Atterberry v. StateAtterberry v. State
An accusation was preferred against L. C. Atterberry in the City Court of Savannah, charging him with the offense of a misdemeanor in that he “Did unlawfully charge and receive, for the loan and advance of $50.00 in money, a rate of interest greater than five per centum per month (by way of commission for advances, discount, exchange, the purchase of salary and wages, and by contracts, contrivances, . and devices unknown, all of which constituted a subterfuge and scheme intentionally used by the accused to evade the laws of the State), from John Reed, for which sum of money, to wit, $50.00, the accused did charge and take interest in the sum of $5.00 for the use of said $50.00 for a period of one week, which rate of interest amounts to forty-three per centum per month, contrary to the laws of said State, the good order, peace and dignity thereof.” To this accusation the defendant demurred generally upon the grounds, (1) that it failed to charge any offense under the laws of the' State, and (2) defendant “demurs generally to said accusation on the ground that the same is discriminatory and class legislation contrary to the Constitution of the State of Georgia, article 1, section 1, paragraph 25, which provides ‘all citizens of the United States, residents of this State are hereby declared citizens of this State and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to enact such laws as will protect them in the full,enjoyment of their rights, privileges and immunities due such citizenship,’ and is in violation of the Constitution of the United States, Amendment 14, which provides ‘no State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.’ ” The
1. The first ground of the defendant’s general demurrer, that the accusation fails to charge any offense under the laws of the State, and the special grounds of the demurrer are without merit. The accusation charges a violation of Code § 57-117 in almost the identical language of the accusation dealt with in
Jarvis
v.
State,
69
Ga. App.
326 (
2. If the second ground of the general demurrer be construed as an attack on the constitutionality of the statute under which the present accusation was drawn, it is likewise without merit under the decisions of this court in
King
v.
State,
136
Ga.
709 (
3. The first, second, third, and fourth grounds of the amended motion for a new trial except to the denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence, consisting of records and cards which had the names of the various prosecuting witnesses, the dates the loans were made, the amounts loaned, and the amounts which were paid back, taken from the parked automobile of the defendant by the police officers who were investigating the shooting affray in which the defendant was wounded, and in which he had killed his adversary, some of which were introduced in evidence over the objection that said evidence was illegally and unlawfully seized without a warrant to arrest or a warrant to search, and in violation of defendant’s civil rights as set forth in 42 U. S. Code, Ann. Supp., §§ 1981 and 1983, and the deprivation of his rights as provided in “article 4, section 2, and the 4th, 5th, and 14th amendments to the Constitution
(a) The fourth and fifth amendments (Code §§ 1-804, 1-805) to the Constitution of the United States apply only to proceedings in Federal courts, and have no application to trials in State courts.
Wilburn
v.
State,
141
Ga.
510 (
(b) The act of 1908 (Ga. L. 1908, p. 83; Code § 57-117) is not violative of article 4, section 2, paragraph 1 (Code § 1-402), of the Constitution of the United States, on the ground that it is in deprivation of the defendant’s rights.
South Georgia Mercantile Co.
v.
Lance,
143
Ga.
530 (3) (
(c) “Under repeated decisions of this court, the admission in evidence in a State-court trial of articles taken from the defendant and his automobile by State officers without a search warrant would not violate art. 1, sec. 1, par. 6, or art. 1, sec. 1, par. 16, of the Constitution of this State (Code, §§ 2-106, 2-116), prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures and compulsory self-incrimination.” McIntyre v. State, 190 Ga. 872 (1), and cases cited in that opinion.
(d) The admission in evidence of the records referred to above was not violative of the due-process clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions, or of the Civil Rights Statute, 42 U. S. Code, Ann. Supp., §§ 1981 and 1983.
(e) There is no “article I, section X, paragraph XXX” of the Constitution of the State of Georgia.
(/) Applying the foregoing rulings, grounds 1 through 4 of the amended motion for a new trial are without merit.
4. Grounds 5 and 6 of the amended motion, complaining of the admission of the testimony of a certified public accountant, explaining the entries appearing on certain records which were introduced in evidence, and the testimony of a police officer that these records were found in and taken from the automobile of the defendant, the officer having also testified that the defendant had stated that these were his records of his money-lending business, over the objection that “there was no evidence that the entries were made by the defendant or in the course of his business, or at the time of the transaction,” are likewise without merit. See Wharton’s Criminal Evidence (11th ed.), Vol. 2, p. 1765, § 1004;
Camp
v.
State,
31
Ga. App.
737, 740 (6) (
5. There was sufficient evidence to authorize the verdict, and the trial judge did not err in denying the general grounds of the motion for a new trial.
Judgment affirmed.