348 S.E.2d 70 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1986
The defendant was convicted of the offense of aggravated battery upon his wife, Joyce Buckson (the victim). The evidence adduced at trial revealed the following: During the afternoon of September 6, 1984, the defendant and his wife experienced a series of violent domestic quarrels. Later that evening, the defendant returned home with a handgun and shot his wife in the face, in the shoulder and in the chest. As a result of the shooting, the victim lost her right eye, suffered permanent facial scarring, sustained a fractured rib, a collapsed lung, and continues to suffer from numbness on the right side of her body.
At trial, the victim described the following events surrounding the shooting: “[H]e came in through the garage into the kitchen . . . [a]nd he said, ‘Joyce, I’m tired of you. I’m gonna kill you.’ The mo
The defendant testified that the victim assaulted him with a knife and then he shot her in self-defense. The jury rejected this explanation and found the defendant guilty of the offense of aggravated battery as charged. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion for new trial and this appeal followed. Held:
1. In his first enumeration of error, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing Detective Thomas Gill of the Hines-ville Police Department to testify as an expert in the field of crime scene investigation and reconstruction. “Whether or not a witness is allowed to testify as an expert is a question for the sound discretion of the trial court and such discretion, unless abused, will not be disturbed. Rouse v. Fussell, 106 Ga. App. 259 (4) (126 SE2d 830). Generally nothing more is required to entitle one to give testimony as an expert than that he has been educated in the particular trade or profession; and special knowledge involving a particular subject may be derived from experience as well as study and mental application. Carter v. Marble Products, Inc., 179 Ga. 122 (1) (175 SE 480); Frazier v. State, 138 Ga. App. 640, 645 (227 SE2d 284).” Dennis v. State, 158 Ga. App. 142, 143 (3) (279 SE2d 275).
In the case sub judice, the record shows that Detective Gill has had extensive training and experience in criminal investigation and crime-scene reconstruction. Consequently, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in recognizing Detective Gill as an expert.
2. The defendant argues that the trial court erred in permitting Detective Gill to give his opinion, as an expert witness, concerning the location of the victim in the house when she was shot and whether the victim was holding a knife at the time of the shooting. The defendant argues that these conclusions could have been drawn by the jurors without the assistance of expert testimony. See Williams v. State, 254 Ga. 508, 510 (2) (330 SE2d 353) and Fordham v. State, 254 Ga. 59 (4) (325 SE2d 755). We disagree. Detective Gill drew his conclusion from the location of the bullet slugs found in the house, blood smears and blood stains found on the walls and furnishings of the house and the blood pattern found on the knife with which the victim allegedly attacked the defendant. (Comparing this evidence with the statement given by the defendant and the testimony of the victim,
3. Next, the defendant contends that Detective Gill improperly based his opinions on evidence and opinions presented by the victim. This argument is without merit. The record shows that Detective Gill properly based his opinion on the physical evidence he observed at the crime scene, statements made by the defendant and the testimony of the victim at trial. See OCGA § 24-9-67. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the basis of the witness’ opinion was drawn from conclusions drawn by the victim.
4. In his sixth enumeration of error, the defendant challenges the use of a statement he made while in police custody. The defendant argues that he gave the statement after he had requested an attorney and therefore admission of the statement at trial was a violation of the rule set out in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 TJ. S. 477 (101 SC 1880, 68 LE2d 378).
At the Jackson v. Denno, 378 U. S. 368 (84 SC 1774, 12 LE2d 908), hearing conducted by the trial court, the evidence showed that the defendant made two in-custody statements to the police. After
“Although it is clear that when an accused invokes his right to have counsel present during interrogation, all further interrogation must cease, Smith v. Illinois, 53 USLW 3430, 3431 (1984), it also appears that where that request is for a specific purpose other than interrogation, such as to have an attorney at trial, and does not encom
In the case sub judice, since the trial court expressly found that the defendant’s request for an attorney was “unambiguously limited” to giving a tape recorded statement and did not encompass other custodial interrogation, we find that it was not erroneous to allow the defendant’s second statement into evidence. See Berry v. State, 254 Ga. 101,104 (1), supra, where the Supreme Court remanded, directing the trial court to enter findings as to the purpose for which the defendant requested counsel.
5. Defendant contends in his remaining enumeration of error that the trial court erred in failing to give the jury several of his requests to charge. We do not agree. We have reviewed the trial court’s jury instructions in their entirety, and we find that the principles of law designated in the defendant’s requests to charge were adequately covered in the court’s jury instructions. “[T]he failure of the trial judge to give a requested charge in the exact language requested is not grounds for reversal where the charge given substantially covers the same principle. [Caldwell v. State, 167 Ga. App. 692, 695 (6) (307 SE2d 511).]” Daniel, Ga. Crim. Trial Prac. (1985 ed.), § 24-1.
Judgment affirmed.
In Edwards the court held “that ‘when an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights . . . [A]n accused, . . . having expressed [a] desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges or conversations with the police.’ ” Daniel, Ga. Crim. Trial Prac. (1985 ed.), § 5-18.