187 Ga. 534 | Ga. | 1939
(After stating the foregoing facts.)
“The testimony of a single witness is generally sufficient to establish a fact. Exceptions to this rule are made in specified cases; such as, to convict of treason or perjury, in any case of felony where the only witness is an accomplice, and to rebut a responsive statement in an answer in equity — in these cases (except in treason) corroborating circumstances may dispense with another witness.” Code, § 38-121. This court has construed that portion of this Code section relating to the necessity of connecting an accomplice in felony cases many times, and no doubt can now be fairly entertained as to its meaning as construed. In every case the corroborating circumstances must connect the defendant with the crime independently of the testimony of the accomplice, and this requirement is not met by merely corroborating the accomplice as to time, place, and circumstances of the transaction, if there be nothing to connect the defendant therewith. Childers v. State, 52 Ga. 106; Bailey v. State, 56 Ga. 314; Bell v. State, 73 Ga. 572; Evans v. State, 78 Ga. 351; Blois v. State, 92 Ga. 584 (20 S. E. 12); Taylor v. State, 110 Ga. 150 (35 S. E. 161); Myers v. State, 151 Ga. 826 (3) (108 S. E. 369); Lynch v. State, 158 Ga. 261 (123 S. E. 289); McCormick v. State, 176 Ga. 21 (3) (166 S. E. 762). In Childers v. State, supra, Robert Childers, Derry Crane, Sandy Boothe, and Frank Lee were placed on trial for the offense of robbery alleged to have been committed upon William T. Green.
But counsel for the State argue that the witness, Aaron Nelson, was not as a matter of law an accomplice, and that it was solely for the jury to determine from the evidence whether or not he was
It is true that, the corpus delicti was proved, and that the accomplice was corroborated as to time, place, and circumstances, but none of this corroboration even mentioned the defendant or connected him with the crime. In the Taylor case, supra, pregnancy of the woman certainly resulted from sexual intercourse,' but this court there held that the mere fact that the woman involved was pregnant did not corroborate her testimony that her father had had sexual intercourse with her. Likewise, in the instant case, the mere fact that the commission of the crime was proved in no wise connected this defendant therewith. While the testimony of the accomplice, Nelson, might have convinced the jury that he was telling the truth and that this defendant was guilty of the crime charged, nevertheless the defendant was entitled to a legal trial requiring the State to meet the requirements of law as to evidence to sustain his conviction. The evidence in this case was not sufficient under the law.
Error is assigned upon the ruling of the court permitting the witness Aaron Nelson, while testifying for the State on direct examination, to testify, “What caused me to leave around Rocky
Error is assigned on the ruling of the court permitting the witness Aaron Nelson, testifying for the State, to give the following testimony: “The reason why I was afraid of him [Lonnie Lanier] was because I knowed he would kill me. How I knowed he killed one fellow was I knowed the boy he killed;” over the objection that it was irrelevant, inadmissible, and prejudicial. In Cawthon v. State, 119 Ga. 395 (4, 5) (46 S. E. 897), this court said: “Evidence of the commission of a crime other than the 'one charged is generally not admissible. To make one criminal act evidence of another, a connection between them must have Existed in the mind of the actor, linking them together for some purpose he intended to accomplish; or it must be necessary to identify the person of the actor, by a connection which shows that he who committed the one must have done the other.’ ” The testimony objected to was prejudicial to the defendant, and the objection should have been sustained. Cox v. State, 165 Ga. 145 (139 S. E. 861).
Complaint is made in grounds 6, 7, and 8 of the amended motion because the court permitted witnesses to testify as to certain alleged conversations with the eodefendant, John Burns, in which he sought to conceal evidence, over the objection of defendant that such testimony was irrelevant, inadmissible, prejudicial, hearsay, and that the alleged statements of Burns were made after the alleged crime had been committed. The acts and declarations of a conspirator during the pendency of the conspiracy are admissible in evidence against another conspirator on trial, and efforts to conceal the crime after it has been committed are a part of the conspiracy. Foster v. Thrasher, 45 Ga. 517; Slaughter v. State, 113 Ga. 284 (2) (38 S. E. 854, 84 Am. St. R. 242); Barrow v. State, 121 Ga. 187 (2) (48 S. E. 950); Coleman v. State, 141 Ga. 731 (2) (82 S. E. 228); Smith v. State, 148 Ga. 332 (96 S. E. 632); Byrd v. State, 68 Ga. 661. But in the instant case the evidence
Complaint is made of the following excerpt from the charge: “I charge you, gentlemen of the jury, that where, in connection, with the accomplice’s testimony, there is no other evidence given by other witnesses, or furnished by other witnesses, such as to show corpus delicti, that is to say to show the fact that the crime has been committed, if the crime is shown to have been committed by the testimony of the accomplice, and he is corroborated by other evidence which shows that the crime has been committed, and if there be sufficient corroborating evidence by which the jury can infer that the party charged was connected with such crime and implicated in the crime charged, then the jury would be warranted in convicting him.” This portion of the charge was assigned as error upon the ground that it was confusing, misleading, and in substance instructed the jury that if there was other evidence in connection with the accomplice’s testimony to show the corpus delicti they would be warranted in convicting the defendant. The charge complained of nowhere authorized the conviction of the defendant upon the testimony of the accomplice if the accomplice was corroborated by other evidence proving the corpus delicti. It clearly instructed the jury that they would not be authorized to convict upon the testimony of the accomplice unless his testimony was corroborated by other evidence connecting the defendant with the crime. This assignment is therefore without merit.
Judgment reversed.