Perry v. State

339 S.E.2d 922, 255 Ga. 490
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMarch 4, 1986
Docket42602
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 339 S.E.2d 922 (Perry v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perry v. State, 339 S.E.2d 922, 255 Ga. 490 (Ga. 1986).

Opinions

Gregory, Justice.

Charles Perry, Jr. was convicted of the murder of his grandmother and sentenced to life imprisonment.1 We affirm.

Perry had been reared by his grandmother. However, evidence at trial revealed a stormy relationship between them in Perry’s adult life. Witnesses testified of conversations with Mrs. Perry in which she revealed instances of Perry beating her, particularly when he needed money. Perry’s ex-wife, Susy, also testified that she had seen Perry [491]*491shove his grandmother into a door and harass her in other ways. One witness testified to seeing the pair argue and of Perry throwing a brick through a window which hit his grandmother in the face.

At around 5 p.m. on January 22, 1982, the grandmother’s downstairs neighbors heard loud noises coming from her apartment as if items were being thrown. At around 5:10 p.m., Perry’s ex-wife received a phone call from Perry, who said “mama’s dead.” The ex-wife then called the downstairs neighbors and asked them to check on the grandmother. The neighbors could not get into the apartment and received no replies to their calls. The police were summoned and arrived around 5:24 p.m. They found Perry at the top of the stairs. Inside Mrs. Perry’s residence, police found the door to her bedroom locked. Perry kicked in the door. The grandmother was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The entire bedroom was splattered with blood. Perry denied killing his grandmother and became disorderly. The police gave Perry the Miranda warnings and took him to the Savannah Police Department station. In examining the grandmother’s home, police found a set of Perry’s clothes covered with blood stains. Police also confiscated a lamp, which was believed to be the murder weapon. Mrs. Perry apparently died as a result of a severe blow to the head with a blunt instrument.

Perry was tried by jury for murder on May 2, 1984, and convicted.

1. Perry first contends he was denied a speedy trial in violation of his Sixth Amendment rights. Perry was arrested on January 22, 1982 and not tried until May 2,1984, due to a series of delays and continuances prompted by both prosecution and defense attorneys. In the meantime, Perry filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In Perry v. Mitchell, 253 Ga. 593 (322 SE2d 273) (1984), this court refused to overturn the denial of Perry’s habeas petition and held he had not been deprived of his right to a speedy trial. Perry in the instant appeal argues from the same facts and raises the same issues dealt with in his earlier appeal, and thus we need not review the contention for a second time.

2. Perry also contends the trial court erred in allowing into evidence statements he made while in police custody after expressly refusing to sign a waiver or be questioned in the absence of an attorney.

Perry was arrested at his grandmother’s house soon after police found the severely beaten body of his grandmother. He was advised of his Miranda rights at the time of arrest, and then transferred to the Savannah Police Department station. Upon arrival at the station, Perry was again advised of his rights. Perry refused to sign a waiver and said he did not want to answer any questions. He was then held in an interrogation room awaiting transport to jail. While Perry was waiting, Detective Thomas of the Savannah Police Department ar[492]*492rived. Thomas had been investigating the scene of the killing. The detective walked into the interrogation room carrying a lamp believed to be the murder weapon. Upon seeing the lamp, and not in response to police questioning, Perry told the detectives he had put the lamp into a closet because the bulb was burned out. Also, Detective Thomas noticed what he believed to be blood on Perry’s shoes. Thomas asked Perry to let him see the shoes. Perry immediately responded that the stains on his shoes were ketchup, and not blood.

Miranda safeguards were designed to protect suspects from coercive custodial interrogation. The protection now extends beyond express questioning to “any words or actions on the part of the police (other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody) that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect.” Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U. S. 291, 301 (100 SC 1682, 64 LE2d 297) (1980). But, the Innis court added, “since the police surely cannot be held accountable for the unforeseeable results of their words or actions, the definition can extend only to words or actions on the part of police officers that they should have known were reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response.” Id. at 301-02.

Before the trial court could admit the statements into evidence, the prosecution was required to show by a preponderance of the evidence that they were voluntarily made. Lego v. Twomey, 404 U. S. 477, 489 (92 SC 619, 30 LE2d 618) (1972); High v. State, 233 Ga. 153, 154 (210 SE2d 673) (1974). Here the trial court found the statements were voluntarily made. This finding must be accepted by an appellate court unless it is clearly erroneous. High, supra at 154. We hold the finding of voluntariness in this case is not clearly erroneous.

3. On the weekend before the trial, the prosecution sent two hair samples to the State Crime Laboratory for testing. One sample was taken from the victim’s head and the other from the lamp believed to be the murder weapon. The tests revealed blood type A on each sample. Both Perry and the victim have blood type A. The prosecution did not receive the test results until after the first day of the trial. The next morning, the prosecution called the expert who conducted the tests to testify as to the results. Perry objected and moved for exclusion. The trial court instead allowed Perry’s counsel a 15-minute recess to interview the witness and prepare for cross-examination.

Perry now contends the evidence should have been excluded because copies of scientific reports should be submitted to defendants at least 10 days before trial, apparently alluding to the requirements of OCGA § 17-2-211. However, § 17-2-211 applies to scientific reports in writing and not oral reports of experts relaying the results of tests. Faircloth v. State, 253 Ga. 67 (2) (316 SE2d 457) (1984); Law v. State, 251 Ga. 525 (2) (307 SE2d 904) (1983). Cf. State v. Madigan, [493]*493249 Ga. 571 (1) (292 SE2d 406) (1982). Whether oral scientific reports should be reduced to writing and submitted to the defendant is a question for the legislature.

4. Perry claims the trial court erred in allowing hearsay evidence of certain prior acts of violence involving Perry and his grandmother. Several witnesses testified of conversations with the grandmother during which she related specific instances when Perry had beaten her, particularly when he needed money. The statements were not offered to show that Perry had in fact beaten his grandmother, the truth of the matter asserted therein, but rather to demonstrate a relationship of ill will and animosity, and thus the motive for the killing. OCGA § 24-3-2.

5.

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Perry v. State
339 S.E.2d 922 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
339 S.E.2d 922, 255 Ga. 490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perry-v-state-ga-1986.