133 Ga. App. 819 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1975
1. This case is on appeal from conviction on a two-count indictment for sodomy. There was ample evidence to support the verdict, including testimony of one of the minors involved, and testimony of the mother as to the physical condition of one of the children immediately after the assault. There is also the testimony of a deputy sheriff as to admissions by the defendant to him of the acts charged, made very shortly after his arrest on the morning following the attacks of the previous night. Between the arrival of the officers and the defendant’s statements, he was twice cautioned as to his right to an attorney and his right to maintain silence, and no circumstances appear which suggest coercion except that the defendant did not have on a shirt or shoes when he arrived at the jail and was furnished with this clothing. The explanation offered by the officers was simply that
2. Considering the statements of the defendant shortly after his arrest as a confession, there was no objection to the testimony offered, and therefore no error in its admission. Patterson v. State, 228 Ga. 389 (1) (185 SE2d 762); Scudiere v. State, 130 Ga. App. 477 (203 SE2d 581).
3. The reading aloud in open court of a verdict written in form and signed by the foreman of the jury constitutes its publication. Haughton v. Judsen, 116 Ga. App. 308, 311 (157 SE2d 297). "If the verdict was merely imperfect and informal, but the intention of the jury clearly expressed, then the court should have had the verdict put in proper form, in accordance with that intention.” Cothran v. Donaldson, 49 Ga. 458, 459. Otherwise, substantial omissions are not to be supplied by the court. Mayo v. Keaton, 78 Ga. 125 (a) (2 SE 687).
Under Code Ann. § 27-2534 setting up bifurcated trial procedures, the jury, after returning a guilty verdict, hears further evidence and argument as to the sentence. "Upon the conclusion of the evidence and arguments, the judge shall give the jury appropriate instructions and the jury shall retire to determine the punishment to be imposed. The jury shall fix a sentence within the limits prescribed by law. The judge shall impose the sentence fixed by the jury as provided by law.”
In the present case when the jury retired for the purpose of determining the sentence under this two-count indictment, the court instructed the members as to the form of verdict so far as the length of sentence for each count was concerned, but failed to give them any instructions on the question of concurrent versus consecutive sentencing. The jury returned, having fixed a punishment applicable to each count, and under the
Judgment affirmed with direction.