Court Opinion

ID: 9609894
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:32:52.87449+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:53.161488
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
concurring specially.
A defendant has the right to plead alibi as a defense, that is, that he was at some place other than where the alleged crime took place at the time of its commission. But the very general language employed in the indictment here takes away that right, because it simply alleges *624burglary on the 25th day of January, 1975, for that defendant without authority and intent to commit a theft did enter the building of Darvin Byrd, the owner thereof The defendant, by this language, is simply advised that Darvin Byrd owned a building in Columbia County, and that defendant entered it with intent to commit a theft.
But how many houses did Darvin Byrd own in Columbia County, and where were they located? Where was this particular house located? Suppose, arguendo, Darvin Byrd owned more than one house — as he well could have under the language in the indictment — and defendant wished to plead alibi for that he was in another part of Columbia County, such as Grovetown, Harlem, Appling, Evans, Martinez, or Winfield, on this particular night at the exact time of the alleged burglary? This would not have benefited him one iota because the state might have shown that he was exactly where the house was located, that is, the place where his alibi placed him, the defendant. But if the indictment had alleged the house was in Appling or in a certain militia district, defendant could have relied on proof that he was not in Appling, or in that particular militia district at the time.
Where a house has particular and peculiar attributes, such as a "blacksmith house” or a "tool house,” it might ordinarily be assumed that one person would not own more than one such house in a particular county. Fullero. State, 57 Ga. App. 809 (1) (197 SE 58); Caldwell v. State, 94 Ga. App. 595 (1) (95 SE2d 748). But here we have no distinguishing features of the house that was burglarized and it could have been located anywhere within the confines of Columbia County. The indictment was too general to place defendant on notice as to the location of the house which he is alleged to have burglarized.
Further, I would like to state that I concur fully with all that is said in the majority opinion.