Jordan v. State

304 S.E.2d 522, 166 Ga. App. 417, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 3236
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedApril 27, 1983
Docket66007
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 304 S.E.2d 522 (Jordan 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
Jordan v. State, 304 S.E.2d 522, 166 Ga. App. 417, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 3236 (Ga. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

Deen, Presiding Judge.

Audie Jordan was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a deadly weapon to a public gathering and carrying a pistol without a license. Following these convictions, the court revoked the balance of a twelve-month probated sentence which had begun to run some four months earlier, and sentenced him to serve an additional twelve months on each of his three convictions.

The charges arose from an incident which occurred on July 9, 1982, at about 11:25 p.m., outside the Loganville Auto Auction when someone reported to the security guard, who was also a deputy sheriff, that a woman was “in the road shooting at people running across the field.” The guard radioed the Sheriffs Department for help and observed the woman shooting at a man who appeared to fall as he ran. When the deputy reached the woman, appellant had wrestled her to the ground. The deputy told them to remain where they were while he went to try to locate the man who had been running. When he returned, the couple had crossed the road and were standing beside appellant’s pickup truck in the auction’s parking lot.

The deputy noticed that the woman was very intoxicated and unruly. Appellant asked if he could leave with her “to take care of her.” The deputy refused, as he wished to investigate the shooting incident. On questioning, the woman claimed that she had thrown the gun into some bushes when she was across the road. The deputy asked appellant if he had the gun, but received no reply. The deputy disbelieved him and asked him to submit to a search. In response, appellant reached into his right rear pocket, and the deputy told him *418 to remove his hand from his pocket. A loaded .22 caliber derringer was discovered during a pat-down search. The deputy further testified that the gun had not recently been fired.

The woman, one Susan Frye, testified that she had two guns in her possession that evening: a .38 pistol and the derringer, which she claims she found in appellant’s brother’s truck when she was helping prepare it for the auction, and placed it in her purse. Her testimony was impeached by evidence that a month earlier she had told the deputy that she had never seen the derringer before and did not mention finding it in the pickup truck. Appellant claimed that he had once owned a similar gun but had given it to his former wife and did not know where it was now. Rebuttal testimony showed that nearly one year previously the gun, identified by its serial number, had been found under a mattress in appellant’s home and seized by the police. It was later returned to appellant’s wife. The deputy also testified he had checked the fingerprint file after appellant’s arrest to determine if the accused had ever applied for a pistol permit. There was no application in the file.

1. Appellant contends the court erred in allowing a statement he made to the deputy before he was given his Miranda warnings to be introduced into evidence against him. The deputy testified that after he completed the pat-down search and discovered the concealed weapon, he asked appellant if the gun belonged to him, and he replied that it did. The deputy next asked if he had a license to carry it, and he replied that he did not. There was also a statement introduced into evidence which the deputy dictated some time after apellant’s arrest. The relevant part of the statement reads: “Mr. Audie Jordan was also saying that everything was alright that he was going to take her on home that she was with him. I advised both of them that they were under arrest for discharging a firearm. I asked Mr. Jordan to put his hands up on the truck and let me pat him down and he refused. He ran his hand into his right back pocket. When he did I grabbed his hand and pulled it out. I reached in his right back pocket and he had a small .22 caliber pistol Darrenger [sic.] type made by North American Arms Corp., Serial #B55931.1 took this gun from Mr. Jordan and I asked him did he have a permit to carry it and he advised me that he didn’t. I told him that he was under arrest for carrying a concealed weapon without a license.” During the trial, the officer was questioned as to the two arrests mentioned in the statement. He explained to the court that Jordan was arrested only once and that the first mention of his arrest was a typographical error. The court appears to have found that it was and to have denied the Miranda objection to the testimony.

Miranda warnings were not required in the present case. Under *419 OCGA § 16-11-126 (c) (Code Ann. § 26-2901), a person is not permitted to carry a concealed firearm .. unless he has on his person a valid license issued under Code Section 16-11-129 [Code Ann. § 26-2904] . . .” and the weapon is carried in the manner specified. Under OCGA § 16-11-128 (Code Ann. § 26-2903), a person commits the offense of carrying a pistol without a license “... when he has or carries on or about his person, outside of his home, motor vehicle, or place of business, any pistol or revolver without having on his person a valid license issued by the probate court of the county in which he resides . . .”

Carrying a pistol without a license and carrying a concealed weapon are separate offenses even though they grow out of the same offense. Asberry v. State, 142 Ga. App. 51 (234 SE2d 847) (1977). A prima facie case is established by proof that the defendant carried a pistol in a public place and he bears the burden of proving he has a valid license. Days v. State, 134 Ga. App. 585 (215 SE2d 520) (1975).

2. Appellant further contends that the statement dictated by the deputy was not furnished to him as required under OCGA § 17-7-210 (Code Ann. § 27-1302) despite a timely written request for all statements. The prosecutor stated in his place that the statement was newly discovered evidence of which he had no prior knowledge and was not a part of his file. He further argued that the statement was noncustodial and not subject to discovery under this code section. In view of our holding in Division 1, we need not reach the claim of newly discovered evidence because the oral statement was given to the officer when the officer had probable cause to conduct a pat-down weapon search and the burden of proving that he had a valid license for carrying the pistol was upon the appellant. He was arrested only after he admitted he did not have a license.

3. The evidence amply supported the jury’s verdict on the remaining two charges, and a rational trier of fact could find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant had committed the crimes with which he was charged. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979); Crawford v. State, 245 Ga. 89 (263 SE2d 131) (1980).

4. OCGA § 16-11-127 (Code Ann. § 26-2902), carrying deadly weapons to or at public gatherings, is not unconstitutionally vague as contended by appellant. Byrdsong v. State, 245 Ga. 336 (265 SE2d 15) (1980). See also

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Bluebook (online)
304 S.E.2d 522, 166 Ga. App. 417, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 3236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-state-gactapp-1983.