Court Opinion

ID: 9852691
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:34:58.609312+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:32.137987
License: Public Domain

Hill, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the judgment of the court although my reasons vary from those of the majority.
It may seem harsh to the casual reader that this defendant received a 20-year sentence for the armed robbery of 89 cents worth of gasoline. The defendant was prepared to take, by use of a pistol, all the money he could. That he was unsuccessful in his primary endeavor does not lessen the seriousness of his crime, nor does it mean that he was guilty only of attempted robbery. Add to this that he had four prior convictions, one for armed robbery, and the 20-year sentence is explained.
*813The crime of bastardy, a misdemeanor, is committed not by having a child out of wedlock but by the father’s refusal or failure to post security for the maintenance and education of the child and for the mother’s expenses while lying in. Code Ann. § 74-9901. This crime is in derogation of the common law (Washington v. Martin, 75 Ga. App. 466, 468 (43 SE2d 590) (1947)), and it may have been repealed by Ga. L. 1973, p. 697. In any event, a person’s inability to post security is not a crime involving moral turpitude. Thus the crime cannot be used as the basis for impeachment and the trial court did not err, in my view, in restricting defense counsel’s argument accordingly. I therefore concur in the judgment of the court.