Court Opinion

ID: 9566293
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:36:11.037137+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:35:38.847270
License: Public Domain

Deen, Presiding Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
While concurring fully with Divisions 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the majority opinion, I disagree with the reversal of the conviction for financial transaction card theft in Division 2. Specifically, I dispute the majority opinion’s finding that the State had not proven venue.
At trial, it was never clearly stated in which county the appellant actually obtained the charge cards. Although the majority opinion *138states that the appellant obtained the cards in Union City and that Union City is not in Gwinnett County, and defense counsel states that the location was Union City, Clayton County, the witnesses only testified that it was Union City. In either event, if the State were confined to proving the offense by showing the obtaining of the charge cards, venue was not shown to be proper in Gwinnett County.
Decided May 31, 1990
Rehearing denied June 27, 1990 — Cert, applied for.
Michael M. White, for appellant.
Rickey D. Coursey, pro se.
Thomas C. Lawler III, District Attorney, Debra K. Turner, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
However, I do not view the instant case to be one where the State elected to charge one form of financial transaction card theft, but proved at trial an alternate form of the offense. OCGA § 16-9-31 (a) provides four different ways a person may commit the offense of financial transaction card theft. OCGA § 16-9-31 (a) (1) is but one of those alternatives, and provides that the offense may be committed by taking, obtaining, or withholding a financial transaction card without the cardholder’s consent. The gravamen of this subsection is that possession of a financial transaction card without the cardholder’s consent is prohibited; this subsection does not clearly define separate and alternate types of financial transaction card theft. Compare Walker v. State, 146 Ga. App. 237 (246 SE2d 206) (1978). Since it is undisputed that the State did show the appellant’s unauthorized possession of the charge cards during the chase across Gwinnett County, venue was proven, and the appellant’s conviction for financial transaction card theft should be affirmed.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge McMurray and Judge Pope join in this opinion.