Brown v. State

63 S.E.2d 219, 83 Ga. App. 244, 1951 Ga. App. LEXIS 842
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 2, 1951
Docket33266
StatusPublished

This text of 63 S.E.2d 219 (Brown 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
Brown v. State, 63 S.E.2d 219, 83 Ga. App. 244, 1951 Ga. App. LEXIS 842 (Ga. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

MacIntyre, P. J.

Thomas F. Brown, alias “Cannon Ball,” and Calvin Austin were jointly indicted in the Superior Court of Fulton County on two counts. The first count charged them with larceny of an automobile in DeKalb County, brought into Fulton County. The second count charged them with knowingly having in their possession an automobile the motor number of which had been changed and altered for the purpose of concealing and making difficult the identity of the car. The defendants were not tried together, and we are concerned in this case only with the trial of the defendant Brown. He was convicted on both counts of the indictment. His motion for a new trial was overruled and he excepted.

It appears from the evidence that, on January 7, 1949, A. T. Chapman was the owner of a black Mercury Club Coupe, motor No. 2191 585. He parked this car beside his house in DeKalb County on the night of January 7, 1949, and the following morning the car was gone and he had given no one permission to take it. Some six months later, on June 22, 1949, Chapman was telephoned by a special agent of the National Automobile Theft Bureau to come to the defendant’s place of business on Lee Street in the City of Atlanta and the County of Fulton to identify a car, a black Mercury Club Coupe, which the defendant had in his possession. Chapman and his wife w'ent to the defendant’s place of business and both positively identified the car in the defendant’s possession as Mr. Chapman’s property, by virtue of certain scratches and scars upon the car, although the motor number of the car in the defendant’s possession differed from the number which had been on Chapman’s car at the time of its purchase. The car in the defendant’s possession bore the number, 899A 2,175,320. Calvin Austin, who had been indicted with, but not tried with, the defendant testified in part: “I have seen the automobile that is named in the indictment and am familiar with it. I seen him [the de[246]*246fendant] driving it. I know how he came to be in possession of that automobile; I stole it and carried it over there to his place of business. I got it over in Little Five Points. Mr. Brown [the defendant] drove me over there in my automobile. I just picked it out and got it. He brought my car back, and I have sold it:” On recross-examination Austin testified: “I got with Mr. Brown right after dark over at his garage and we just started driving around. I was going to help him [the defendant] get that Mercury.” Mr. McKibben, the special agent for the National Automobile Theft Bureau, testified that he examined the numbers on the car in question'and he was positive that the numbers had been ground off and new ones added. James Moss testified that at some time the first part of the year 1949 he had, at the request of the defendant, changed the motor numbers on a Mercury Club Coupe.

Under this evidence the jury was authorized to find that Austin and the defendant were conspirators in the theft of the automobile, that the automobile in the defendant’s possession, was the automobile named in the indictment as the property of Mr. Chapman, that the automobile was stolen in DeKalb County and brought into Fulton County, and that the defendant had directed the altering of the motor numbers on the car. These authorized findings include every essential ingredient of both the crimes charged in the indictment and the evidence, therefore, sufficiently supported the verdict finding the defendant guilty on both counts.

Special grounds 2 and 3, numbered 4 and 5, being closely related upon principle, will be considered together. Ground 4 contends that the only evidence tending to connect the defendant with larceny of the automobile is that of Calvin Austin, who confessed the theft of the car, and that under the law, this absolved the defendant of any guilt of the offense of larceny of the automobile. In special ground 5, the defendant assigns error upon the court’s charging the theory of conspiracy, as the indictment did not charge conspiracy between the defendant and Calvin Austin, and the charge was not adjusted to the evidence.

