Case Name: KENDRIX v. THE STATE
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1992-12-04
Citations: 206 Ga. App. 627
Docket Number: A92A1002
Parties: KENDRIX v. THE STATE.
Judges: Sognier, C. J., McMurray, P. J., Birdsong, P. J., Beasley, Andrews and Johnson, JJ., concur. Pope and Cooper, JJ., dissent.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 206
Pages: 627–631

Head Matter:
A92A1002.
KENDRIX v. THE STATE.
(426 SE2d 251)

Opinion:
Carley, Presiding Judge.
Appellant was tried before a jury and found guilty of two counts of burglary, two counts of armed robbery, one count of aggravated sodomy, three counts of kidnapping, one count of kidnapping with bodily injury and one count of rape. He appeals from the judgments of conviction and sentences entered by the trial court on the jury's guilty verdicts.
1. The victim of one of the burglaries was forced at gunpoint from one room of her house to another and was then raped. However, the only evidence of bodily injury to the kidnapped victim was the rape itself. The State concedes that, under these circumstances, appellant's separate conviction for rape is deemed to have merged into his conviction for kidnapping with bodily injury. Gober v. State, 203 Ga. App. 5, 8 (8) (416 SE2d 292) (1992). Accordingly, appellant's separate conviction and sentence for rape must be vacated.
2. Ten days before trial, appellant moved for a continuance. The denial of this motion is enumerated as error.
It appears that appellant's counsel had been under the mistaken impression that, at the State's request, DNA testing was to be performed by the State Crime Lab and that the results of such testing would, therefore, be forthcoming pursuant to either appellant's OCGA § 17-7-211 motion, if inculpatory, or his Brady motion, if exculpatory. Upon discovering that no such request had been made by the State, appellant did not request a continuance so as to have his own independent testing done. Appellant's motion sought a continuance "in order to allow the Georgia Crime Lab adequate time to prepare a DNA analysis of the samples submitted to it." (Emphasis supplied.) Appellant cites no authority for the proposition that the defendant in a criminal case is entitled to a continuance pending receipt of the results of State Crime Lab testing which has not been requested by the State. Appellant had no right to seek, and the trial court had no authority to order, that the State Crime Lab conduct tests for appellant's benefit. Pursuant to his OCGA § 17-7-211 and Brady motions, appellant certainly had the right to receive a copy of the results of any State Crime Lab DNA test, if such a test had been conducted at the State's request. Pursuant to Sabel v. State, 248 Ga. 10, 17 (6) (282 SE2d 61) (1981), appellant also had the right to seek independent DNA testing. In fact, some 14 days before trial, the trial court had granted appellant's general motion to inspect, examine and test physical evidence. However, the exercise of such a right to independent testing was not invoked as the basis for the grant of a continuance to appellant. If appellant had no underlying right to have DNA testing performed by the State Crime Lab, it would certainly not be an abuse of discretion to deny the motion to continue the trial pending appellant's receipt of the results of DNA testing performed by the State Crime Lab. See generally Nettles v. State, 144 Ga. App. 473 (1) (241 SE2d 589) (1978) (not error to deny continuance due to absence of evidence that defendant otherwise had no right to obtain).
Appellant was indigent and, under that circumstance, he might have moved for a continuance in order for independent DNA testing to be performed by his own expert at State expense. However, what appellant might have done is immaterial. The trial court was called upon to rule on the motion for continuance that appellant had actually made. Appellant's motion for continuance was predicated upon his receipt of DNA test results to be performed by the State Crime Lab. It is this motion that appellant urges was erroneously denied. However, appellant cites no authority for the proposition that he had the right to request the State Crime Lab to conduct the test on his behalf or that the trial court was authorized to order the State Crime Lab to conduct such testing on appellant's behalf. A trial court should be affirmed or reversed on the basis of the ruling that it was actually called upon to make, not on the basis of a ruling that an appellant might have invoked. There being no error in the trial court's refusal to grant a continuance based upon appellant's receipt of DNA test results to be performed by the State Crime Lab, a reversal is not authorized. The trial court was not asked to grant a continuance in order for independent DNA testing to be performed and should not be reversed for failing to have done so.
3. Appellant's conviction and sentence for rape are vacated. Appellant's remaining convictions are affirmed.
Judgments affirmed in part and vacated in part.
Sognier, C. J., McMurray, P. J., Birdsong, P. J., Beasley, Andrews and Johnson, JJ., concur. Pope and Cooper, JJ., dissent.