Arnold v. State
This text of 276 S.E.2d 67 (Arnold v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
The defendant appeals his conviction of 3 counts of forgery. Held:
1. It is contended that the trial judge erred in denying the defendant’s motion for directed verdict as to Counts 1 and 3 of the indictment. Since the record reveals the jury returned a verdict of not guilty as to those counts, this enumeration of error is without merit.
2. The remaining enumerations of error concern the admission of testimony that the defendant fled from custody and a charge on flight.
Contrary to defendant’s assertion, there was testimony that the defendant was “under arrest” at the time he fled “the premises of the police department.”
In Barnett v. State, 136 Ga. 65 (3) (70 SE 868) the Supreme Court held: “It is not erroneous to charge in effect that flight by one accused of crime, immediately after the alleged commission of the criminal act, may be considered by the jury as a circumstance, not sufficient of itself to establish guilt, but as a circumstance in determining the guilt or innocence of the accused; and that flight should always be considered by the jury in connection with the motive that prompted it, and, at most, is only one of a series of circumstances from which guilt may be inferred. Smith v. State, 103
Ga. 673 (32 SE 851, 71 Am. St. R. 286).”
It was not error to admit evidence of flight and the charge on such issue was not subject to the objections urged.
Judgment affirmed.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
276 S.E.2d 67, 157 Ga. App. 1, 1981 Ga. App. LEXIS 1695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arnold-v-state-gactapp-1981.