Wilson v. State

160 S.E. 319, 173 Ga. 275, 1931 Ga. LEXIS 307
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJuly 16, 1931
DocketNo. 8250
StatusPublished
Cited by67 cases

This text of 160 S.E. 319 (Wilson 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
Wilson v. State, 160 S.E. 319, 173 Ga. 275, 1931 Ga. LEXIS 307 (Ga. 1931).

Opinions

Hines, J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.)

The defendant in any criminal case in the superior court may move for a change of venue, whenever in his judgment an impartial jury can not be obtained to try him in the county where the crime was committed. He has the right to except to the ruling denying-him a change of venue, in which event he shall present to the judge his bill of exceptions within six days after the refusal of the judge to grant him a change of venue. The bill of exceptions must be filed in the office of the clerk of the superior court in the county of the alleged crime, within two days after being signed by the judge; and the clerk shall transmit the bill of exceptions and the necessary record in the case to the Court of Appeals as early as possible, not exceeding ten days from the filing of the bill of exceptions in his office. Penal Code, § 964; Ga. L. 1911, p. 74; 6 Park’s Code, § 964; Ga. L. 1916, p. 19; 10 Park’s Code Supp. 1922, § 6502; Ruffin v. State, 151 Ga. 743 (108 S. E. 29); Scoggins v. State, 24 Ga. App. 677 (102 S. E. 39); Ruffin v. State, 28 Ga. App. 40 (110 S. E. 311). Hnder the above statutory and constitutional provisions, the only method of reviewing the refusal to grant a change of venue is by direct bill of exceptions to the 'Court of Appeals. The remedy by exceptions pendente lite, and the assignment of error thereon when a final bill of exceptions is brought, after conviction of a defendant, to review the judgment of the trial judge overruling a motion for new trial, does not exist; and since such method to review the ruling denying the change of venue was adopted, this court is without jurisdiction to hear- and pass upon any assignments of error based upon such exceptions pendente lite.

On the trial of the defendant for the murder of the deceased, W. Lee Kitchens, a witness for the State, testified that around eight, eight-thirty, or nine o’clock on the night of the homicide, he was at the home of Mrs. English, that she and one of her daughters and the defendant were engaged in a water-pouring [284]*284contest, that they finally became enraged and got into a fight, and that the defendant in this fight knocked Mrs. English down, and then knocked her daughter down. The defendant moved to rule .out this evidence, upon the ground that it was too far removed from the homicide to be a part of the res gestae, that this difficulty was one between the defendant and these women and not one between the deceased and the defendant, and that this difficulty was not connected with the homicide in any way. The judge refused to rule out this evidence. It is urged that the judge erred in refusing to rule out this evidence, because it was not a part of the res gestae and was not connected with the homicide in any way, and-because it was improper to admit evidence of the commission of one crime upon the trial of the defendant for a separate and distinct offense. Is this contention well founded? Evidence of the commission of one crime is not admissible upon the trial of the defendant for another crime, where the sole purpose is to show that the defendant is guilty of such other crime. Where one is on trial charged with the commission of a crime, proof of a distinct and independent offense is never admissible, unless there is some logical connection between the two, from which it can be said that proof of the one tends to establish the other. To this general rule there are some exceptions; as, when the extraneous crime forms part of the res gestae; or is one of a system of mutually dependent crimes; or is evidence of guilty knowledge; or may bear upon the question of the identity of the accused or articles connected with the offense; or is evidence of prior attempts by the accused to commit the same offense upon the victim as that for which he stands charged; or where the proof of the extraneous crime tends to prove malice, intent, motive, or the like, if such an element enters into the offense charged. Cawthon v. State, 119 Ga. 395 (46 S. E. 897); Frank v. State, 141 Ga. 243 (80 S. E. 1016); Williams v. State, 152 Ga. 521 (110 S. E. 286); Coart v. State, 156 Ga. 536 (119 S. E. 723); Booth v. State, 160 Ga. 271, 274 (127 S. E. 733). In order that a collateral crime may be relevant as evidence, it must be connected with the crime under investigation as part of a general and composite transaction. Booth v. State, supra. On the trial of a defendant charged with murder it is competent to give in evidence all that was done by the defendant at the time of the killing, and which constitutes a part of the entire transaction. Reese v. State, [285]*2857 Ga. 373. In that case the defendant went to the house of one Gerganus, the father of the deceased, with whom the deceased was living, and made nse of insulting and abusive language to the deceased. The father went out to the gate to the defendant, and said to him, “What are you coming here interrupting us for; we interrupt nobody?” As soon as this remark was made the defendant knocked the father down with his gun; whereupon the deceased, who was standing in the piazza, ran out to her father, and the defendant raised his gun and shot her dead. This court held that the evidence of the assault upon the father was admissible on the trial of the defendant for the homicide of his daughter, as a part of the entire transaction, and as evidence of the innate depravity and malicious intentions of the defendant.

Does the admission of the evidence complained of come within any of the exceptions to the general rule which excludes proof of one crime upon the trial of a defendant for another crime ? If the assaults committed by the defendant upon Mrs. English and her daughter and the homicide constitute separate and distinct transactions, the former having no connection with the latter, and if these assaults were not connected with the crime for which the defendant is charged, as part of a general and composite transaction, then the admission of this evidence was illegal and improper. If the facts and circumstances attending these assaults and the facts and circumstances attending the killing comprise one continuous transaction, then proof of the facts and circumstances attending the assaults was proper and admissible upon the trial of the defendant charged with the homicide. The facts and circumstances attending the commission of the assaults must be immediately connected in some way with the homicide, and thus must tend to explain it. Helms v. State, 138 Ga. 826 (76 S. E. 353). According to the testimony of W. Lee Kitchens, the defendant and the deceased were quarreling at the home of Mrs. English on the night of the homicide, about nine-thirty o’clock. Mrs. English and the defendant-“argued a little bit.” They began pouring water upon each other, and finally became angry and engaged in a fight. The defendant knocked Mrs. English down. Ruth, a daughter of the latter, tried to run the defendant off. He then knocked her down. The deceased seems to have come to the assistance of Mrs. English. The defendant then pulled out his pistol, saying “The son of a b— [286]*286that doesn’t like it, step ont.” Kitchens then left the scene of the difficulty. When he left, the deceased was standing at Mrs. English’s head, trying to help her up. While the above remark was not addressed to any one by name, it is fair inference that it was intended for the deceased. At first blush it might seem that the fight between the defendant and Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
160 S.E. 319, 173 Ga. 275, 1931 Ga. LEXIS 307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-state-ga-1931.