Gunter v. State

92 S.E. 314, 19 Ga. App. 772, 1917 Ga. App. LEXIS 353
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedApril 24, 1917
Docket8419
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 92 S.E. 314 (Gunter 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
Gunter v. State, 92 S.E. 314, 19 Ga. App. 772, 1917 Ga. App. LEXIS 353 (Ga. Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

Wade, C. J.

1. The accused was tried under an indictment drawn under section 513 of the Penal Code, which provides that “Any person who shall, by any device whatever, wreck, or attempt to wreck, a railroad train, locomotive, car, coach, or vehicle of [773]*773any kind, when used or run on any railroad-track for the purpose of travel or transportation, or assist or advise it to be done, shall be punished with confinement in the penitentiary for life,” etc. Though electric-cars may not have been in operation in this State at the time of the passage of the act from which this section of the code was taken, it is nevertheless broad enough to include by its terms any cars, coaches, or vehicles “when .used or run on any railroad-track for the purpose of travel or transportation,” regardless of the motive power employed to impel them along such track. As was said in Savannah &e. Railway v. Williams, 117 Ga. 414, 419 (43 S. E. 751, 61 L. R. A. 249): “The constitution, statutes, and decisions of this State recognize that the word ‘railroad’ is generic, and includes street-railroads, narrow-gauge roads, horse-power companies, dummy-lines, and street-railroads operated by electricity.” See also Georgia Railway & El. Co. v. Joiner, 120 Ga. 905, 907 (48 S. E. 336). The rational rule to be observed in considering this statute is that suggested by the holding in Barker v. State, 118 Ga. 35, 40 (44 S. E. 874), that “Laws broad enough in their terms may embrace instrumentalities and methods after-wards coming into existence, although unknown at the time the laws were enacted.” Measured by this'rule, it is clearly apparent that the statute in question is broad enough to embrace wrecking or attempting to wreck a street-car or coach, when used or run for the purpose of travel or transportation on any railroad-track, where the motive power is supplied by electricity, notwithstanding electric-ears may not have been in operation in the State at the time this law was enacted. For a fuller discussion of the question involved, see Wilson v. State, ante, 759.

2. No objection being urged by the defendant at the time, there is no merit in the ground of his motion for a new trial complaining that the court erred in setting aside, of its own accord, one of the venire men as disqualified to sit as a juror, because of the fact, elicited by a question propounded by the court, that he was a member of a labor union, which was then on a strike and of which the defendant was a member, and did not propound to the juror the statutory questions on the voir dire to test his qualifications under the laws as an impartial juror. The defendant, by failing to make timely objection, and by thus agreeing in eifect to take his chances of acquittal with this juror stricken from the panel put [774]*774upon him, waived his right to complain thereafter on this ground.

3. The 6th and 7th grounds of the amendment to the motion for a new trial, which complain of the admission by the court, over objection by the defendant’s counsel, of testimony from persons on the car at the time it was wrecked, that they had been injured by the alleged explosion, and as to the nature and extent of such injuries, upon the ground that this evidence was “irrelevant and illegal” and tended strongly to arouse the indignation of the jury against the defendant and prejudice his cause before them, are without any substantial merit. The defendant was charged with wrecking and attempting to wreck, “by the device, use, and employment of dynamite,” a street-car and coach then being used and run upon the railroad-tracks of a certain corporation in Fulton county, Georgia, for the purpose of travel and transportation. An inspection of the record-shows that the defendant, by questions propounded by his counsel to the State’s witnesses, on cross-examination, attempted to raise the issue, or to suggest a doubt, as to whether the car had been wrecked-by the use of dynamite, as alleged in the indictment, or simply by the breaking of a rail from other causes. A confession by the defendant that he had used dynamite in wrecking and attempting to wreck this car was in evidence, and testimony as to the nature and character of- the injuries to the car itself and to the passengers therein was relevant not only as a part of the res gestas, but also as tending to establish that the purpose of the defendant was to wreck the coach or car (in violation of section 513 of the Penal Code), rather than to destroy, injure, or obstruct the railroad-track (punishable under section 522 of the Penal Code). This question whether the defendant intended to wreck the car, or only to obstruct or injure the railroad-track, was for the jury, and therefore testimony tending to elucidate his intention was proper. So, also, the testimony as to the grave character of the injuries inflicted upon the passengers in the car at the time of the explosion was relevant, because it tended to show the nature and power of the explosive employed and to corroborate the statément in the confession of the defendant that dynamite was in fact the explosive used, as alleged in the indictment. In the opinion of the writer, even the length of time the injury resulting to one passenger persisted in its effects might tend in some slight degree to illustrate the force and power of the [775]*775explosion which produced it, and therefore the character of the explosive used and the intent and purpose of the defendant to wreck the ear by its use. • At any rate, it can not be said that the evidence objected to was inadmissible because wholly “irrelevant and illegal.”

4. The 8th ground of the amendment to the motion for a new trial alleges error in the admission of testimony, over the objection that it was irrelevant and illegal, that on the night of the alleged wrecking of the street-car, three sticks of dynamite were found at another point on a track of the same street-railroad company. It appears, by a note of the presiding judge, that the “defendant admitted this act;” and in a written confession of the defendant, which was in evidence, he admitted that he placed the dynamite on the track at the place referred to in this testimony. The evidence was clearly relevant and admissible to corroborate the confession of the accused, and also because it tended to show one systematic plan or scheme on the part of the defendant to wreck the cars of the street-railroad company, consummated by the wrecking of one car, and his intention to wreck such cars rather than to obstruct or injure the tracks by placing dynamite at the point where a car was in fact wrecked.

5. There was no error in admitting testimony that one Wilson, who was indicted jointly with the defendant Gunter, made- certain statements to the witness as to the presence of Gunter with Wilson in an automobile discovered by the witness soon after the commission of the alleged crime, which statenients tended to connect Gunter therewith. The witness testified that Wilson made this statement to him in the presence of Gunter, and not only does it appear from the note of the trial judge to this ground of the motion that “Gunter was present and also admitted the same fact,” but an inspection of the record discloses that Gunter agreed at the time to the statement made by Wilson, and also himself then precisely admitted the same facts.

6.

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

Related

Graham v. State
142 S.E.2d 287 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1965)
Jones v. State
78 S.E.2d 18 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1953)
Adler v. Adler
61 S.E.2d 824 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1950)
Jenkins v. State
9 S.E.2d 909 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1940)
Morris v. State
169 S.E. 495 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
92 S.E. 314, 19 Ga. App. 772, 1917 Ga. App. LEXIS 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gunter-v-state-gactapp-1917.