151 Ga. App. 769 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1979
Appellants Rhonda Lakes and Oliver Thompson, and another man, were clocked for speeding in a white 1977 Buick LeSabre barely twenty minutes after the Ware County Sheriffs Department received a call from a Mr. Sullens reporting that one black female and a black male had held a shotgun on him, kidnapped him, forced him to follow a third man in another car, and then stole his white 1977 Buick LeSabre. The state trooper who had already determined to stop the car for speeding heard the sheriffs bulletin while in pursuit of the car and verified the car’s
1. In Enumerations 1,3, and 4, appellants claim that the trial court erred in ruling, or stating, in the jury’s presence following the Jackson-Denno hearing that the confessions of appellants were freely and voluntarily made; that it was error to permit the district attorney to establish voluntariness of the confessions by asking leading questions of the police officers; and that it was error to admit the statements into evidence since each statement constituted inadmissible hearsay against the other appellant. Assuming, without deciding, that appellants are correct, if appellants’ confessions in all their implications had been excluded in the trial of this case, the remaining evidence is yet sufficient to authorize, even demand, the convictions. Accordingly, the alleged errors, including those which might rise to constitutional proportions under Bruton v. United States, 391 U. S. 123 (88 SC 1620, 20 LE2d 476), were harmless. See Kirkland v. State, 141 Ga. App. 664 (234 SE2d 133). The rule has been established in Georgia that, at least in nonconstitutional errors, "where it is highly probable that the errors did not contribute to the judgment,” the error is harmless. Johnson v. State, 238 Ga. 59, 60-61 (230 SE2d 869). Inasmuch as we find it an uneasy proposition to announce what evidence or what error, as a matter of fact, "probably” contributed or did not contribute to a jury’s verdict (see, e.g., Justice Ingram’s dissent in Hamilton v. State, 239 Ga. 72, 77 (235 SE2d 515)), we prefer to base our decision upon the premise that the evidence in this case, excluding all challenged matter concerning the confessions, is sufficient to sustain, even demand, the convictions, and that therefore the assumed errors were harmless. Cauley v. State, 130 Ga. App. 278, 279 (2), 286-288, 290-293 (203 SE2d 239). Having so concluded, we are more at ease in holding, as we must {Johnson, supra), that it was highly probable the assumed errors did not contribute to the convictions.
2. Appellants urge in enumeration of error 2 that the trial court erred when it allowed testimony concerning the stolen vehicle. The evidence referred to originated in, and was admitted as part of, appellant Lakes’ statement, wherein she explained how she and Thompson came to be
3. Appellants’ enumeration of error no. 5 contends, on general grounds, that the evidence did not support the verdict. We have disposed of this point in Division 1 of this opinion, wherein we found the evidence, even excluding all material contained or implied in appellants’ statements, to be sufficient to uphold the convictions. Appellants and Rivers were found in Mr. Sullens’ car barely twenty minutes after Mr. Sullens escaped and called the police, Mr. Sullens’ personal property was found in their possession, and appellants were positively identified by him both from photographs and at trial as the persons who had abducted him at gunpoint and stolen his car. There is no reasonable doubt that appellants committed the crimes as charged.
Judgment affirmed.