Court Opinion

ID: 9561551
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:11:39.740187+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:54.814664
License: Public Domain

*241Felton, Justice,
dissenting. 1. While it is true, as the majority holds, that conspiracy may be shown by circumstantial evidence, it is also true that facts which are consistent with either of two opposing theories prove neither. Southern R. Co. v. Newman, 187 Ga. 132 (199 SE 753); Camp v. Emory University, 95 Ga. App. 442 (1) (98 SE2d 66). “Mere presence at the time and place that a crime is committed is . . wholly insufficient of itself to evidence participation in the criminal intent.” Reese v. State, 157 Ga. 766 (122 SE 195). Under the theory as to what occurred according to all of the witnesses except the State’s (the alleged victim and his companion), the three alleged conspirators were all at the scene of the alleged robbery because they were each waiting for a bus at the same bus stop and the defendant, Geter, became involved only after he had been jostled by Daniell, knocking some articles he carried to the street, and exhibited his weapon only to reinforce his demand for an apology and an explanation of what was happening. The theory of conspiracy is further weakened by the fact that, although the three had been in the same bar at the same time prior to the alleged robbery, there is no evidence that they were either sitting or talking with each other. Moreover, the evidence does show that they did not even leave the bar together, but left one at a time over a period of time.
Even disregarding the defendant’s theory of what occurred and accepting the testimony of the State’s witnesses, however, the fact that Geter was present with a drawn, loaded pistol at the time the victim’s briefcase was seized does not prove a concert of action between Geter and the other two men. The evidence shows that there were a number of persons, predominantly colored, waiting for a bus and that there were wild accusations made regarding the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., which had just recently taken place. At least three of those persons, including the defendant, had been drinking beer just prior to that time. In this emotional, potentially explosive atmosphere, the fact that Geter became involved, even to the extent showed by the evidence, is neither surprising nor probative of any conspiracy to rob. There is no evidence that he said or did anything with regard to the victim’s briefcase prior *242to its seizure by one of the other persons present. On the contrary, it appears that his attention and remarks were directed solely at Daniell, the man he claimed had jostled him. The conduct of the accused after the alleged robbery — that of going to a public bar, calling the police to report the theft of his personal articles and waiting for them to arrive, rather than fleeing the area — does not jibe with that of a man fearful of arrest for conspiracy to rob.
In short, the evidence at best might show the accused’s participation in the robbery on the spur of the moment, but it is not strong enough to show the concert of action necessary for a conspiracy. The evidence is equally or even more consistent with the accused’s version, i. e., that he was a victim of circumstances and was not acting in concert with anyone else, for the purpose of robbery or any other purpose. For anyone to conclude that there was a conspiracy to commit the identical robbery would require that its basis be the most miraculous series of coincidences. The conclusion that there was a conspiracy to commit some kind of robbery can rest alone on the mere proof of what happened, which would be a pure guess. In my opinion, then, the evidence did not authorize a charge on conspiracy.
2. In my opinion, both of the italicized portions of the charge ruled on in Division 3 of the majority opinion are harmful errors. The first portion should have been expressed more accurately so as to approximate the provisions of Code § 26-202, to wit: “Intention may be manifested by the circumstances connected with the perpetration of the offense, and the sound mind and discretion of the person accused.” The second portion is clearly harmful error, since the jury might have been confused.
3. In Division 4 of the majority opinion, it is held that the trial court did not err in failing to charge on robbery by intmidation since the one-count indictment, as they construe it, charged the defendant only with the offense of robbery by the use of an offensive weapon and since, under the Daniels case, supra, where it is charged that an offensive weapon is used to commit the offense of robbery, there cannot be robbery by intimidation within the contemplation of the statute.
*243Under the law prior to 1957, the offense of robbery might be committed by three methods, i. e., (1) by force, (2) by intimidation, and (3) by sudden snatching. Nelson v. State, 203 Ga. 330, 337 (46 SE2d 488) and cit. Ga. L. 1957, pp. 261, 262 and 263 amended Code Ann. §§ 26-2501, 26-2502, and 26-2503 so as to add a fourth method, i. e., by use of an offensive weapon. “Use” is defined in § 26-2501 as amended as “use of or offer to use” the weapon. (Emphasis supplied.) The maximum punishments provided are death or life imprisonment for robbery by force or by use of an offensive weapon (§ 26-2502), and twenty years’ imprisonment for robbery by intimidation (§ 26-2503) and by sudden snatching (§ 26-2504).
Under the majority view, the evidence authorized the finding that the accused was guilty of robbery by the use of an offensive weapon. Since there is no evidence that the weapon was “used in its usual and customary manner,” as provided in the-aforesaid amendment to § 26-2501, this finding could only be based upon the “offer to use.” The burden was on the State to prove such “offer.” To carry this burden, all that was shown, in addition to the accused’s words, was that he held the weapon “like this.” Since there is no clarification in the record as to how “this” was, we cannot assume that “this” meant pointing it at the victim or his companion, so as to constitute an offer to use it.
Even if his actions amounted to an offer to use the weapon, however, this would not restrict the jury to a finding of robbery by use of an offensive weapon. The holding in the Daniels case, supra, upon which the majority ruling is based, should be restricted to the facts of that case, which involved but one theory of that accused’s guilt. In the present case, on the other hand, if there was no conspiracy, as we have argued in Division-1 hereinabove, the jury might conceivably find that there was an intent to rob, without any conspiracy, but that there was no such offer to use the weapon as would prevent a finding of robbery by intimidation, since they might believe the accused’s testimony that he made no verbal threats. Thus, even if the-jury rejected the version of what happened according to all of the testimony except that of the State’s witnesses — that the-accused was exhibiting the weapon not for the purpose of rob*244bery, but to demand an apology and an explanation — the accused was nevertheless entitled to have the case submitted to the jury on the theory, supported by evidence, that he was guilty of the lesser grade of offense, robbery by intimidation. “In every case where a substantial right of a defendant has been denied him by the court's failure to charge, a new trial must be granted, unless it is apparent that the error was harmless to him.” Nelson v. State, 203 Ga. 330, 335, supra. In the present case, it is apparent that the error was harmful to the accused. The verdict of the jury shows that they did all they could to obtain the lighter punishment available for the offense of robbery, i. e., they recommended mercy, four years in the penitentiary, and misdemeanor punishment. It is submitted that misdemeanor punishment would not have been recommended had they intended to find the accused guilty of the graver grade of offense of “robbery by use of an offensive weapon” (a capital offense), rather than merely “robbery by intimidation,” which is not a capital offense. Edwards v. State, 224 Ga. 616 (163 SE2d 823).
It should be too obvious to require citation of authority that where, as here, a statute defining an offense contains various defined grades of the offense, for which two different categories of punishment are provided, and where there is evidence (not merely an unsworn statement) that might tend to prove the commission of one of the lesser grades of the offense, the failure to charge the definition of the lesser grade of offense is harmful as a matter of law, even in the absence of a request therefor.
The holding of the majority in this case as to the failure to define the offenses involved is equivalent to their approving a charge on murder (under an indictment for murder) without further charge, when the evidence authorized a finding of guilty of offenses ranging from murder to pointing a pistol at another. The trial judge is required to charge on all issues raised by the evidence without request. Here, no defense was raised by the mere unsworn statement of the defendant, since he was sworn, and testified.
I would reverse the judgment of the trial court and grant the defendant a new trial before a jury properly charged in accordance with the principles of law hereinabove set forth.