Pope v. State

157 S.E. 211, 42 Ga. App. 680, 1931 Ga. App. LEXIS 105
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 17, 1931
Docket20677
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 157 S.E. 211 (Pope 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
Pope v. State, 157 S.E. 211, 42 Ga. App. 680, 1931 Ga. App. LEXIS 105 (Ga. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

Luke, J.

D. F. Pope was charged in the first count of an indictment with forging a will, and in the second count with uttering and publishing as true the forged will; and was convicted on the second count only. The bill of exceptions assigns error upon the sustaining of a demurrer to the defendant’s plea in abatement and dismissing said plea, as shown by exceptions pendente lite; and upon the overruling of the defendant’s demurrer to the indictment, as shown by exceptions pendente lite; and upon the overruling of his motion for a new trial.

1. The plea in abatement alleges in substance that the indictment should be quashed because the sheriff, who was “marked on said indictment as the prosecutor,” “picked up two grand jurors” who “acted on said indictment.” The plea in abatement does not allege that the tales grand .jurors summoned by the sheriff were friends of the sheriff or even acquaintances; or that they had any interest in the sheriff; or that they had any ill-will towards the defendant; or that they had any personal interest in the prosecution of thé defendant or the finding of the true bill against him; or that the defendant was harmed in any way; or that the defendant and his counsel did not know of the alleged disqualification of said grand jurors before the indictment was presented to the grand jury for consideration; or that the sheriff knew, at the time he summoned said two tales grand jurors, that the bill against the defendant would be presented to this grand jury for consideration. The court properly sustained the demurrer and dismissed the plea in abatement.

The 1st and 3d grounds of demurrer to the indictment relate to [682]*682the first count thereof, and, as there was no conviction on this count, they will not be discussed.

2. The 2d ground of demurrer alleges that the second count of the indictment does not allege how the defendant uttered the forged will; that the allegations thereof are conclusions of the pleader; and that said count is not complete, because no copy of the alleged forged will is set out therein. An examination of the second count of the indictment shows that it is sufficiently explicit and substantially in the language of the statute. See Penal Code, § 232, necessarily construed in connection with § 231. Nor was the second count defective because of its failure to include a copy of the alleged forged will, since the first count embodied a copy of the alleged will and the second count virtually incorporated it by special reference to “the false, forged, altered and counterfeited will and testament set out and referred to in the preceding count.” “Where an indictment charging forgery contains two counts, the first being complete within itself, including a copy of the instrument alleged to have been fraudulently forged and uttered, which is set out in full, and in the second count express reference to the instrument is made, thereby purporting to incorporate it into the second count, and thus charging all the substantial elements of the offense in the second count, the failure to set out the alleged forged instrument in the second count” will not render said second count subject to demurrer. Durden v. State, 152 Ga. 441 (110 S. E. 283). This question was adjudicated in Pope v. State, 41 Ga. App. 653 (154 S. E. 194). The demurrer to the indictment was properly overruled.

3. The first special ground of the motion for a new trial alleges that the verdict was inconsistent, repugnant, and contrary to law, in that the jury found the defendant not guilty of forging the will, and guilty of uttering and publishing said will knowing it to be forged. Whether the defendant forged the will or some one else did it, if the defendant knew that it was a forged will, and, so knowing, uttered and published it, a conviction of the latter offense, as set out in the second count in the indictment, would not constitute a repugnancy or inconsistency. This question also is adjudicated in Pope v. State, supra. See also Hoskins v. State, 11 Ga. 92, 95, and Durden v. State, 29 Ga. App. 548 (116 S. E. 41).

[683]*6834. The second special ground of the motion for a new trial alleges that the court erred in refusing to grant a mistrial “in connection with the evidence of Tom Little” in reference to another alleged forged will, and that the testimony was prejudicial to movant. The ground discloses that when the witness failed to connect the defendant with the transaction referred to, the State’s counsel voluntarily withdrew the testimony from the consideration of the jury, and the court then said to the jury: “I rule it out completely; you will not consider it in any way .whatever, or for any purpose whatever; this witness’s testimony is out completely. I charge you that under the testimony of this witness, it has absolutely no probative value whatever, so far as this case is concerned, and I charge you to disregard it completely, and, in so far as you can, eradicate it from your minds completely. It is ruled out in its entirety. You will disregard it completely.” These instructions from the court certainly made it plain to the jury that they should not consider the testimony, Furthermore, the testimony of the witness in reference to the alleged forged will (other than the one named in the indictment) was probably not prejudicial to the accused, because the witness stated: “So far as I know I can’t say he [the defendant] had any connection with that will.” In the light of the testimony, and of the fact that it was withdrawn from the consideration of the jury, and of the court’s instructions in regard thereto, there was no error in refusing to grant a mistrial.

5. The third special ground of the motion for a new trial alleges that the court erred in allowing a witness to testify as follows: “Prior to that day Mrs. Partain had approached me with reference to signing a paper. She said Mr. Wardlaw had not made any will and she could make one.” This ground of the motion can not be considered by this court, since it is not complete and understandable without reference to the indictment and other parts of the record. Who is “Mrs. Partain” and who is “Mr. Wardlaw”? The ground fails to show who they are or their connection with this case.

6. The fourth special ground of the motion for a new trial' alleges that the court erred in refusing to allow a witness to testify that the defendant had said: “I do not want to be mixed in anything crooked.” This was a self-serving declaration, and “it is not, on the trial of a criminal case, competent to introduce in behalf of [684]*684the accused evidence of his o.wn self-serving declarations.” Dixon v. State, 116 Ga. 186 (2) (42 S. E. 357).

7. The fifth special ground alleges that the court erred in allowing a witness, wlio had remained in the court-room after the rule as, to separation of witnesses had been invoked, to testify for the State. “ On the trial of a criminal case, where the rule for the sequestration of witnesses has been invoked, the fact that one offered as a witness has heard the testimony given by other witnesses does not render his testimony incompetent; and the admission of the evidence of such a witness is not cause for a new trial.” Davis v. State, 120 Ga. 843 (2) (48 S. E. 305); Taylor v. State, 132 Ga. 235 (2) (63 S. E. 1116).

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Bluebook (online)
157 S.E. 211, 42 Ga. App. 680, 1931 Ga. App. LEXIS 105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pope-v-state-gactapp-1931.