Court Opinion

ID: 9582268
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:24:25.107205+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:35.897783
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
concurring specially. I concur in the judgment of affirmance but feel obliged to add my reasons therefor. Counsel admitted by the "Stipulation of the Case” that on February 28, 1970, the Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket of which Billy Tierce, the defendant, was general manager, did operate "a sales promotional program known as 'Piggly-Wiggly of Calhoun Jackpot.’” A jackpot card had been mailed to every person listed in the Calhoun City Directory. Any adult person who did not receive a jackpot card could participate in the program by registering with the PigglyWiggly Supermarket for a jackpot card. In order to be eligible for the jackpot prize- the holder was required to have his card punched in the Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket during the week of the drawing.
As was held in Boyd v. Piggly-Wiggly Southern, 115 Ga. App. 628 (3) (155 SE2d 630): "Consideration as an ingredient of a prohibited lottery or gift enterprise is shown when there is present, in the actual working of the sales promotion scheme, a class of persons who, in addition to receiving or being entitled to chances on prizes, supply consideration for all the chances in bulk by purchasing whatever the promoter is selling, whether the purchasers were required to do so or not under the wording of the promoter’s rules.”
In other words, if any person in Calhoun, Georgia, who had received a card (and that included every person in the City Directory of Calhoun) made any purchase, no matter how small, at Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket in Calhoun during the week of the drawing, then that furnished a consideration as to each and every person who had a card.
It is true that the "Stipulation of Facts” does not specifically set forth a statement to the effect that goods were sold by the defendant to one of the persons holding a card during the week of the drawing, but such was not necessary. Each and every fact essential to a conviction in a criminal case does not have to be proven by a witness. Code § 38-102 provides in pertinent part: "Presumptive evidence consists of inferences drawn by human experiences from the connection of cause and effect, and observations of human conduct.”
*849This statute is often referred to by lawyers in arguments to juries as the "common sense rule.” It is the silent witness that goes into each and every jury room with the twelve men who are to decide the case. Piggly-Wiggly was running a supermarket for the sole purpose of selling goods to the public. To whom did it sell? To the people of Calhoun where it was located. What people are located in Calhoun? Those who are listed in the City Directory, all of whom received a card from Piggly-Wiggly. We may presume that one hundred percent of the people in Calhoun received a card. Can it be imagined that at the end of the week, when it came time to give away a jackpot of not less than $100, not a single resident of Calhoun, Georgia, had purchased one penny’s worth of goods from the Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket — and yet these people came forward with their punched cards, having visited the supermarket during the week to have their cards punched? Would Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket have conducted a drawing to give away $100 to the lucky card-holder of this group of non-buying people? Hardly! If it did so, when the second week came around, Piggly-Wiggly would be out of business because under the "presumptive evidence” rule as set forth in Code § 38- ■ 102, we can presume that if Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket of Calhoun did not sell goods to the people of Calhoun it did not sell them to anybody. Therefore, I feel that the evidence was sufficient to authorize conviction, and I would affirm the lower court.