not in sight. The robber, in the seat behind West, ordered him to drive on, which West did. The robber asked for the money. West said he didn't bring it. The robber ordered West to turn around and go back for the money. The rear window of the car was coated with ice, and West backed into a ditch.
The robber ordered West to get out and open the rear door. (The rear door on the driver's side had no inside handle.) West got out but took that opportunity to escape. He ran back to the station and called the police. Downs and his automobile were gone. He discovered that the bills, $203, were gone from the cash register. West was away from the station 15 minutes.
West told the police about the robbery. After the police left, West was clearing up things at the station when a man walked up and asked if the phone worked. The man resembled the robber in height and weight, so West contacted the police again. They arrived one or two minutes later. The man identified himself as Gordon Welch. This occurred about an hour after the robbery took place.
West testified that the robber was 5 4 to 5 6 tall and weighed between 140 and 160 pounds. He was certain that the robber was not 6 feet tall. He said the robber was wearing a ski mask with a green ring around it, which permitted part of his eyes and nose and a little of his face to show. The robber appeared to have a rounded face with a fair complexion, although West stated that his attention was focused on the gun. West testified that the robber seemed drunk or doped and that his speech was slurred. He testified that the masked robber was never in the office where the cash register was located, nor did he take any money from West's person. West identified the coat, ski mask, and gun.
At trial, defendant Woodall put on the ski mask and overcoat. West judged the defendant to be 6 feet tall and weigh 180 to 185 pounds. He said he didn't think that defendant Woodall was the man who robbed him at gunpoint.
Officer J. B. Riley of the Gwinnett County Police Department testified that he answered a robbery call from the service station at around 11:30 p.m. on December 9th. He returned to the station about 40 minutes later and found Gordon Welch, 5 7 to 5 8 tall, weighing about 140 pounds. He placed Welch under arrest, read him his Miranda rights, and turned him over to Detective White.
Detective Carl White testified that he received a radio dispatch to go to the service station. He had a conversation there with Welch which led him, accompanied by Welch, to a dirt road and to a spot in a ditch five to seven feet from the road, where he found a shotgun, a coat and a ski mask. These items were located at a point about half way between the station and the place where West's car went into the ditch.
White took a statement from Welch and obtained warrants for the arrest of defendant Alton Bariece Woodall. He went to Woodall's residence and arrested him. White also had a warrant for the arrest of Ladell Woodall, but did not arrest him because he was, to the best of the officer's knowledge, in Florida.
Detective B. H. Blannott testified that he accompanied White to arrest the defendant at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. They knocked and were met almost immediately by the defendant, who was dressed in trousers and a T-shirt, with no shoes on. They entered and presented him with the warrant, simultaneously asking if he knew what this was all about. He replied that he did. Blannott said that he did not know whether the defendant meant that he knew about warrants or whether he meant he knew about the crimes charged in those warrants. They searched the defendant and found no money.
Detective White testified that en route to the police station Woodall told them that his car had been seen in the vicinity of the service station where all the police cars were. He said Woodall said that '. . . it would have to be proved that he knew what the guy was going to do when the guy got out of the car.'
Gordon Welch was called to the stand as a witness for the state. He testified that he is the defendant's brother-in-law.
Welch testified that he believed he went to the defendant's house on December 9, the day of the robbery, but that he was drinking heavily and does not remember very much. He testified that he didn't remember if Ladell Woodall was there and didn't remember leaving the defendant's trailer or where he went from there.
The state showed Welch a signed statement which he acknowledged contained his signature. The prosecution examined Welch using this statement but Welch responded 'I don't remember' to each question. Over defense objection, Welch admitted that he had been convicted the day before for armed robbery and kidnapping in connection with this same transaction.
Pleading entrapment the state was allowed to recall Detective White to introduce Welch's statement for the purpose of impeaching its own witness. That statement showed that Welch let the defendant and Ladell Woodall out on a dirt road in the vicinity of the service station, then drove to another location and parked. Welch waited 20 to 25 minutes, heard the sound of running feet, and saw his co-conspirators coming. 1 The defendant gave the coat and shotgun to Welch, instructing him to hide them. When Welch left the car to hide the items the other two drove away without him. Welch hid the items and waited. Finally he went to the nearest telephone, which happened to be at the service station, and called the police. The connection was bad so he hung up to call back but the police arrived in the meantime.
The statement also showed that defendant and Ladell Woodall were discussing the robbery of the station after noon on December 9, that the defendant said that it would be an easy job with a lot of money involved, and that they left the defendant's house at 9:30 or 9:45, stopped to buy a 6-pack of beer, and then the defendant told Welch where to let them out.
James T. Burton, chief criminal investigator with the D.A.'s office in Gwinnett County, called by the state to impeach Welch, testified that he had a conversation with Welch the week before trial in the presence of Welch's attorney during which he went over Welch's statement with him and the attorney. He testified that Welch had no difficulty recalling anything in the statement and had drawn a diagram to accompany it. He testified that Welch said he threw Ladell Woodall's name into the statement to cover for a third party whose name he would not reveal.
Burton testified on cross-examination Joe Downs, but his whereabouts were completely that several attempts were made to locate Joe Downs, but his whereabouts were completely 'transient alcoholic' with several addresses.
Eddie Woodall, the defendant's father, testified for the State that the shotgun in evidence belonged to him and that he had given it to his son to guard his cattle against wild dogs while he was in Florida visiting his other son, Ladell, on Thanksgiving. He also testified that the defendant bought a ski mask to wear while feeding the cattle in cold weather.
At the close of the State's evidence, the defense moved for a directed verdict on the grounds that (1) no money was taken from West's person and a third person might have taken the money in the cash register; (2) the appellant did not kidnap anyone. The motion was denied.
The defendant took the stand to testify in his own behalf. He testified that he first saw Welch at 12:00 noon on the day of the robbery and that he took him to a store to buy some beer. The defendant then took Welch home. He saw Welch again at 3:15 or 3:30 when Welch came...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Brockman v. State
...are supported by the evidence). 2. “[T]aking of property is an essential element of the crime of armed robbery.” Woodall v. State, 235 Ga. 525, 533, 221 S.E.2d 794 (1975). See OCGA § 16–8–41(a). Because the only statutory aggravating circumstance introduced by the State and found by the jur......
-
Conner v. State
...§ 16-8-41 (Code Ann. § 26-1902). The "taking of property is an essential element of the crime of armed robbery." Woodall v. State, 235 Ga. 525, 533, 221 S.E.2d 794 (1975). The property alleged by the state to have been taken in the armed robbery was the bloody $5 bill which appellant subseq......
-
Gutierrez v. State
...with the majority that the taking of property of another is an essential element of the crime of armed robbery ( Woodall v. State, 235 Ga. 525, 533, 221 S.E.2d 794 (1975)), and asportation of property without the consent of the owner constitutes a taking. See Crawford v. State, 90 Ga. 701(1......
-
Russell v. State, 62143
...with reference to circumstantial evidence alone and rendered the defendant's request to charge unnecessary. Compare Woodall v. State, 235 Ga. 525, 532-533, 221 S.E.2d 794; Welch v. State, 235 Ga. 243, 246(1), 219 S.E.2d 5. The remaining enumerations of error involve the sufficiency of the e......