Court Opinion

ID: 9582157
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:23:12.976742+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:29.783173
License: Public Domain

Sognier, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from Division 1 of the majority opinion. The rule relating to corroboration of accomplice testimony is that there must be evidence, independent of the accomplice testimony, which establishes, or infers, direct participation in the offense charged, and is more than sufficient to merely cast on the defendant a grave suspicion of guilt. Allen v. State, 215 Ga. 455, 457 (111 SE2d 70) (1959). Accord, Gunter v. State, 243 Ga. 651, 654-655 (256 SE2d 341) (1979); Vaughn v. State, 139 Ga. App. 565 (228 SE2d 741) (1976). Eliminating the testimony of the accomplice in this case, all that remains is the fingerprint evidence and evidence that a billfold containing Smith’s name and picture was found on the "Miss Carol J.” The most this evidence establishes, even by inference, is that at some unknown time (accepting the testimony of the state’s expert witness) Smith was on the "Miss Carol J.” It does not establish, even by inference and independent of the accomplice testimony, that *194Smith participated in the offense charged on March 13, 1979.
I recognize that the corroborating evidence need not be sufficient, in and of itself, to establish an accused’s guilt; however, it must be sufficient, at a minimum, to establish the defendant’s participation in the offense charged without consideration of the accomplice’s testimony. If the evidence independent of the accomplice testimony is not sufficient to establish that Smith was. on the boat on March 13, 1979, it is certainly not sufficient corroboration; at most, it creates a grave suspicion of guilt. This is in accord with Division 4 of this court’s opinion in Barnett v. State, 153 Ga. App. 430 (1980).
Lastly, the case of Cuevas v. State, 151 Ga. App. 605 (260 SE2d 737) (1979), relied on by the majority, is totally different factually from the instant case. Cuevas was apprehended in the back of the van used to transport the marijuana, thus connecting him directly with the offense charged. In the instant case Smith was not at the boat, the warehouse or the van; in fact, he was not present at all. Thus, the only evidence connecting the defendant with the offense charged was the uncorroborated testimony of the accomplice.
I agree with this court’s disposition of the remaining enumerations of error; however, in my opinion, Enumeration 1 requires reversal. -