Wright v. State

330 S.E.2d 358, 254 Ga. 484, 1985 Ga. LEXIS 737
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJune 10, 1985
Docket41974
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 330 S.E.2d 358 (Wright 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
Wright v. State, 330 S.E.2d 358, 254 Ga. 484, 1985 Ga. LEXIS 737 (Ga. 1985).

Opinions

Marshall, Presiding Justice.

Fred LaDon Wright was tried by a jury, convicted of the murder and robbery of Joel C. Kitchens, and sentenced to life imprisonment [485]*485and 20 years’ imprisonment, respectively.1 The evidence authorized the jury to find the following facts.

On October 3, 1980, the 66-year-old victim visited Berry College in Rome, Georgia, for its annual weekend of alumni activities. He was registered at the Holiday Inn in Room 145.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., Kitchens went to the Fuzzy Duck Lounge. While there, he met the appellant and Steve Sliger, invited them to sit at his table, and paid for their drinks. The three men left the lounge shortly after midnight and went to Kitchens’ room at the Holiday Inn.

Next to Kitchens in Room 143 were six young people, several of whom were also attending Berry College alumni activities. Three of these — Mark Burns, Jim Garner and Kelly Gantt, testified that at approximately 12:30 a.m., Kitchens, the appellant and Sliger noticed the group next door, joined them to talk and drink beer, and mingled back and forth between the two rooms. At approximately 3:00 a.m., Burns, Garner and Gantt went to Kitchens’ room to get beer, but did not stay long, because the appellant and three unidentified girls from the lounge were there along with Sliger, who was on the telephone. About 15 minutes later, Kitchens, Sliger and the appellant returned to Room 143. The appellant and Sliger began smoking marijuana; the group in Room 143 objected, and asked the appellant and Sliger to leave. Kitchens stayed a few minutes then left shortly after the other two men.

Approximately 30 minutes later, the three unidentified girls who had been with the appellant and Sliger earlier, went to Room 143 in a panic. The girls had left the appellant and Sliger, but arranged to meet back with them at Kitchens’ room. When they returned, the appellant and Sliger were gone and they saw, through the window, Kitchens tied up, lying on the floor. The three girls summoned help from Room 143 and then left the motel. Burns, Garner and Gantt found Kitchens’ door locked, and saw Kitchens, beaten and lying on the floor.

Rome police arrived at approximately 4:30 a.m., to find Kitchens semi-conscious, lying face down, gagged, with his bloodied wrists and feet bound with pillow cases. The victim had been beaten and robbed. The room was in disarray. Identification documents, credit cards, papers and beer cans were scattered about, the bed covers were pulled [486]*486back, and the furniture was moved. Bloodstains identified as the same type as the victim’s blood were found on the pillowcases, pillow, bedspread, blanket, towel, and scrap paper.

Kitchens was taken to Floyd Medical Center, where he died of kidney failure two days later, his beating having caused multiple lacerations of the liver, small intestine and pancreas. There was expert testimony that the victim’s rib and pancreatic fractures and abdominal injuries were inflicted by severe stomping. He also sustained blunt trauma injuries to the left side of the head and face.

The ‘phone call made in the victim’s room by Sliger was traced to Sliger’s mother in Tennessee, and, pursuant to witness statements and the ‘phone call, Sliger was arrested for aggravated assault and robbery on October 4. The appellant’s and the victim’s fingerprints were found on a beer can and a plastic cup found in the victim’s room.

At the hospital, the victim stated to investigators and relatives that “Don and Steve,” two boys that he met at the Fuzzy Duck, were the assailants who robbed him and beat him with their feet and fists. Officers testified that Kitchens’ wallet, cash, and class ring were missing from his room.

The appellant was arrested on October 4 at the Bruce Motel in Summerville. Found during a search of his room, was a desk calendar belonging to Kitchens and a bloodied blanket. He had $80 cash on him at that time. In December, the appellant made a statement to police, in which he admitted meeting Kitchens at the lounge and going to his room, but stated that, in reference to the beating, he was being “railroaded” by Sliger.

Sliger’s girl friend testified that she and Sliger canceled a date on October 4 because Sliger and the appellant planned to go out. When she asked the appellant after his arrest where the two men had gone the previous night, the appellant was evasive, and would not answer.

At trial, the appellant testified, in addition to basically the events stated hereinabove, that he and Sliger had drunk heavily and smoked marijuana on the night in question; that the three men were asked to leave Room 143 when Sliger attempted to sell some marijuana; that the three men went to Kitchens’ room for a few minutes before the appellant and Sliger left the motel; that when he and Sliger started to leave, Sliger took something from the car trunk then disappeared for approximately five minutes while the appellant sat in the car; that he did not beat or stomp Kitchens, nor was he present during the beating; that he had no knowledge of the crime; and that on October 4, he wore suede shoes with rubber soles, and Sliger wore boots.

In rebuttal, two witnesses testified that Kitchens had confided to them that a disagreement arose during the night because Kitchens objected to the use of drugs in the motel rooms. The manager of the [487]*487motel in which the appellant was arrested testified that on October 4, the appellant paid, in cash, for a week in advance for his motel room.

1. The first enumerated error is the denial of the appellant’s motion in limine, in which he had alleged that a statement made by a co-conspirator, Sliger, was inadmissible, because the conspiracy had ended and the co-conspirator did not testify at trial.

Rome City Police Captain Ragland testified at trial to the following effect: A taped statement was given by co-conspirator Sliger, who was apprehended before the appellant was arrested. When the appellant was subsequently arrested, he was advised of the Miranda warnings, he signed a waiver form,, and he was advised of the charges against him and the substance of evidence collected by the authorities, including Sliger’s taped statement. When the appellant was asked if he desired to make a statement, he responded by asking if he could ask Sliger a question. The appellant asked Sliger, who was brought into the room, if he had told the authorities that the appellant “beat and stomped that old man,” to which Sliger responded, “Yes, I did.” Sliger was then removed from the room, and when the appellant was asked if he desired to ask Sliger anything else, he answered, “That’s enough to send me to prison, isn’t it?” The trial judge denied the appellant’s motion for mistrial following the above testimony.

“[A] statement made to police by a conspirator, whether inculpatory or exculpatory as to the declarant, which statement incriminates the other conspirator as a party to the crime, also constitutes termination of the conspiracy. Thus, such statement by a conspirator is not made during the pendency of the criminal project and is not admissible under [OCGA § 24-3-5].” Crowder v. State, 237 Ga. 141, 153 (227 SE2d 230) (1976).

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Wright v. State
330 S.E.2d 358 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
330 S.E.2d 358, 254 Ga. 484, 1985 Ga. LEXIS 737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-state-ga-1985.