Arrington v. State

171 S.E. 874, 48 Ga. App. 64, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 455
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 27, 1933
Docket23162
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 171 S.E. 874 (Arrington 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.

Bluebook
Arrington v. State, 171 S.E. 874, 48 Ga. App. 64, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 455 (Ga. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

MacIntyre, J.

The indictment in this case charges that on December 5, 1932, in Floyd county, Georgia, A. B. Arrington did “forcibly, unlawfully and fraudulently lead, take, and carry away, and did then and there decoy and entice away one John Berry Turbidy, a male child of the age of four years and under the age of eighteen years, from his parent, J. L. Turbidy, against the will of, and without the consent of, the said J. L. Turbidy.” The verdict was: “Guilty of attempt to kidnap, min. 4 yrs. max. 4 yrs.” The exception is to the judgment overruling the motion for a new trial.

In special ground 1 of the motion for a new trial complaint is made of the following charge of the court: “I charge you that under the evidence in this case the offense of kidnapping was not committed, but I charge you under the evidence that the defendant might be convicted of the offense of attempting to kidnap.” The assignment of error is that in giving this charge the court expressed an opinion that while the evidence “was not sufficient to convict him of kidnapping, it was sufficient to authorize a verdict of guilty of attempting to kidnap.” Immediately following the charge quoted the court said: “ Consequently, I give you in charge section 1086;” this being the section dealing with the offense of an attempt to commit a crime. Immediately after charging said code section, the court charged the jury as- follows: “So, you look to the evidence in this case and apply it to these rules of law, and you determine the guilt or innocence of this defendant. You determine as to whether or not, within four years prior to the return of this bill, the defendant did attempt the offense of kidnapping. You determine as to whether or not he did any act towards the commission of such offense, or tried or failed in the commission thereof, or was aiding or abetting in the commission of the same. If you find that he did, and find it beyond a reasonable doubt as to his guilt, it would be your duty to convict him. If you find that he did not, or if you have a reasonable doubt as to his guilt, it would be your duty to acquit him. So, you look to the evidence in this case and apply it to these rules of law, and you determine the guilt or innocence of this defendant. As stated, you corild not convict the defendant of the offense charged in the indictment, but, as stated, you might [66]*66find him guilty of the offense of an attempt to kidnap.” The court also instructed the jury as to the forms of their verdict in the event of a conviction or an acquittal of the attempt to kidnap.

Construed in the light of its context and the charge as a whole, we do not think that the excerpt complained of is subject to the exception taken. To our minds, the court clearly instructed the jury that the defendant could not be guilty of kidnapping, but that he might be convicted or acquitted of an attempt to kidnap, accordingly as the evidence warranted. In Love v. State, 14 Ga. App. 49 (4), where in the charge to the jury the court employed the phrase, “although he might be guilty of stabbing, not in his own defense,” this court held that “such an instruction did not amount to an. expression of opinion on the facts.” We hold that the court did not err in overruling this special ground.

In special ground 2 it is contended that the court committed reversible error in charging the law relative to an attempt to commit a crime, as contained in the Penal Code (1910), § 1066. The assignments of error are: “ (a) Said indictment did not allege the offense of attempting to kidnap. (b) That said indictment did not set forth nor allege any act which would constitute such attempt. (c) Because the indictment alleged a completed offense, he was arraigned on that indictment and plead thereto, the jury were selected and sworn thereon, and he was never put on notice in any way of such offense as an attempt to kidnap, (d) Because the court in his charge on the question of an attempt to kidnap did not confine the case to an attempt to kidnap the child named in the indictment, and never once in that part of his charge referred to said child, but the charge as given throughout on the subject of the attempt would have applied to any other child, as much as the one named in the indictment. (e) Because the evidence did not authorize such charge as to this defendant.”

We hold that there is no merit in assignments (a), (b), (c), and (e), and in this connection direct attention to Arrington v. State, (23163), 48 Ga. App. (171 S. E. 878), wherein this court held that the trial judge properly overruled a motion in arrest of judgment, made in the same case we are now considering. As to assignment (d) it is hardly necessary to say more than that the indictment charges that one particular, well-described child was kidnapped; that the trial judge read the indictment to the jury in the first para[67]*67graph of his charge; and that there could not have been any possible doubt as to what child the court had reference to when instructing the jury upon an attempt to kidnap. We hold that no assignment'of error in special ground 2 is meritorious.

The conviction not being solely dependent upon circumstantial evidence, the court did not err in failing to charge the law of circumstantial evidence, there being no appropriate, written request to do so; and the court properly overruled special ground 3.

Special ground 4, averring that the evidence shows that the father of the child named in the indictment consented to and connived in the alleged act, is merely an amplification of the general grounds, and needs no separate consideration.

Carl Shiftlett, sworn for the State, testified in part as follows: “The first time I heard of it, I was at home. . . It was somewhere around six weeks before the alleged kidnapping. Mr. Arrington came to my house, and with him were Red Spratling and . . Mattie Collier. . . They come out there in a Ford roadster. . . Red Spratling got out and called me . . and told me Mr. Arrington wanted to see me about this kidnapping job, and Mr. Arrington and Red Spratling and I went to the woods. . . When we got there . . Mr. Arrington then went on and explained to me what he wanted pulled, and I told him I wouldn’t. . . He told me he would give me $5000, saying he was going to get the $5000 out of John Berry. At that time Shorty Goings wasn’t there. They said they would see me later. . . I reported it [the occurrence referred to] to Ben McCollum,’ Mr. Horton and Mr. Coleman. . . Mr. Arrington said that after they picked the child up — after Buck Walker picked the child up, he would meet them out in the road in the Pierce-Arrow car, and would have food and blankets and milk for the child.” Referring to a time when he saw the defendant, Red Spratling, Shorty Goings, and Buck Walker the afternoon before the attempted kidnapping, Shiftlett testified: “Mr. Arrington was trying to explain to Walker how he would pick this child up, and what there would be in it to him. And Arrington asked Walker if he would pick this child up, saying it was John Berry’s grandchild. . . He told him that Shorty Goings would be driving the automobile, and for him, Walker, to pick the child up, and that he would be parked up a little down the road somewhere in a Pierce-Arrow automobile with food for the [68]*68time being . . with blankets and food stuff — something like that. He told Walker whore they would take the child to after they had picked him up, Arrington saying it was just this side of my house, just around the curve in the hollow. Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
171 S.E. 874, 48 Ga. App. 64, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arrington-v-state-gactapp-1933.