McWilliams v. State

339 S.E.2d 721, 177 Ga. App. 447, 1985 Ga. App. LEXIS 2961
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 5, 1985
Docket70947, 71135
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 339 S.E.2d 721 (McWilliams 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
McWilliams v. State, 339 S.E.2d 721, 177 Ga. App. 447, 1985 Ga. App. LEXIS 2961 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

Sognier, Judge.

Cary Bond, Melvin McWilliams, Joel Hay, Roberts Engineering Corporation and Roger Bankston were tried for conspiracy to defraud the State. Hay pleaded guilty and in a joint trial by jury of the other defendants Roberts Engineering Corporation and Roger Bankston were found not guilty and Bond and McWilliams were convicted as charged. They filed separate appeals which will be treated together in this appeal.

1. Both appellants contend the trial court erred by overruling their demurrers to the indictment, based on the ground that the indictment alleged that McWilliams, Hay, Roberts Engineering Corporation and Bankston submitted invoices to the Legislative Fiscal Officer for payment totalling $6,013,728.53, representing that the entire amounts were for work performed in renovation of the State Capitol building, and said representations were false. Bond was alleged to have paid such invoices with State monies. Appellants argue that it [448]*448could not be determined from the indictment what portion of the amounts billed and paid for with State monies were alleged to be fraudulent. This argument is without merit.

Although paragraph 1 of the indictment specified the total amount of invoices submitted to the Legislative Fiscal Office and paid for with State monies, paragraphs 2 through 8 of the indictment specified the items purchased and the labor billed fraudulently, which were paid for with State monies. Additionally, the specific dates that the fraudulent invoices were submitted and the date payments were made for such invoices is shown in the indictment. Thus, appellants had knowledge of the specific items of personal property and labor covered by the indictment. The true test of the sufficiency of an indictment is not whether it could be made more definite and certain, but whether it contains the elements of the offense intended to be charged, and apprises the defendant of what he must be prepared to meet, and if other proceedings are initiated against him, whether the record accurately shows to what extent he may plead a former acquittal or conviction. Wages v. State, 165 Ga. App. 587, 588-589 (2) (302 SE2d 112) (1983). The indictment in this case clearly meets this test. Accordingly, it was not error to overrule appellants’ demurrers to the indictment.

2. Appellants contend the trial court erred by sustaining the State’s objection to a question propounded by McWilliams’ attorney to Hay as to why he pled guilty to the indictment but refused to admit facts that would constitute guilt. Appellants argue that it was critical to show that Hay had not admitted facts making him guilty of conspiracy, as the jury had been informed of Hay’s guilty plea and the jury “undoubtedly felt” that a conspiracy cannot be committed by one person. This enumeration is not supported by the transcript.

The transcript of the guilty plea hearing shows that Hay admitted all of the overt acts alleged against him and that he had no authority to purchase the items involved and have them paid for by the State. Hay also acknowledged that there was a tacit understanding with at least one of the co-conspirators that Hay would work on Bond’s home free of charge, and Hay acknowledged that he had no doubt that the labor cost for the time spent moving Bond’s furnishings from his old house to his new house was turned in to the Legislative Fiscal Office as time Hay spent working on the State Capitol building renovation. Thus, it is clear that Hay acknowledged facts constituting the conspiracy charged when he entered his plea of guilty. Additionally, when Hay, a defense witness for a co-defendant, was cross-examined by McWilliams he stated in response to a question by McWilliams’ attorney: “Of what I was charged with in the case, to my understanding, was that I had went out and bought those items, and that by doing that, and by Melvin [McWilliams] asking me [449]*449to do that, that I had conspired with him to steal from the State. That was what I pled guilty to” (Emphasis supplied.) Hence, appellants’ argument that Hay did not understand what he was doing when he pled guilty is not supported by the transcript.

A conspiracy to defraud the State is committed when a person conspires with another to commit theft of any property which belongs to the State or any agency thereof which is under the control or possession of a State officer or employee in his official capacity. OCGA § 16-10-21. It is not necessary for each conspirator to know each detail of the conspiracy or the identity of each co-conspirator. United States v. Smith, 700 F2d 627 (11th Cir. 1983). Applying these rules to the testimony of Hay at his guilty plea hearing and when called as a defense witness, Hay acknowledged facts establishing his guilt as charged. Thus, there was no factual basis for the question propounded by McWilliams’ attorney and objected to by the State. Additionally, the question propounded by appellant McWilliams’ counsel called for an opinion on a question of law, i.e., what facts are sufficient to establish the elements of conspiracy. The opinion of Hay, a lay witness, on that issue is not admissible. Janney v. Dugger, 86 Ga. App. 414, 416 (2) (71 SE2d 777) (1952). Accordingly, the trial court did not err by sustaining the State’s objection to appellant McWilliams’ question.

3. a. Appellants contend the trial court erred by charging the jury on parties to a crime, aiding and abetting, and use of the phrase “or criminal negligence” in the definition of a crime. These contentions have been decided adversely to appellants. Townsend v. State, 141 Ga. App. 743, 744 (2) (234 SE2d 368) (1977); Shehee v. State, 167 Ga. App. 542 (1) (307 SE2d 54) (1983); Smith v. State, 238 Ga. 146, 148 (2) (231 SE2d 757) (1977); Cherry v. State, 174 Ga. App. 145, 147 (8) (329 SE2d 580) (1985).

b. Appellants also contend the trial court erred by charging the jury on the offense of theft by deception because it was not a lesser offense of the offense charged, and was confusing and misleading to the jury. We do not agree.

The offense of theft by deception was shown by the evidence to be the object of the conspiracy charged, and the trial court informed the jury that his instruction on theft by deception was simply a way of defining “theft” to them. The charge taken as a whole could not have harmed appellants, and thus, this enumeration of error is without merit. Amadeo v. State, 243 Ga. 627, 629 (3) (255 SE2d 718) (1979).

4. Appellant Bond contends the trial court erred by denying his motion for a directed verdict of acquittal because the evidence of a conspiracy was circumstantial and does not exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of guilt.

[450]*450The evidence disclosed that in 1981 Bond decided to build a geodesic dome house on property he owned in Rockdale County. After consulting an individual who did consulting work and provided component parts for dome houses, and obtaining a preliminary drawing from an architect, Bond asked appellant McWilliams if he could build the house for him for $100,000. McWilliams said he could and they entered into a written agreement whereby McWilliams would build the house on a cost-plus basis with a “cap” of $125,000. The house ultimately cost $147,000, with McWilliams bearing the loss. In the meantime the Legislative Services Committee directed Bond to get the State Capitol building renovation work done on a “renovate as you go” basis.

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Related

Smith v. State
676 S.E.2d 750 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2009)
Shaw v. State
411 S.E.2d 537 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1991)
Burden v. State
371 S.E.2d 410 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1988)
Hamilton v. State
348 S.E.2d 735 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1986)
McWilliams v. State
339 S.E.2d 721 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
339 S.E.2d 721, 177 Ga. App. 447, 1985 Ga. App. LEXIS 2961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcwilliams-v-state-gactapp-1985.