Background

• Police charged Charles Davis with two counts of theft by deception for receiving wire-transferred funds from a Morgan County victim (G.E.) after a telephone scam.
• G.E., while in Morgan County, was instructed to wire fees/taxes to claim a prize and sent two wire transfers to individuals in the Atlanta area, including Davis.
• Davis lived in Marietta (Cobb County) and collected the wired funds at stores on Delk Road (Marietta) and Cobb Parkway (Smyrna) in Cobb County.
• At trial the State elicited that G.E. wired the money from Morgan County, but offered no evidence that Davis exercised control over the funds in Morgan County.
• Davis was convicted in Morgan County; he moved for a new trial arguing the State failed to prove venue in Morgan County.
• The trial court denied the motion; the Court of Appeals reviewed whether the State proved venue beyond a reasonable doubt.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Bradley v. State, 272 Ga. 740 (establishes burden to prove venue beyond a reasonable doubt)
• Moore v. State, 153 Ga. App. 49 (theft by deception conviction reversed where prosecution failed to show accused exercised control over property in prosecuting county)
• Naylor v. State, 257 Ga. App. 899 (reversed where victim wired funds from one county to accused in another and accused never possessed or controlled funds in the victim’s county)
• Gautreaux v. State, 314 Ga. App. 103 (discusses when venue may be established by showing accused exercised control in the prosecuting county)
• Hawkins v. State, 167 Ga. App. 143 (similar to Gautreaux; venue upheld where evidence showed accused exercised control in that county)