Brinkley v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia

Brinkley v. State

2 S.E.2d 715, 60 Ga. App. 31, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 488

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia

DecidedApril 22, 1939

Docket27451

StatusPublished

Cited by1 cases

This text of 2 S.E.2d 715 (Brinkley 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

Brinkley v. State, 2 S.E.2d 715, 60 Ga. App. 31, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 488 (Ga. Ct. App. 1939).

Pincite

Opinion

Broyles, C. J.

1. “It is well settled by repeated decisions of the Supreme Court and of this court that evidence of a confession, freely and voluntarily made by the defendant, is direct evidence of the highest character, and, when corroborated by proof of the corpus delicti, is sufficient to authorize his conviction.” Berry v. State, 48 Ga. App. 303 (172 S. E. 647); Wimberly v. State, 105 Ga. 188 (31 S. E. 162), and cit.

2. In the instant case the defendant was convicted of simple larceny (stealing a “jack-plane” and other tools). The evidence authorized the jury to find that the accused had made a free and voluntary confession, and that the jack-plane found in the defendant’s house soon after the larceny was the stolen plane, the defendant having admitted in his statement to the jury that the plane in his possession was taken by him from the prosecutor’s shop. It is true that he also stated that he Ciborrowed” the plane “from a man at the shop,” but this latter statement was not corroborated by any evidence, and the jury had the right (which they evidently [32]*32exercised) to reject this portion of the statement. In this case the confession was corroborated not only by proof of the corpus delicti but by proof of the defendant’s recent possession of part of the stolen goods. It follows that the verdict was authorized by the evidence, and that the certiorari was properly overruled.

Judgment affirmed.

MacIntyre and Guerry, JJ., concur.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Broyles, C. J.

1. “It is well settled by repeated decisions of the Supreme Court and of this court that evidence of a confession, freely and voluntarily made by the defendant, is direct evidence of the highest character, and, when corroborated by proof of the corpus delicti, is sufficient to authorize his conviction.” Berry v. State, 48 Ga. App. 303 (172 S. E. 647); Wimberly v. State, 105 Ga. 188 (31 S. E. 162), and cit.

2. In the instant case the defendant was convicted of simple larceny (stealing a “jack-plane” and other tools). The evidence authorized the jury to find that the accused had made a free and voluntary confession, and that the jack-plane found in the defendant’s house soon after the larceny was the stolen plane, the defendant having admitted in his statement to the jury that the plane in his possession was taken by him from the prosecutor’s shop. It is true that he also stated that he Ciborrowed” the plane “from a man at the shop,” but this latter statement was not corroborated by any evidence, and the jury had the right (which they evidently [32]*32exercised) to reject this portion of the statement. In this case the confession was corroborated not only by proof of the corpus delicti but by proof of the defendant’s recent possession of part of the stolen goods. It follows that the verdict was authorized by the evidence, and that the certiorari was properly overruled.

Judgment affirmed.

MacIntyre and Guerry, JJ., concur.

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)

2 S.E.2d 715, 60 Ga. App. 31, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brinkley-v-state-gactapp-1939.

Opinion

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack