Court Opinion

ID: 9564926
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:11:26.683454+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:15.157991
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur fully with Division 1 of the majority opinion. *705However, I must dissent from Division 2 wherein the majority holds that the trial court gave an erroneous charge which could not be deemed harmless in view of the "principal theory relied upon by the defendant... [being] . . . that the evidence left a doubt as to his guilt.”
Just prior to the giving of the questioned portion of its charge, the trial court had amply charged the jury the provisions of Code Ann. § 26-501 (Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1249, 1266) (presumption of innocence and the state’s burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt). Immediately following, the trial court charged a definition of "reasonable doubt.”
Next came the questioned portion of the charge wherein the trial court charged: "I charge you, however, that the State is not required to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or to a mathematical certainty. Moral and reasonable certainty is all that can be expected in a legal investigation.” (Emphasis supplied). This emphasized language undoubtedly was a slip of the tongue inasmuch as it is my opinion the trial court intended to say "beyond all doubf’ at this point in its charge instead of "beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Emphasis supplied). I would hazard to say that for years and on countless occasions the trial courts of this state (and I dare say also this very same experienced and learned trial judge in the case sub judice) have used the following or similar language: "The State, however, is not required to prove the guilt of the defendant beyond all doubt or to a mathematical certainty. Moral and reasonable certainty is all that can be expected in a legal investigation.”
Subsequent to giving the questioned portion of its charge the trial court charged the jury: "I charge you that if you believe beyond a reasonable doubt that at any time within four years next before this indictment was returned in this Court, that this defendant did commit the offense of burglary by entering the building, place of business named in the indictment, and, further, that he intended to commit a felony or theft therein, then you would be authorized to find the defendant guilty of burglary as charged. If, on the other hand, you do not believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant entered or remained within the building and/or the place named in the indictment, or if you find there was no *706intention to commit a felony or theft therein, or if you have a reasonable doubt as to the guilt as charged, then you would find him not guilty and acquit him.”
The trial court also charged on the lesser offense of criminal trespass. However, after deliberation the jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty of burglary.
In my view the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed as I agree with the holding in Flannigan v. State, 139 Ga. App. 590, 591 (229 SE2d 98), wherein it was held: "We do not recommend the questioned charge as a model of clarity or even one to be emulated. Nevertheless, where a charge as a whole substantially presents issues in such a way as is not likely to confuse the jury even though a portion of the charge may not be as clear and precise as could be desired, a reviewing court will not disturb a verdict amply authorized by the evidence. Todd v. Fellows, 107 Ga. App. 783 (131 SE2d 577). There is no error where it is unlikely that the instructions considered as a whole would mislead a jury of ordinary intelligence. Thomas v. Barnett, 107 Ga. App. 717 (5) (131 SE2d 818). While the specific portion of the charge of which complaint is made when torn asunder and considered as a disjointed fragment may be objectionable, when put together and considered as a whole, the charge is perfectly sound. Mendel v. Pinkard, 108 Ga. App. 128, 134 (132 SE2d 217); Jones v. Tyre, 137 Ga. App. 572, 574 (224 SE2d 512); Geter v. State, 219 Ga. 125, 134 (132 SE2d 30). We find no prejudice to appellant’s substantial rights in the questioned charge. Accordingly, this enumeration is without merit.”
Moreover, although the defendant has not enumerated as error that the evidence does not support the verdict and judgment, that the same is contrary to law, contrary to the evidence and contrary to the principles of justice and equity, I am compelled to offer that the record and transcript contains sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. As the result of signals from a burglar alarm system the defendant was apprehended, in the early morning hours, squatting down behind a display counter of merchandise inside a grocery store building which was closed for business at the time as the owner had *707"locked up” at 9 o’clock the night before. The defendant had black socks or stockings on his hands when apprehended. A hole had been cut in the roof of the grocery store large enough for a man to come through. Approximately 78 cartons of cigarettes had been stacked "back where the hole was” and some frozen food packages and meats were found packed in a bag.
A police officer, who had questioned the defendant while still in the store, testified on direct examination by the state: "Q. Then, would you tell us what information you talked with him about after you had warned him of his rights fully? A. Yes, sir. After I gave him his rights, which I asked him several questions. One I asked him was did he indeed commit the crime of burglary. He said he was up there. I asked him also was he by himself, and he said he was by himself. That’s what he told me at the time, and I asked him how was, did he intend to get the merchandise out of the building and back to where he stayed, and he said he was going to call a friend once he got out of the building. Also, I asked how did he get in, and he said he chopped a hole through the roof and dropped through the hole of the roof.”
The defendant testified in his own behalf and in response to defense counsel’s question: "Q. Would you please explain to the Court and jury what you were doing inside that building?” he testified that he was on his way to see his brother. As he was passing by the grocery store a policeman came to the door and "told me to step in, and just said ... to get back there, behind the counter. So, I got back there, behind the counter. . . So, he said, put your hands up, and I raised my hands up. He said, put them up further, just as fer as you can get’em, but before he told me that, he told me to get those socks and put ’em on.” The defendant denied that he committed the offense of burglary. He testified that he never came through the roof nor did he make any admissions to the police officer who had previously testified.
I, therefore, respectfully dissent as to Division 2. It is my view that a new trial should not be granted as it is unlikely that the trial court’s charge, considered in its totality, misled the jury in the case sub judice.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Deen *708and Judge Banke join in this dissent.