Gibbs v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia

Gibbs v. State

86 S.E.2d 369, 91 Ga. App. 519, 1955 Ga. App. LEXIS 794

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia

DecidedFebruary 25, 1955

Docket35523

StatusPublished

Cited by5 cases

This text of 86 S.E.2d 369 (Gibbs 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

Gibbs v. State, 86 S.E.2d 369, 91 Ga. App. 519, 1955 Ga. App. LEXIS 794 (Ga. Ct. App. 1955).

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Opinion

Townsend, J.

1. Where, as here, a conviction depends entirely upon circumstantial evidence, such evidence must be such as to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt of the accused.

2. Testimony, on a trial for possession of illegal liquor, that liquor was found under some honeysuckle vines on a vacant lot about 75 yards away from the defendant’s house, is, of itself, insufficient to sustain a conviction. Roper v. State, 67 Ga. App. 272 (19 S. E. 2d 746).

3. The only other testimony in 'this case implicating the defendant was that of an arresting officer, who testified that he found two cases of non-tax-paid whisky under some cardboard behind a garage located 20 or 25 feet back of the house, but that he did not know whether the whisky was on the defendant’s premises, and, when he confronted the defendant with the cache, she said: “I told Walt Gibbs to move the whisky, and he said it was his damned property and his damned whisky and he would do what he wanted to do with it.” There being no proof that this whisky was located on premises under ijie control of the defendant, this evidence, also, is insufficient to sustain a conviction. Jelks v. State, 36 Ga. App. 638 (137 S. E. 840); Weehunt v. State, 80 Ga. App. 368 (66 S. E. 2d 148).

The fact that the arresting officer took the defendant to Walter Gibbs, who, in the presence of the defendant, denied any connection with the whisky, is not sufficient of itself to prove that the whisky was found on the premises of the defendant. Nor is evidence as to her knowledge of the whisky sufficient to convict her unless she knowingly allowed it to remain on premises over which she had control. Buchanan v. State, 34 Ga. App. 155 (128 S. E. 686).

The trial court erred in denying the motion for a new trial.

Judgment reversed,.

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Townsend, J.

1. Where, as here, a conviction depends entirely upon circumstantial evidence, such evidence must be such as to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt of the accused.

2. Testimony, on a trial for possession of illegal liquor, that liquor was found under some honeysuckle vines on a vacant lot about 75 yards away from the defendant’s house, is, of itself, insufficient to sustain a conviction. Roper v. State, 67 Ga. App. 272 (19 S. E. 2d 746).

3. The only other testimony in 'this case implicating the defendant was that of an arresting officer, who testified that he found two cases of non-tax-paid whisky under some cardboard behind a garage located 20 or 25 feet back of the house, but that he did not know whether the whisky was on the defendant’s premises, and, when he confronted the defendant with the cache, she said: “I told Walt Gibbs to move the whisky, and he said it was his damned property and his damned whisky and he would do what he wanted to do with it.” There being no proof that this whisky was located on premises under ijie control of the defendant, this evidence, also, is insufficient to sustain a conviction. Jelks v. State, 36 Ga. App. 638 (137 S. E. 840); Weehunt v. State, 80 Ga. App. 368 (66 S. E. 2d 148).

The fact that the arresting officer took the defendant to Walter Gibbs, who, in the presence of the defendant, denied any connection with the whisky, is not sufficient of itself to prove that the whisky was found on the premises of the defendant. Nor is evidence as to her knowledge of the whisky sufficient to convict her unless she knowingly allowed it to remain on premises over which she had control. Buchanan v. State, 34 Ga. App. 155 (128 S. E. 686).

The trial court erred in denying the motion for a new trial.

Judgment reversed,.

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86 S.E.2d 369, 91 Ga. App. 519, 1955 Ga. App. LEXIS 794, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gibbs-v-state-gactapp-1955.

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