Court Opinion

ID: 9596346
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:48:33.798394+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:35.076896
License: Public Domain

Quillian, Judge,
dissenting. 1. The first and second enumerations of error are that the judge erred in overruling the grounds of the appellant’s motion for new trial that the verdict was contrary to the evidence and contrary to law. These two enumerations of error present the single contention that the evidence submitted upon the trial was not sufficient to prove every material element of the crime of burglary as alleged in the indictment.
If a place of, business is burglarized and that place of business is not also a dwelling, mansion, or storehouse, then it must be alleged and proved that articles of value were stored or contained in the place of business. This allegation and proof is not necessary if the building burglarized is a dwelling, mansion or storehouse. This principle is well stated in Jones v. State, 12 Ga. App. 813, 814 (78 SE 474): “If the house alleged 'to have [been] broken and entered is not a ‘dwelling, mansion, or storehouse,’ it must be alleged and proved to have been a place of business were valuable goods were contained or stored. Penal Code, § 146 [now Code § 26-2401]. It is sufficient to charge that a dwelling, mansion, or storehouse was broken and entered, without alleging that valuable goods were therein contained; but if *817a place of business is broken and entered, and that place of business is not also a dwelling, mansion, or storehouse, then it must be alleged and proved that articles of value were stored or contained in the place of business. See Lee v. State, 56 Ga. 478; Lanier v. State, 76 Ga. 304.”
The building in each count of the indictment was alleged to be a “storehouse and place of business.” “Storehouse” within the meaning of Code § 26-2401 has been defined as: “a place where goods are stored or kept for sale at wholesale or retail, such as a shop or store.” Mash v. State, 90 Ga. App. 322 (3) (82 SE2d 881); Coleman v. State, 61 Ga. App. 658, 660 (7 SE2d 212); Martin v. State, 95 Ga. 478 (20 SE 271). While the indictment alleged that the buildings were storehouses and places of business, the evidence failed to disclose that either the Columbus Body Works, Inc., or the Robert Edge Realty & Insurance Company were places where goods were stored or kept for sale at wholesale or retail. Therefore, we must reach the inescapable conclusion that the buildings were not storehouses within the meaning of the statute. The evidence did disclose that both buildings were places of business as alleged in the indictment. Hence, one of the essential elements of the offense charged in each count of the indictment was that the buildings contained valuable goods or other articles of value.
The principle that the mere proof that articles of personalty exist does not authorize the conclusion that they are “things of value,” even though they be chattels commonly put to' useful purposes and generally regarded as valuable, is succinctly stated and then explicitly explained in Johnson v. State, 109 Ga. 268 (34 SE 573). See also Davis v. State, 40 Ga. 229; Wright v. State, 1 Ga. App. 158, supra; Tyler v. State, 89 Ga. App. 535 (1) (80 SE2d 78). In the above cited cases involving burglary and larceny the appellate courts of this state would not take judicial cognizance of the fact that a safe, a white hog, seed cotton or meat were things of value.
The evidence adduced upon the trial, as is related in the foregoing statement of facts, showed that one building contained a small safe and the other a safe, a set of Venetian blinds, a telephone, a fan and some tools. It was also shown that one of the *818safes contained some papers, stock certificates and a will. No proof was submitted concerning the value of any of these articles, that is, that they were separately or collectively of any value. There being no evidence that either of the buildings contained valuable goods, one of the essential elements of the offense of burglary from places of business which were not storehouses was not proved.
The appellee cites the ca'se of Cannon v. State, 113 Ga. App. 701, supra, as precedent for the position that where photographs of the interior of a building show various items of personalty are contained in the building the conclusion is authorized that the articles are of some value. The Cannon case is distinguishable from the case sub judice. In the present case the photographs were admissible only as showing the physical condition of the exterior of each building, because no witness testified that the pictures portrayed the contents of the building at the time the burglary was committed. It is further observed that while the photographs were identified by the witnesses only as showing the burglarized buildings, none are included in the record which was duly certified and transmitted to this court. However, one of the photographs in question which portrays the rear exterior of the building occupied by Columbus Body Works was attached to the appellee’s brief. It does dimly show what appears to be an automobile or part of an automobile within the building, but there is no evidence as to when the picture was taken or that the automobile was in the building at the time of the burglary.