Blalock v. StateBlalock v. State
- Reporters:
- , ,
- Before:
- Clarke
Appellant, Rose Blalock, was charged with being a party to the murder and armed robbery of her ex-husband, Hugh Blalock. The state sought the death penalty and the jury found her guilty on both counts and returned a sentence of life imprisonment on the murder; she received a concurrent life term for armed robbery. Her motion for new trial was denied and she brings this appeal.
This case involves questions of witness sequestration, declarations by co-conspirators, admissibility of prior threats made by a defendant against the victim, and whether the state could seek the death penalty when the accomplices received life sentences in return for their testimony. We find no error and affirm.
Although Rose was divorced from the victim at the time of the killing, November 7, 1980, they were continuing to live together. It was established that their relationship had been a turbulent one over the years and that they had been divorced from each other before, and remarried prior to the most recent divorce in February of 1980.
Hugh Blalock’s body was found in his car near a church in Floyd County. His death was caused by shotgun wounds. It was known he was carrying around $600 in cash when last seen but no money was found on the body. On November 18,1980, the police questioned and then arrested two suspects, Del Monte Conway and Bobby Baker. Individually they gave statements implicating themselves and each other. In addition, each implicated Rose Blalock as the person who set up the scheme to have them kill her ex-husband in exchange for $2,000 which would come from insurance proceeds. According to their statements and testimony, they were to take Hugh’s money to make the motive appear to be robbery, and this money would be a down payment on the contract. It was established at trial that Conway and Baker agreed to testify for the state in exchange for life sentences.
1. In her first enumeration of error the appellant contends the court erred in excepting a state’s witness from the rule of sequestration in violation of
“After the fact of conspiracy is proved, the declarations by any one of the conspirators during the pendency of the criminal project shall be admissible against all.”
We also reject appellant’s argument that because the statement was made some five months prior to the killing and Baker expressed disinterest.it was not made during the pendency of a conspiracy. In Knight v. State, 239 Ga. 594 (238 SE2d 390) (1977), we held admissible a co-conspirator’s statement made three months prior to the killing. The “criminal project” language in the statute may include “the creation of the original motive to commit the crime, the plan to commit it and the carrying out of the plan____One party could have a motive or an intent to commit a crime for a substantial period of time before he obtains another or others to join with him in a conspiracy to carry it out.” Knight at 599.
There was evidence that appellant had been making offers of money as early as 1979 to have Hugh killed. Although Baker initially declined the offer there was evidence he later accepted the offer and participated in the murder. We hold for the above reasons the statement was admissible.
3. The state presented several witnesses who testified as to various threats made by the appellant against the victim from October of 1978 until January of 1980. These included threats that appellant would kill Hugh Blalock herself and threats and offers to have him killed. The appellant contends the statements were too remote and had no relevance. We do not agree.
“In a murder prosecution, evidence of prior quarrels and difficulties between the defendant and the victim, . . . thereby
4. The appellant contends the conviction must be reversed because it rests on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice in violation of
Each of the accomplices testified that a conspiracy existed which was planned by the appellant, that the appellant offered $2,000 to have her husband killed, and that the killing was accomplished in furtherance of that plan. At trial and in prior statements the testimony of Baker and Conway differed in some particulars. The points of departure are that each attempts to place more culpability on the other in carrying out the scheme; each testified that although present at the scene the other actually shot the victim.
At the appellant’s trial, the question of whether Baker or Conway was more involved or pulled the trigger was irrelevant. The ultimate question was whether appellant was involved in the scheme to have the victim killed. The accomplices amply corroborated each other on this point. Appellant’s involvement was also corroborated by testimony of other witnesses that the appellant had made similar offers to them to have the victim killed. The necessary corroboration may be by circumstantial evidence. Drake v. State, 241 Ga. 583 (247 SE2d 57) (1978). We hold the corroboration in this case is sufficient.
5. The appellant filed a pretrial motion to bar the state from seeking the death penalty on the grounds that her two accomplices received life sentences in exchange for their testimony. She contends that she was prejudiced in the guilt-innocence phase since the jury knew they would later decide punishment. The jury was properly charged in the first phase of the bifurcated trial that they were only to determine issues of guilt or innocence. The fact that the
Judgment affirmed.
All the Justices concur.