Court Opinion

ID: 9567260
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:51:18.810857+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:28.711347
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part. I concur in the majority’s opinion which affirms the conviction for aggravated assault and carrying a pistol without a license, but I dissent from that part of the opinion which affirms the conviction for carrying a concealed weapon (pistol). No witness testified that the pistol was concealed. No witness testified that he had a *754good opportunity to see the defendant, and was not able to see the pistol. One policeman, testifying for the state, swore that after the arrest, he saw the defendant with an object in his hand which looked like a pistol, and he saw defendant place the object in his pocket. The other policeman, on whose testimony the majority’s opinion must be premised, testified that he "searched” defendant after arrest and found a pistol in his pocket. Obviously this was the same pistol the first policeman had seen in defendant’s hands, and which he saw when it was placed in defendant’s pocket, as only one pistol was found. But this witness did not testify that the pistol was concealed, or that he was not fully aware of its presence before he made the search. It seems that he was making a routine search of an arrested prisoner, as all good officers will do, to determine exactly what he had on his person, weapons or otherwise. For aught that appears here, the butt of the pistol, or the barrel, may have been fully exposed to his view. Or it may be that the pistol was of such bulk, being a rather large weapon of .38 caliber, that it was outlined or imprinted so as to be clearly recognizable as a pistol in his pocket, or he may have seen him put the pistol in his pocket as did the first policeman.
The state’s burden was to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant carried the pistol concealed, and this it did not do. Compare Stockdale v. State, 32 Ga. 225; Killet v. State, 32 Ga. 292; Stripling v. State, 114 Ga. 538 (40 SE 733).
I therefore dissent and would reverse the trial court as to the conviction for carrying a concealed weapon.