In Chambers v. State, 194 Ga. 773, 784 (22 S. E. 2d, 487), it is stated: “It has been repeatedly held by this court that a conspiracy may be proved, though not alleged in the indictment or [247]*247accusation. Dixon v. State, 116 Ga. 186 (8) (42 S. E. 357); Whitaker v. State, 159 Ga. 787 (5) (127 S. E. 106); Johnson v. State, 188 Ga. 771 (3) (4 S. E. 2d, 639); Harris v. State, 190 Ga. 258 (4a) (9 S. E. 2d, 183); and see also Loeb v. State, 6 Ga. App. 23, 27 (64 S. E. 338); 31 C. J. 740, § 290; 27 Am. Jur. 655, § 95.” Austin testified that the defendant drove him to a point near the place where he stole the car; that he “got with” the defendant right after dark and they started driving around; and that he was going to help the defendant get “that Mercury.” Austin identified the car found in the defendant’s possession as the Mercury which he had stolen and delivered to the defendant’s garage. Under this evidence and the circumstances of this case, there is a fair inference that a conspiracy existed between the witness Austin and the defendant to steal the automobile; and, “where individuals enter into a conspiracy to commit a crime, its actual perpetration by one or more of them in pursuance of such conspiracy is in contemplation of law the act of all, and therefore is imputable to all, regardless of their presence or absence at the time it is committed. Nelson v. State, 187 Ga. 576 (2), 580 (1 S. E. 2d, 641); Johnson v. State, 151 Ga. 21 (2) (105 S. E. 603); Hill v. State, 28 Ga. 604, 606; Horton v. State, 66 Ga. 690; Handley v. State, 115 Ga. 584 (41 S. E. 992).” Chambers v. State, 194 Ga. 773, 781 (supra). That portion of the charge of the court upon the theory of conspiracy of which the defendant complains was, therefore, adjusted to the evidence and the court did not err in charging upon this principle. Adams v. State, 55 Ga. App. 729 (191 S. E. 280); McLeRoy v. State, 125 Ga. 240 (2) (54 S. E. 125); Daniels v. State, 58 Ga. App. 599 (199 S. E. 572). There is merit in neither ground 4 nor 5 of the motion for a new trial.

In special ground 3, numbered 6, error is assigned upon the following portion of the court’s charge to t¿e jury: “The law presumes every act unlawful within itself to have been criminally intended until the contrary is made to appear.” The defendant contends that this portion of the charge is a misstatement of the law applicable in this case; constitutes an expression of an opinion by the court that the defendant had actually committed the act of stealing the automobile; and relieved the State of the burden of proof imposed upon it and influenced the [248]*248jury to disregard another portion of the charge wherein the court had charged the jury that it was necessary for the State to prove intent, and that intent is a necessary element of the crime.

The portion of the charge objected to appears in the following context: “Now, gentlemen, the offense charged in count one of this bill of indictment is that of larceny of an automobile. I charge you that simple theft or larceny is the wrongful and fraudulent taking and carrying away by any person of the personal goods of another with intent to steal the same.

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Related

Harris v. State
9 S.E.2d 183 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1940)
Chambers v. State
22 S.E.2d 487 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1942)
Alexander v. State
19 S.E.2d 353 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1942)
Hill v. State
28 Ga. 604 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1859)
Horton v. State
66 Ga. 690 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1881)
Handley v. State
41 S.E. 992 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1902)
Dixon v. State
42 S.E. 357 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1902)
McLeroy v. State
54 S.E. 125 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1906)
Johnson v. State
105 S.E. 603 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1921)
Whitaker v. State
127 S.E. 106 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1925)
Nelson v. State
1 S.E.2d 641 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1939)
Johnson v. State
4 S.E.2d 639 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1939)
Musgrove v. State
63 S.E. 538 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1909)
Loeb v. State
64 S.E. 338 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1909)
Dark v. State
44 Ga. App. 201 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1931)
Adams v. State
191 S.E. 280 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1937)
Daniels v. State
199 S.E. 572 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1938)
Lawrence v. State
68 Ga. 289 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1881)

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Bluebook (online)
63 S.E.2d 219, 83 Ga. App. 244, 1951 Ga. App. LEXIS 842, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-state-gactapp-1951.