Maynard v. State

170 S.E. 265, 47 Ga. App. 221, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 352
Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided July 17, 1933·No. 22806·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

MacIntyre, J.

W. Gordon Maynard was charged with committing larceny after trust, in Fulton county, Georgia, on February 22, 1932, by fraudulently converting a certain diamond ring of the value of $650, intrusted to him by Atkinson & Woodward Incorporated. Having been found guilty of the offense charged, the defendant filed his motion for a new trial, based upon the general and certain special grounds.

The gist of the State’s testimony is that the defendant went to the place of business of Atkinson & Woodward Incorporated, in Atlanta, Georgia, and told them that he would like to take said ring “on memorandum” to Thomaston, Upson county, Georgia, to show his wife, in order to see if it suited her, and that if she liked it he would buy it, and that he would report next day whether or not he would purchase the ring; that having known the defendant for many years, and having confidence in him, Mr. Woodward, of Atkinson & Woodward Incorporated, let the defendant have the ring in Fulton county, Georgia, “on memorandum” upon the conditions stated; and that, instead of returning the ring or completing the contract of purchase and sale, the defendant took the ring to Macon, Bibb county, Georgia, the next day and pawned it for $300 to C. H. Jones, who was in the small-loan business. The defendant claimed, in his statement to the jury, that a contract of purchase and sale had been made, and that, having decided to keep the ring, he, in accordance with his agreement, mailed a postdated check to Atkinson & Woodward Incorporated, for $600, and had received from them a letter acknowledging receipt of it. He further stated: “I had received a letter from Washington Warehouse Company in Macon, in regard to an obligation that I owed them. Macon and Thomaston are just forty-five miles apart. I went to Macon the night I got that. I was going to see Washington Warehouse Company and go on to Thomaston. When I got to Macon I found out the next morning that I owed an obligation that I had to pay. Well, as far as I was concerned, if I wanted that ring the gonfrficf h&d been made, although I did not buy it with any view [223] except giving it to my wife.” In closing his statement, the defendant said: “He insisted upon a postdated check, and I thought I could make it good, and was fool enough to give it.” The State introduced other testimony, relating to another transaction between different parties, to the effect that early in March, 1932 (the date of the offense alleged in the indictment in the instant case being February 22, 1932), the defendant went to White’s jewelry store and paid $50 down on a diamond ring under a retention-title contract, and that subsequently White had to file a bail-trover proceeding in Macon to get the ring back from an establishment that loaned money, to which Maynard had disposed of it.

Grounds 1 and 2 of the amendment to the motion for a new trial complain that the other transaction was wholly independent of and disconnected with the transaction charged in the indictment, and that the evidence of it was hurtful and prejudicial to the defendant. Intent being one of the essential elements of the crime charged, this evidence was admissible, under the exception to the general rule,.because it tended to prove intent. Cox v. State, 165 Ga. 145 (139 S. E. 861). The other transaction was similar in nature, and so related in kind, and so closely connected in point of time, with the offense charged, as to throw light upon the question of intent. This testimony was also admissible because it was logically connected with the Atkinson & Woodward transaction, which was the case on trial. Both Theodore White and Harry May testified that in negotiating the diamond transaction with them the defendant said he had a ring from Atkinson & Woodward “on memorandum,” and that he intended to return it to them if he got the one from Harry May. This had direct relevancy to the case on trial, the testimony tending to show that the defendant had obtained the ring from Atkinson & Woodward Incorporated, “on a memorandum,” and that it was not a completed contract. “The overruling of an objection to certain testimony of a witness, or other evidence, in bulk, some of which is not open to the objection made, is not ground for a new trial.” Trammell v. Shirley, 38 Ga. App. 710, 716 (145 S. E. 486); M., D. & S. R. Co. v. Anchors, 140 Ga. 531 (2) (79 S. E. 153); Gilbert v. State, 27 Ga. App. 604 (3-a) (109 S. E. 697). We hold that there is no merit in special grounds 1 and 2.

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Maynard v. State, 170 S.E. 265, 47 Ga. App. 221, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 352 (Ga. Ct. App. 1933).

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