43 Ga. App. 405 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1931
F. L. Fletcher was convicted of the larceny of “one Ford automobile of the value of $400 and the property of Lynn McKenzie.” He excepts to the judgment overruling his motion for a new trial. Special ground 1 of the motion complains that the court erred in charging the jury upon the law of confessions, for the reason that the evidence did not warrant the charge.
After testifying that he arrested the defendant at the Hampton Hotel on December 17, 1930, F. C. Foster, another city detective, swore: “ Fletcher said he didn’t own the car now he had turned it over to Baynes. I asked him if he gave Baynes an order for it, and he said he didn’t. He didn’t tell me where the car was. I knew where it was. He said he had been, riding around in town in it for about two weeks. He said he went to Alabama in it, but didn’t say where in Alabama. I didn’t use any force or any inducement to get him to make the statement to me about the car. He brought up the subject himself and made it freely and voluntarily.” T. 0. Sturdivant, a lieutenant of the city detective department, testified substantially as did the witness Foster as to the admissions made by the defendant in regard to the automobile. Sturdivant further swore: “He said he had it in a garage, but he would not tell me where, and I had no knowledge where the garage was. . . He said he put the car in a garage. He didn’t know whose ear it was, and he didn’t know it was a stolen car at that time. . . And he went on and asked me some questions, and wanted to know why we couldn’t convict him of having it in his possession as good as we could of having stolen it.” In his statement to the jury the defendant contended that the automobile in question was loaned to him by one Coggins.
We have set out enough of the testimony to indicate the nature of the case, including that part of it upon which the trial judge must have based his rather lengthy charge upon the law of confessions.
There are, of course, a great many cases bearing upon the subject under consideration, but the law is well established, and further citation of artthorities is deemed unnecessary. The main differences that have arisen among the judges of the appellate courts of this State have sprung out of the difficulty of applying the law to the facts, and not out of any doubt as to what the law is. In the case' at bar we are of the opinion that the admission of the defendant that he was in the possession of the stolen automobile and drove it considerably does not amount to a confession of guilt. We hold that the judgment in this case should be reversed because of the court’s charge upon confessions.
Judgment reversed.