418 S.E.2d 117 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1992
Michael Edward Dean was convicted of theft by taking (motor vehicle), and he appeals contending the circumstantial evidence was insufficient to support the verdict.
The evidence at trial established that Eddie Michael Smith parked his Ford truck leaving the keys in the ignition when he
Appellant testified that on the night of December 15, the vehicle he was driving broke down and that a stranger, driving the truck in issue, stopped and offered him a ride. Appellant stated he gave the driver money to transport him and his possessions to his mother’s house. Appellant’s mother testified that on the night in issue appellant came to her house in a truck being driven by another man around 10:00 p.m. (within half an hour after Smith had left his truck at the bar’s parking lot). Appellant testified that after leaving his possessions with his mother he had the truck driver take him to a gas station to purchase fuel, and that they were driving back to appellant’s vehicle when the accident occurred. Appellant testified that the driver, claiming he was going to telephone for an ambulance for appellant, walked away from the truck after the accident. Appellant also testified that the force of the collision ruptured the gas can he was carrying and soaked him in gasoline. On rebuttal, Officer Harvey testified that he did not smell gasoline on appellant or inside the truck cab, and that he found only the whiskey jug and empty beer cans in the truck.
When the evidence connecting a defendant to the charged crime is circumstantial, to warrant a conviction “the proved facts shall not only be consistent with the hypothesis of guilt, but shall exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save. that of the guilt of the accused.” OCGA § 24-4-6. “ ‘[Circumstantial evidence must exclude only reasonable inferences and hypotheses and it is not necessary
Judgment affirmed.