Creel v. State
Creel v. State
Opinion of the Court
Katie Ann Creel, a white girl 17 years of age, was jointly indicted with William L. Johnson, in Chatham Superior Court, for the murder of Joel Ross, a Negro boy, also- 17 years of age. She was tried separately. The jury returned a verdict of guilty with a recommendation of mercy, and the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. To the judgment denying her motion for a new trial, containing the usual general grounds and four special grounds, she excepts. Held:
1. The evidence introduced on the trial of the case, together
2. In the first special ground of the motion for a new trial, it is alleged that, while Officer Hallman was testifying with reference to a photograph of the place where the pistol used by the defendant was found after the homicide, and identifying the persons shown in the photograph as another officer and the jointly indicted defendant Johnson, he was permitted
3. The 3rd special ground of the motion assigns error on the admission in evidence of that portion of the statement made by Johnson, the, person jointly indicted with the defendant, that “I was present and heard the statement made earlier by Katie Ann Creel about the shooting of the colored boy at Charlton and Jefferson Street. What she said at that time is the truth about the shooting,” which statement is shown to have been made by this person in the presence of the defendant. The objection urged was that Johnson was in court and was available as a witness, and his testimony would be the highest and best evidence; that the statements made about a person in custody, even in his presence, do not have to be affirmed or denied, and such evidence cannot be offered as an admission by silence; that whatever statement Johnson made to the officer would not be binding or admissible against the defendant. Held:
(a) That the person making a 'written statement is in court does not render the written statement made by him inadmissible. Phillips v. State, 206 Ga. 418, 420 (4a) (57 S. E. 2d 555).
(b) While Code § 38-414 provides that “The confession of one joint offender or conspirator, made after the enterprise is
(c) The admission in evidence of this statement by the joint defendant, made in the presence of the plaintiff in error, which corroborated the statement she herself had made, was not error. Jones v. State, 210 Ga. 94 (2) (78 S. E. 2d 18).
4. Special ground 4 excepts to the refusal to give a written request to charge the law of accident as embraced in Code § 26-404 and the definition of accident in Code § 102-103. In her statement to the jury the defendant said: “I had been out to the Dixi-Lan Drive-In with Billie, and he had this gun in the glove compartment of his car; he took it out there and showed me how to shoot it and he put it back. Later on when we were driving down the street, I got the gun and shot one time; I don’t know whether I hit anybody or not. I didn’t mean to; it was an accident. I was going south on Jefferson and the boy that was killed was going south. When I got the gun out of the glove compartment of the car, I shot it once; I don’t know how the bullet could have hit the boy; it’s almost impossible. I don’t think an expert could have hit him, not like that.” Having thus admitted that she was at the time engaged in the unlawful act of wilfully and wantonly firing a loaded pistol between dark and daylight on a public highway, not on her own premises, or in defense of person or property, in violation of Code § 26-7301, and from which the homicide resulted, the defense of accidental homicide was not involved, and the trial judge did not err in refusing to give the written request to charge. Griffin v.
Judgment affirmed.
070rehearing
On Motion Eor Rehearing.
In the motion for rehearing it is contended that this court overlooked “speeiál ground four” of the motion for a new trial, and the contention of the defendant therein that the admission in evidence of the statement of the codefendant therein referred to “was in violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights, in that she was not confronted with the witness.” No such question was mentioned in “special ground four.” That ground assigned error on the refusal of the court to give in charge a written request, and is disposed of in the fourth division of the opinion. The defendant attempted to raise in special ground three the question now presented, and it was not overlooked. The 3rd division of the opinion deals with all questions properly made therein. By reference to the record it will be seen that this ground fails to disclose that the objection now urged was made at the proper time before the trial judge, and therefore it cannot be considered by this court. Lankford v. Holton, 187 Ga. 94, 100 (8) (200 S. E. 243), and cases there cited.
Motion for rehearing denied.
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