Hogan v. State
Hogan v. State
Opinion of the Court
Willie James Hogan appeals from his conviction of armed robbery and the denial of his motion for a new trial.
1. Hogan first contends that there was insufficient evidence to support the verdict. This contention is without merit.
A convenience store security guard testified that on the night of
2. Hogan complains in his second enumeration that the trial court erred in refusing to give his requested charge to the jury on the lesser included offense of theft by taking. “The correct rule is that a written request to charge a lesser included offense must always be given if there is any evidence that the defendant is guilty of the lesser included offense.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Walton v. State, 201 Ga. App. 118, 119 (410 SE2d 339) (1991). Hogan’s sole defense was that he denied being in the victim’s cab at the time of the incident. Thus, the evidence showed that Hogan either participated in an armed robbery or that he did nothing at all. There is no evidence that Hogan merely committed a theft by taking. “Although both robbery and theft by taking have been held to be lesser included offenses of armed robbery, it is not necessary to charge on the lesser included offense where the evidence demonstrates completion of the greater offense.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Belcher v. State, 201 Ga. App. 139, 141 (4) (410 SE2d 344) (1991). As the evidence in this case demonstrated that Hogan either completed an armed robbery or that he was not present at the scene of the crime, the trial court did not err in refusing to charge the jury on theft by taking.
3. Hogan’s final argument is that the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury that its verdict must be unanimous. At the outset, we note that the record on appeal shows that the court polled the jurors, upon Hogan’s request, after receiving their verdict. The record contains no indication that the jury’s verdict was not unanimous. Furthermore, Hogan made no request, either written or oral, that the court give a charge to the jurors that their verdict must be unanimous. “It is not error for the trial court in the absence of a written request to fail to charge that a jury verdict must be unanimous. [Cit.]” Smith v. State, 161 Ga. App. 240, 241 (3) (288 SE2d 304) (1982). Moreover, although the trial judge never used the word “unanimous” in his jury instructions, we find that the judge did in
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.