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Moore v. The State

Supreme Court of Georgia1942-05-20No. No. 14124
193 Ga. 877

Summary

Holding. The judgment of conviction was affirmed. Where a defendant makes free and voluntary confessions to the crime charged, supported by proof of the corpus delicti and testimony regarding the voluntary nature of those confessions, conviction is lawful even without independent corroboration beyond the corpus delicti, and testimony corroborating details mentioned in the confessions is admissible.

Moore was convicted of murder based primarily on his own confessions—both a signed written confession and oral statements made before witnesses—in which he admitted shooting the victim during a robbery. The State also presented corroborating evidence including testimony about the victim's dying declaration, physical evidence of the corpus delicti from witnesses at the scene, and testimony confirming the voluntary nature of the confessions. The defendant challenged the admission of testimony from the victim's widow and a neighbor regarding a ladder and garbage can found at the victim's home, which Moore had allegedly used in an attempted burglary two weeks prior.

The court rejected Moore's objections to this testimony on multiple grounds. The widow's testimony was admissible as corroboration of Moore's confessions, which themselves referenced the ladder and garbage can in connection with the earlier burglary attempt. Additionally, Moore failed to properly preserve his objections at trial or specify the legal basis for his exceptions. The neighbor's testimony was similarly admissible as part of Moore's confession and as corroborating evidence of his prior statements identifying the ladder.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Admissibility of confessions as evidence of guilt
  • Requirements for corroboration of confessions
  • Admissibility of prior statements and acts to corroborate confessions
  • Preservation of trial objections for appellate review

Procedural posture

Moore appealed his murder conviction by shooting, challenging the trial court's admission of certain witness testimony regarding a ladder and garbage can used in a prior burglary attempt.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

Jenkins, Justice.

1. While “all admissions shall be scanned with care, and confessions of guilt shall be received with great caution,” and “a confession alone, uncorroborated by any other evidence, shall not justify a conviction” (Code, § 38-420), yet “a conviction may be lawfully had upon a free and voluntary confession, though the same be not otherwise corroborated than by proof of the corpus delicti.” Burns v. State, 188 Ga. 22 (3), 28 (2 S. E. 2d, 627), and cit. The conviction of this defendant of murder by shooting the deceased with a pistol was amply authorized by a signed written confession that he shot the deceased in a hold-up, oral confessions to the same effect made in the presence of five witnesses, coupled with testimony .as to the free and voluntary character of the confessions, and with proof of the corpus delicti from witnesses who found the deceased immediately after he was fatally shot through the abdomen from the back, and with testimony as to a dying declaration by the deceased just before his death that he had been shot after a demand for his money.

2. The exception to the admission of testimony for the State, from the widow of the deceased, that about ten days before his death she had found at their back window a ladder and garbage-can which she had never seen before, is without merit, because: (1) In admitting the tes timony the court “for the time being” preserved the right of counsel to renew his objection, “in which event a final ruling will be made on it;” and not only does the record fail to show such a final ruling on objection, but it shows that substantially the same testimony was elicited on cross-examination by the defendant; (2) The testimony was admissible as corroboration of the confessions, which referred to the use of the ladder and can in an attempted previous burglary of the home of deceased. (3) There is a failure to show either what objection was made to the testimony, or on what ground the defendant excepts to its admission. Walthour v. State, 191 Ga. 613 (1, a, b), 615 (13 S. E. 2d, 659), and cit.; Worthy v. State, 184 Ga. 402 ( 4) (191 S. E. 457), and cit.

No. 14124.

May 20, 1942.

(a) Exception is also taken to the admission of testimony by a next-door neighbor of the deceased, that the defendant stated in her presence, as to his having attempted to burglarize the home of the deceased two weeks before the homicide, that he “got a garbage can . . and put it up to the window, and it did not make [him] high enough, and then . . he said he got the ladder from the house next door to me. . . The defendant saw that ladder that day and identified the ladder.” There is no merit in this ground, for the third reason stated in the immediately preceding ruling, and the additional reasons: (1) The record shows that substantially the same testimony was given by the witness, without objection; (2) The portion of the testimony as to what the defendant said was an essential part of the confession, and the remaining portion as to his act in identifying the ladder was properly admitted in corroboration of the confession then made, and like confessions made at other times.

3. Confessions “directly admitting the commission of the crime charged . . are direct evidence.” Eberhart v. State, 47 Ga. 598 (8). Where, as in this ease, the State introduces evidence as to such confessions, coupled with testimony as to their voluntary nature and proof of the corpus delicti, it is not error, especially in the absence of a request, to omit a charge to the jury of the law as to circumstantial evidence. Brantley v. State, 154 Ga. 80 (5) (113 S. E. 200) ; Smith v. State, 125 Ga. 296, 299 (54 S. E. 127) ; Adsmond v. State, 47 Ga. App. 444 (4) (170 S. E. 525). Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices conóur.

J. H. Walson and Russell G. Turner, for plaintiff in error.

milis G. Arnall, attorney-general, John A. Boylcin, solicitor-general, E. m. Andrews, JD. T. Pye, and B. L. Reagan,, assistant attorney-general, contra.