West v. State

313 S.E.2d 67, 252 Ga. 156, 1984 Ga. LEXIS 628
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 15, 1984
Docket40134
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 313 S.E.2d 67 (West 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
West v. State, 313 S.E.2d 67, 252 Ga. 156, 1984 Ga. LEXIS 628 (Ga. 1984).

Opinions

Gregory, Justice.

Appellant, Samuel Tony West, was convicted in Chattooga County of two counts of murder and one count of armed robbery. He was sentenced to death for each of the murders and to life imprisonment for the armed robbery.

The evidence presented at trial showed that on the evening of December 12,1982, appellant and Avery Brock visited the victims at their hand-built “castle,” known as “Corpeswood,” on Taylor’s Ridge in Chattooga County. They were welcomed by one of the victims, Dr. Charles Scudder, a pharmacologist and former professor at Loyola University in Chicago, who offered them some of his homemade wine, which they accepted. They had brought with them a bag of “tootalu” or toluene, and they spent the next hour or two drinking Dr. Scudder’s wine and “huffing” their tootalu. Then Dr. Scudder was bound and gagged while Brock searched out and shot Dr. Scudder’s live-in companion, Joseph Odum. After unsuccessful attempts were made to get Dr. Scudder to tell them where his money was, appellant shot Dr. Scudder and he and Brock ransacked the house. They loaded Dr. Scudder’s jeep with articles taken from the house and drove it to [157]*157Mississippi, where they stole another car after killing its driver. They later surrendered, when their money ran out.

In statements made to authorities after his arrest, appellant claimed the murders were part of a jjlanned act of revenge for the embarrassment suffered by Brock when he had allowed Dr. Scudder to perform oral sex on him during an earlier visit. At trial, howevér, appellant contended the crimes were the product of hallucinations resulting from Dr. Scudder having spiked their wine with LSD.

1. We have reviewed the evidence pursuant to Rule IV (B) (2) of the Unified Appeal Procedure (Code Ann. Title 24 Appendix A) and find it sufficient to support the convictions. However, because appellant’s challenge to the array of the grand jury is meritorious, his convictions and sentences must be set aside and this case remanded for reindictment and retrial.

Appellant alleges a violation of OCGA § 15-12-40 (a) (1) (Code Ann. § 59-106), which specifies the responsibilities of the board of jury commissioners in compiling, maintaining and revising jury lists, as follows: “In composing such list the commissioners shall select a fairly representative cross section of the intelligent and upright citizens of the county----” It provides also: “If at any time it appears to the jury commissioners that the jury list, so composed, is not a fairly representative cross section of the intelligent and upright citizens of the county, they shall supplement the list by going out into the county and personally acquainting themselves with other citizens of the county, including intelligent and upright citizens of any significantly identifiable group in the county which may not be fairly represented on the jury list.”

In Devier v. State, 250 Ga. 652 (300 SE2d 490) (1983), we recognized that the statute applies to the grand jury list and requires that the list be a fairly representative cross section of the intelligent and upright citizens of the county.

In this case, it was stipulated by the parties that 52 % of the total population of Chattooga County is female but that women comprise only 34.3% of the grand jury list from which appellant’s grand jury was selected.1 These figures demonstrate that women are under[158]*158represented on this grand jury list. Measured as an absolute disparity, the underrepresentation is 17.7 %.

The disparity shown in this case is less than the 36 % shown in Devier v. State, supra, which we found to be violative of OCGA § 15-12-40 (a) (1) (Code Ann. § 59-106). However, it is greater than the 14.4 % absolute disparity shown by the defendant in Barrow v. State, 239 Ga. 162 (2a) (236 SE2d 257) (1977), which we found sufficient to establish a prima facie case of illegal underrepresentation. Moreover, the 17.7% disparity of this case falls “within the approximate boundaries delineated in [numerous federal] cases holding that the statistical disparties established prima facie violations. [Cits.]” Machetti v. Linahan, 679 F2d 236 (11th Cir. 1982).

