Cook v. State

97 S.E. 264, 22 Ga. App. 770, 1918 Ga. App. LEXIS 744
Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided November 1, 1918·No. 9751·Published·Cited by 22 cases

Opinion

Bloodworth, J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.) 1. The material parts of the indictment will be found in the foregoing statement of. facts. Whether or not the demurrer should have been sustained and the indictment quashed will be detérmined under the laws of this State. Section 954 of the Penal Code, (1910) says: “Every indictment or accusation of the grand jury shall be deemed sufficiently technical and correct, which states the offense in the terms and language of this Code, or so plainly that the nature of the offense charged may be easily understood by the jury.” The first headnote in Williams v. State, 2 Ga. App. 629 (58 S. E. 1071), is as follows: “Where every essential ingredient of the offense charged is set forth with sufficient clearness to enable the defendant to prepare his defense, and the jury clearly to understand the nature of the offense, the accusation is not demurrable.” The indictment in this case measures fully up to the above requirements. It is “so plain that a common man may without doubt or difficulty, from the language used, know what is the charge made against the accused.” Locke v. State, 3 Ga. 534, 540. “The indictment was sufficiently full and definite in its statement to inform the defendant of the offense with which he was charged, and exact enough to protect him from a second ' jeopardy.” Youmans v. State, 7 Ga. App. 101 (4), 111 (66 S. E. 383). The indictment is for a statutory offense, and it is a well-settled principle of pleading in this State that “an indictment which charges the offense defined by a legislative act in the language of the act, where the description of the acts alleged as constituting the offense is full enough to put the defendant on notice of the offense with which he is charged, is sufficiently specific.” Glover v. State, 126 Ga. 594 (55 S. E. 592); Stoner v. State, 5 Ga. App. 716 (63 S. E. 602). Indeed the question as to whether this indictment is good does not seem to be an open one. In the case of Chunn v. State, 125 Ga. 789 (54 S. E. 751), in which the distinguished leading counsel for the plaintiff in error in this case was sole counsel for the plaintiff in error, it was held: “The offense of blackmail as set forth in the Penal Code, § 116 [Code of 1910, § 118] was sufficiently laid in an indictment which alleged that the defendant, with intent fto extort money from a named person, did" accuse him of a par[774] ticular crime, and compel him to do certain acts against his will.” The indictment in that case, in so far as it alleged that the defendant had charged the prosecutor with a crime, asserted that the defendant did “unlawfully verbally accuse M. Kunz with the crime of fornication and .adultery with Mrs. Eosa Chunn.” It went further, however, and charged the defendant with doing certain other things “against his will,” and alleged that the charge of the crime and the compelling of Kunz to do the things alleged against his will were with the intent to extort money from him. The demurrer in that case was somewhat similar to the one in the instant case; it was overruled, and that ruling was sustained by the Supreme Court. Fornication and adultery, and adultery, are each clearly understood and recognized as crimes under our law. In the opinion in the Chunn case' Mr. Justice, Atkinson said (p. 790) : “It will be observed that the gravamen of the offense is the ‘intent to extort money or other thing of value.’ In the indictment it is clearly alleged that the defendant did the several things which are therein specified, and that the same were done ‘with intent to extort money from M. Kunz.’ It therefore appears that the defendant was charged in the very language of the statute, which, under familiar rules of law, is all that is required.” Under the above-quoted section of the' code the crime of blackmail is complete if any person “with intent to extort money or other thing of value,” either “verbally or by printing or writing, accuse another of a crime or offense,” or “expose or publish any of his or her personal or business acts, infirmities, or failings,” or “compel any' person to-do any act, or to refrain from.doing any lawful act, against his will.”» In the Chunn case the indictment alleged not only that the defendant charged the prosecutor with' a crime,— adultery and fornication,—but alleged-that the defendant compelled the prosecutor against his will to do certain other things, with intent to extort money. The court held, in effect, that the indictment was good on both branches of the charge.

2. Complaint is made that the judge erred in overruling the motion to change the venue. This point is saved to the plaintiff in error by the exceptions pendente lite. Before such a ruling would avail the movant he must show that by it injury resulted to his cause. While the exceptions pendente lite recite that, “Upon said application or petition being read, and before defendant’s conn[775] sel could have an opportunity to be heard, and before an opportunity was afforded defendant, to introduce any testimony to sustain any allegations in his motion to change the venue, the judge presiding then and there, overruled said application to change .the venue of said case,” yet it nowhere affirmatively appears that he was prepared to support his motion “by affidavits or oral testimony;” and this would be necessary before the judge would have any evidence upon which to pass. Penal Code (1910), § 964. To deprive a defendant of the privilege of introducing evidence does not hurt his cause if he makes no offer to introduce evidence, or if the evidence offered would not change the result. This court can not say that the movant was hurt by the refusal of the court to hear evidence, until it is shown what the evidence is. Even when evidence has been introduced, it is the fixed policy of this State net to interfere with the discretion of the trial judge unless this discretion has been “plainly and manifestly abused.” Coleman v. State, 141. Ga. 737 (83 S. E. 227); Rawlins v. State, 124 Ga. 31 (52 S. E. 1).

3. The court .did not err in overruling the special plea which attacked the validity of the indictment on the ground that V. H. Kreigshaber, one of the grand jurors who participated in finding the bill, was a stockholder in a corporation of which the prosecutor was also a stockholder, and probably a director. “Alleged disqualification of grand jurors propter affectum is not a valid ground for plea in abatement to an indictment.” Hall v. State, 7 Ga. App. 115 (66 S. E. 390). See also Parris v. State, 125 Ga. 777 (3, 4) (54 S. E. 751).

4. Ground 4 of the amendment to the motion for a new trial will not be considered, because the trial judge refused to approve and certify that ground.

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Cook v. State, 97 S.E. 264, 22 Ga. App. 770, 1918 Ga. App. LEXIS 744 (Ga. Ct. App. 1918).

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