Court Opinion

ID: 9583631
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:40:44.792246+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:37.557597
License: Public Domain

Deen, Presiding Judge.
On July 7, 1983, the appellant, Ben Whitehead, and a cohort, Larry Wilson, purchased one-way bus tickets from Macon to Eastman, Georgia. Once in Eastman, they proceeded to Fred’s Department Store, where, according to the state’s evidence, they bungled a till-tapping. Whitehead and Wilson were subsequently charged with and convicted of attempted robbery by sudden snatching. On appeal, Whitehead contends that the trial court erred in the jury charge. Held:
1. The trial court instructed the jury that “a person commits the offense of robbery when, with intent to commit theft, he takes property of another by sudden snatching.” As pointed out by the appellant, this definition unfortunately omitted the essential element of taking the property from a person or the immediate presence of that person. OCGA § 16-8-40 (a). Earlier in the jury charge, however, the trial court specified that under the indictment Whitehead had been charged with attempted robbery “by attempting to take property of value, to wit, U. S. currency from the immediate presence of Teresa Hicks by sudden snatching”; and immediately following the incomplete definition of robbery, the trial court advised the jury that if it *260found beyond a reasonable doubt that Whitehead (and Wilson) attempted to commit the offense of robbery as charged in the indictment, it should convict.
Generally, “ ‘[u]pon the trial of a criminal case, the trial judge, in his charge to the jury, with or without request, should instruct them as to the general principles of the law which of necessity must be applied by them in reaching a correct conclusion upon the questions submitted for their consideration.’ Sledge v. State, 99 Ga. 684 (1) (26 SE 756). ‘The jury should be informed of the crime charged, in order to enable them, by applying the law to the facts established by the evidence, to determine whether or not the accused is guilty.’ McDow v. State, 113 Ga. 699 (39 SE 295).” McGruder v. State, 213 Ga. 259, 261 (98 SE2d 564) (1957).
The Supreme Court in McGruder, however, left it an open question whether or not reading the indictment could suffice as definition of the charged offense. At least by obiter dictum, this court has recently intimated that omission of an element in defining a crime was harmless where all the elements were clearly presented to the jury when the trial court read the indictment and the indictment was sent out with the jury. Baxter v. State, 176 Ga. App. 154, 157 (7) (335 SE2d 607) (1985). Under the similar circumstances presented by the instant case, where the omission apparently was inadvertent and the jury otherwise was in fact clearly informed of all the elements of attempted robbery by sudden snatching, we conclude that the omission was harmless.
2. The appellant also contends that the trial court should have given the requested jury charge on attempted misdemeanor theft by taking and criminal trespass as lesser included offenses. The state’s evidence showed that Wilson, Whitehead’s cohort in crime, tossed some coins onto the floor while paying for some merchandise, and that while the sales clerk bent over to pick them up, Whitehead reached for the opened money tray of the cash register. Another store clerk emerged from a nearby stock room and observed Whitehead’s hand in the tray where the $20 bills were kept; upon being thus noticed, Whitehead closed the cash register drawer. At trial, Wilson denied even going to the counter and register where this incident took place, and Whitehead claimed that he had noticed the opened cash register drawer and had closed it to be helpful. He specifically denied having any intent to steal any money or other property from the department store. He also explained that he and Wilson had come to Eastman to consult with a black root doctor on how to improve their luck, and that they had entered Fred’s Department Store because Wilson needed to buy some stockings.
Thus, the evidence of the state and that of Whitehead and Wilson showed that either an attempted robbery by sudden snatching *261occurred or that no crime at all was committed. With such a situation, there was no error in failing to charge the jury on the lesser offense of theft by taking, as well as criminal trespass. Durden v. State, 161 Ga. App. 314 (287 SE2d 767) (1982); King v. State, 127 Ga. App. 83 (192 SE2d 392) (1972).

Judgment affirmed.

Pope, J., concurs. Beasley, J., concurs specially.