Thus, while precise mathematical standards for gauging disparity have not been formulated, we conclude that the variance in this case is sufficient to demonstrate a violation of the statutory fair-cross-section requirement.

The state contends that we should find any deficiency in the composition of the grand jury list to be harmless in this case. We note that the grand jury which indicted appellant was 69.6 % male and 30.4% female and that appellant’s grand jury was thus slightly less representative than the list from which it was drawn.

The United States Supreme Court has held that a violation of equal protection in the selection of a grand jury is not cured by a subsequent conviction by a properly constituted traverse jury. Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U. S. 545 (99 SC 2993, 61 LE2d 739) (1979). This court, in Devier v. State, supra, as well as in Wright v. State, 251 Ga. 457 (306 SE2d 920) (1983), has clearly established the same rule regarding a violation of our statutory fair-cross-section requirement in the selection of a grand jury. Thus, we cannot find the error in this case to be harmless.

2. Although this case must be re-indicted and retried, we find it necessary to rule on one additional enumeration of error, in which appellant contends that the trial court’s sentencing charge defining depravity of mind was error.

Citing Black’s Law Dictionary (3rd Ed. 1933), the court charged:

“. . . [T]he word depraved means to defame, vilify, exhibit contempt for.
“I am quoting now from this case cited in the law dictionary, a mind which may become inflamed by alcohol, drugs, or passion to [159]*159such a degree that it ceases to care for human life and safety is a depraved mind.”

We have noted that the phrase “depravity of mind” contained in OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (7) (Code Ann. § 27-2534.1) is a term having a common meaning and subject to common understanding, unlike “aggravated battery,” which has been given a special meaning by statute. See, e.g. Gilreath v. State, 247 Ga. 814 (16) (279 SE2d 650) (1981). Thus, absent a request, depravity of mind need not be defined in the court’s charge. Compare Rivers v. State, 250 Ga. 303 (8a) (298 SE2d 1) (1982). If, however, the court undertakes to do so, it should do so correctly.

Turning now to the first definition given by the court, we note that the verb “deprave” once meant: “To speak ill of; depreciate; malign; revile.” Webster’s New International Dictionary (2nd Ed. 1940). This usage is now obsolete. Ibid. In England, it was once (and perhaps still is) a criminal offense to deprave, despise or contemn “the sacrament of the supper and table of the Lord,” or to say anything “in derogation, depraving, or despising of the Book of Common Prayer...” Stephens, A Digest of the Criminal Law (Soule, Thomas & Wentworth, 1877) at 110-111.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Terry Eugene Michel v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2025
Moody v. State
888 S.E.2d 109 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2023)
Brookins v. State
879 S.E.2d 466 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2022)
Brian Keith Terrell v. GDCP Warden
744 F.3d 1255 (Eleventh Circuit, 2014)
Sears v. Humphrey
751 S.E.2d 365 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2013)
Lawlor v. Commonwealth
Supreme Court of Virginia, 2013
Ellington v. State
735 S.E.2d 736 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2012)
Ledford v. State
709 S.E.2d 239 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2011)
Williams v. State
699 S.E.2d 25 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2010)
Hall v. Terrell
679 S.E.2d 17 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2009)
Fair v. State
664 S.E.2d 227 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2008)
Walker v. State
653 S.E.2d 439 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2007)
Wagner v. State
646 S.E.2d 676 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2007)
Jefferson v. Terry
490 F. Supp. 2d 1261 (N.D. Georgia, 2007)
Tarver v. State
602 S.E.2d 627 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2004)
Ramirez v. State
575 S.E.2d 462 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2003)
Lance v. State
560 S.E.2d 663 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2002)
Lucas v. State
555 S.E.2d 440 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2001)
Rhode v. State
552 S.E.2d 855 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2001)
Morrow v. State
532 S.E.2d 78 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
313 S.E.2d 67, 252 Ga. 156, 1984 Ga. LEXIS 628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-v-state-ga-1984.