4 Ga. App. 643 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1908
The plaintiff in error excepts to the overruling of his motion for new trial, which was based upon general grounds only. The offense of which he was convicted, was that of perjury. In the indictment it was alleged, that he had wilfully, knowingly, absolutely, and falsely testified before the grand jury of Campbell county (the grand jury having under consideration at the time a special presentment charging one Mahaley Ross, alias Stinchcomh, with the illegal sale of whisky), as follows: “I did not furnish, five pennies to John Henry Chandler to buy any whisky at any time in Mahaley Ross’s house; I did not get any whisky from anybody in Mahaley Ross’s house;. I never saw any whisky in Mahaley Ross’s house; I never tried to buy any whisky with anybody in Mahaley Ross’s house; I did not see any money pass for whisky in Mahaley Ross’s house; I did not buy any whisky from Mahaley Ross;” when in truth and in fact the said Henry McLaren did 'furnish five pennies to John Henry Chandler for the purpose of buying whisky in Mahaley Ross’s house, and did buy whisky in the said Mahaley Ross’s house; and he did then and there get whisky in the said Mahaley Ross’s house; and he did then and there see whisky in Mahaley Ross’s house; and he did then and there buy whisky with John Henry Chandler in said Mahaley Ross’s house; and he did then and .there see money pass for whisky in said Mahaley Ross’s house; and he did buy whisky from Mahaley Ross; the said evidence being then and there material, etc. It is insisted that the verdict of guilty is unauthorized, because the State could not in the same indictment charge six different statements, as being false, each of them alleged to be material, without preferring the charge in separate counts. It is also insisted that the verdict wae not authorized by the evidence, because the testimony did not show that the defendant, when a witness before the grand jury, used the identical language in the indictment; and further, that the conviction was' unwarranted by the evidence, because the State failed to prove each and all of the six false statements set forth in the
Then, was the evidence sufficient to show that the defendant testified falsely as to matters material to the first investigation? We think that it was established by two witnesses, (1) 'that the defendant furnished five pennies to John Henry Chandler (at a designated time within the statute of limitations) to buy whisky in Mahaley Ross’s house; (2) that he did get some whisky from another person in Mahaley Ross’s house, and (3) that he saw whisky in Mahaley Ross’s house. These facts, if true, even though they might not be sufficient to authorize the conviction of Mahaley Ross of the offense of selling whisky, if she were on trial, were nevertheless material in the investigation of the evidence before the grand jury; because, in connection with other evidence, each of these facts might tend to induce the grand jury to find a presentment (which is merely the means of putting a defendant on trial),
We think that the conviction was sustained by the law and the evidence, and for that reason the court did not err in overruling the motion, based solely upon the general grounds.
Judgment affirmed.