Poole v. State

562 S.E.2d 239, 254 Ga. App. 271, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 965, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 342
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 15, 2002
DocketA01A2148
StatusPublished

This text of 562 S.E.2d 239 (Poole 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
Poole v. State, 562 S.E.2d 239, 254 Ga. App. 271, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 965, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 342 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Blackburn, Chief Judge.

Following his conviction on one count of rape, one count of kidnapping with bodily injury, and two counts of burglary, Larry James Poole appeals his conviction and the denial of his motion for new trial. He asserts that his Miranda rights were violated and that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. We affirm.

In the summer and fall of 1997, law enforcement officers in adjoining portions of Cobb and Douglas Counties received numerous complaints from older women, many of whom lived alone, about an intruder who attempted to, and sometimes did, gain entry to their homes late at night. Some of these victims reported that the intruder had not only stolen money and valuables from their homes but also had fondled or groped them as they lay in their beds. Complaints received by the police showed an escalating pattern of violent behavior and at least three women reported that they had been raped by the assailant.

Douglas County formed a task force in an attempt to solve the crimes which occurred in Lithia Springs. Members of the task force soon learned from officers in nearby Austell that that area of Cobb County was also experiencing an increase in break-ins, burglaries, and sexual assaults against older, single females. The intruder almost always gained entry to the homes by breaking glass from a rear window or door or removing the glass panes from jalousie windows. Police also suspected that the intruder lived in the area and went by foot or bicycle because no one had ever reported hearing a motorized vehicle at the time of the crimes.

“On appeal the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict, and appellant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence; moreover, an appellate court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility.” Mulvey v. State.1 Viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict, the jury was authorized to find the following facts.

On August 9, 1997, J. P., a 73-year-old widow living in Lithia Springs, was awakened when the overhead light in her bedroom [272]*272flashed on and then off. A light in the kitchen allowed her to see the silhouette of a person walking from her bedroom with a jewelry box which had been taken from a table near her bed. Thinking at first that it was her granddaughter, who lived with her, she called out to her, but after she realized that the person was not her granddaughter, she called for help. When the Douglas County officers arrived, they found that the screen near the back door had been torn and jalousie glass windows in her study had been removed, thus allowing the intruder to enter her house. Officers also found a bicycle in the victim’s backyard.

On August 19, 1997, N. B. suddenly awoke with the feeling that someone had touched her. As she rose from the living room couch on which she had been sleeping, she thought she saw someone go from the living room to the kitchen. Looking around, she noticed that her porch light was not on, and when she attempted to turn it on, it would not come on. She then walked from the front door to the kitchen, stopping when she noticed that the patio door curtains were being sucked outdoors. When she walked over to the door and pulled the curtains back, she was face to face with an unknown intruder who was standing in the open doorway. When the man’s hand came toward her, she grabbed the door and the intruder left. Frightened, N. B. ran next door, and her neighbor called the police. The police discovered that the intruder had gained entry by removing jalousie windowpanes. The next day, while cleaning up broken glass outside her window, N. B. found a baseball cap, rolled up and stuffed into a bush. Inside the cap were a package of crackers, some lottery tickets, and a set of keys, which she turned over to the police.

On September 6,1997, P. F. was asleep in her ground floor apartment in Austell. She was awakened by an attacker who was on top of her, covering her mouth and smothering her with his hands and telling her not to scream. Pinning her with one hand, he removed her clothes with the other and raped her. When the attacker moved his hand from her mouth, P. F. screamed for her son, who was not there, and the attacker jumped up and went into the bedroom to see if anyone else was in the house. Eluding his grasp, she ran to her neighbor’s house, screaming for her to call the police. P. F. was taken to the hospital within minutes; a rape examination was performed by medical personnel, who were able to recover semen left by the rapist.

Early on the morning of October 18, 1997, B. H. was alone in her Lithia Springs home when her doorbell rang. She went to the carport door and attempted to turn on the light, but it was not working. She opened the door and encountered a man who claimed that he had car trouble and asked to use the telephone; he gave her a number to dial, and she dialed the number for him and handed him the telephone. He told her that the number was busy. He then asked for water; she [273]*273gave him a cup of water and then shut the door. As she turned from the door, the man came through the door and grabbed her from behind, covering her nose and mouth with his hand. He then pushed her down the hall into a bedroom and covered her with pillows so that she could not see. After looking through the house, the man demanded money, and B. H. directed him to a jar which contained $300. After looking through the house again, the man returned to the bedroom and raped B. H.

After raping B. H., the attacker asked her to take him to Villa Rica; she refused, and he left. B. H. then called the police who arrived and began an investigation. The police photographed a shoe impression left on the kitchen floor by the attacker and recovered two hairs from the victim’s bed.

After the rape of B. H., Investigator Tommy Wheeler, one of the members of the Douglas County task force, began a review of all of the evidence that had been compiled in the Lithia Springs and Aus-tell cases. Wheeler determined that the lottery tickets found by N. B. in the baseball cap had been purchased at a liquor store on the county line between Lithia Springs and Austell. The tickets all played the numbers 4-2-3. Conversations with employees at the liquor store revealed that Poole, whose birthday is April 23, was routinely known to play those numbers. Wheeler drove to the home of Poole’s mother, taking with him the keys recovered along with the lottery tickets found at N. B.’s house. When he showed them to Poole’s mother, she identified them as keys she had given to Poole. One of the keys fit Mrs. Poole’s front door, and the other key fit the car parked in her driveway. Wheeler also learned that Poole usually stayed with his mother in her mobile home; that home was about 500 yards through the woods from B. H.’s house.

Wheeler brought Poole in for interrogation. Poole came in voluntarily and, after being advised of his rights, agreed to talk with the police and waived his Miranda rights.

Poole confessed to the burglary of J. P.’s home, telling Wheeler that he had taken her jewelry box. The police had actually encountered Poole near the scene shortly after the burglary of J. P.’s house. Following that burglary, the police had set up a perimeter in the vicinity of J. P.’s house. After about 30 minutes, an officer had encountered Poole coming out of a wooded area and heading away from J. P.’s house.

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443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
McGee v. State
480 S.E.2d 577 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1997)
Snipes v. State
373 S.E.2d 48 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1988)
Larry v. State
466 S.E.2d 850 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1996)
Williams v. State
409 S.E.2d 649 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1991)
Mulvey v. State
551 S.E.2d 761 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
562 S.E.2d 239, 254 Ga. App. 271, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 965, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/poole-v-state-gactapp-2002.