Burkett v. State

212 S.E.2d 870, 133 Ga. App. 728, 1975 Ga. App. LEXIS 2262
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 17, 1975
Docket49696
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 212 S.E.2d 870 (Burkett 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
Burkett v. State, 212 S.E.2d 870, 133 Ga. App. 728, 1975 Ga. App. LEXIS 2262 (Ga. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinions

Webb, Judge.

The defendant was indicted for theft by taking, a felony, in the unlawful taking of "seven animals of the species known as cattle.” General and special demurrers were filed to the indictment and were overruled. Because other charges were pending against defendant at the time of his arrest, he filed a plea in abatement and motion to quash. After a hearing, these defenses were also overruled. Trial was held, and the defendant convicted and sentenced to serve seven years. Motion for new trial was filed, heard and denied. Defendant appeals from the judgment and sentence and the denial of his motion for [729]*729new trial. Held:

1. The first complaint argued by defense counsel is that defendant was not given benefit of counsel at the preliminary stages of the charge in violation of named constitutional rights. However, the record discloses defendant was first arrested on a warrant for cattle stealing, was brought before a magistrate for the setting of bond (which was not a committal hearing); bond was thereafter made, and he was subsequently arrested and rearrested on various other charges, and tried, convicted, sentenced, and served a misdemeanor sentence for hog theft. The present indictment, based on the earlier warrant, was not returned until February 18, 1974, and the hearing on this plea occurred on February 27, 1974. No committal hearing had ever been requested by any of his counsel who were representing him from time to time. The record does not disclose a request or denial of a committal hearing, or the denial of right of counsel, but shows defendant has been in and out of jail on various other charges. Counsel failed to set forth any basis for his plea in abatement and motion to quash; nor does he cite any authority in support thereof. The case of Manor v. State, 221 Ga. 866 (148 SE2d 305), cited by counsel, is not applicable, and is entirely different on its facts, wherein defendant was kept in jail, stripped naked, and waived a committal hearing under duress and cruel and inhumane treatment. The Supreme Court there held defendant did not intelligently waive a committal hearing. Here defendant did not request a committal hearing, but was immediately released on bond, was subsequently arrested and rearrested on various other charges, and served time on one of these charges. There is no merit in this complaint.

2. Two of the large cows were alleged to have marks "with notched place in bottom of left ear and split in the end of ear.” The demurrer contends defendant was entitled to know which ear contained the split in the end of ear, and his counsel cites Hunter v. State, 80 Ga. App. 432 (56 SE2d 199). In the Hunter case this court reversed a conviction on an almost identical demurrer, but as to an entirely different indictment. The indictment in the present case clearly referred to the cows’ left ears. The [730]*730court did not err in overruling the demurrers.

3. (a) Defendant contends that there is a fatal variance between the allegata and the probata. There were seven cows in question, three of them being grown cows and the remaining four being heifers. The indictment here describes the three grown cows as follows: "one cow, female sex, weight 920 pounds, with notched place in bottom of left ear and split in end of ear, color black, Black Angus breed, left rear foot crippled, value of $300; one cow, female sex, weight 860 pounds, with notched place in bottom of left ear and split in end of ear, color black, Black Angus breed, not crippled, value $280; one Black Angus cow, female sex, weight 780 pounds, color black and grey, value of $300.” (Emphasis supplied.) Three of the heifers were described as being "crossed Black Angus with Shorthorn.”

The description at trial tracked the above description in the indictment, and the only "variance” was that there had been some Shorthorn breeding in the ancestry of the three grown cows. As Robert Fain, owner of the cattle and the prosecuting witness, testified on cross examination with regard to the first of the three cows: "And you say that she’s colored black and that she’s of the Black Angus breed. Now actually that’s a mistake, it should be that she’s a cross between Black Angus and Shorthorn? A. She’d be as much or more black than any other thing. Q. Yes sir, but she’s as much one as she is the other, isn’t she? Or do you know? A. Well, I’d think she’d be more bred up to Black Angus than Shorthorn, ’cause the Shorthorn has been out for several years.” As to the second cow he testified on cross examination: "The cow would probably be 3/4 or 7/8 Angus but back in some of its ancestors it would have some Shorthorn breed in it.”

On redirect examination, he testified: "Q. I believe you testified that these cows were approximately 7/8 Black Angus? A. Yes, sir. Mainly. Q. All right, sir. And you had been with this herd, one way or another, for a good many years, had you not? A. 10 or 12 years. Q. All right, sir. A. That ones that were old enough to be there. Q. And now these cows, the grown cows, the 920 pound cows, those that are described in the indictment as cows rather than heifers, all of these cows, were they or were they not [731]*731mainly Black Angus breed? A. That’s right.”

We regard the testimony describing the breed of the three grown cows as being substantially conformable to the description alleged in the indictment, and certainly not contradictory of it since the indictment does not allege that they were purebred Black Angus. The allegations that the four heifers were crossed Black Angus — Shorthorn is not an allegation that the three grown cows were a pure strain of Black Angus. The rule is that "In order to sustain a conviction of larceny, the evidence must make out the description of the stolen property as laid in the indictment or accusation, although such description may have been unnecessarily minute.” McLendon v. State, 121 Ga. 158 (48 SE 902). However, the rule does not apply in reverse — the description at trial may be, and quite often is, more minute than the description laid in the indictment. Hence there is no fatal variance between the allegata and the probata with respect to these three cows, and the fact that the three Black Angus cows had some Shorthorn blood is " 'de minimis’ in the extreme and certainly no basis for a reversal of this cas e.” Marchman v. State, 132 Ga. App. 677 (5a) (209 SE2d 88).

"On the trial of a defendant charged with larceny, where there is some evidence descriptive of the stolen property which is substantially conformable to the description alleged in the indictment, and nowhere contradictory thereof, the identity of the stolen property is a matter addressed peculiarly and solely to the jury, and in such case there is no fatal variance between the allegata and the probata. See Timmons v. State, 14 Ga. App. 802 (82 SE 378) (cow); Cross v. State, 64 Ga. 443 (2) (hog).” Lanier v. State, 76 Ga. App. 261 (45 SE2d 689) (hog). Accord, Nightengale v. State, 94 Ga. 395 (21 SE 221) (brand of cow); Green v. State, 114 Ga. 918 (41 SE 55) (alleged weight of cotton proved with "substantial accuracy”); Graham v. State, 16 Ga. App. 221 (84 SE 981) (blue and white versus black and white speckled cow); Sewell v. State, 92 Ga. App. 48 (87 SE2d 443) (color discrepancy of cow); Warren v. State, 12 Ga. App. 695 (3) (78 SE 202) (number of cigars); Mitchell v. State, 15 Ga. App. 803 (4) (84 SE 205) (amount of "advance”); Williamson v. State, 28 Ga. App.

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Burkett v. State
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
212 S.E.2d 870, 133 Ga. App. 728, 1975 Ga. App. LEXIS 2262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burkett-v-state-gactapp-1975.