Supreme Court of Georgia, (November 22, 1977)
Docket number: 33000
ARGUED
JORDAN, Justice, dissenting. - ARGUED
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Judgment affirmed as to conviction; vacated as to sentence. New trial ordered on question of punishment. All the Justices concur, except Nichols, C. J., Jordan and Bowles, JJ., who dissent from Division 5 and vacating of sentence.

U.S. Supreme Court - Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976)
Supreme Court of Georgia - FLEMING v. THE STATE., 240 Ga. 142, 240 S.E.2.d 37 (1977)
Supreme Court of Georgia - HARRIS v. THE STATE., 237 Ga. 718, 230 S.E.2.d 1 (1976)
Supreme Court of Georgia - HULSEY v. THE STATE., 233 Ga. 261, 210 S.E.2.d 797
Supreme Court of Georgia - FLOYD v. THE STATE., 233 Ga. 280, 210 S.E.2.d 810 (1974)
Georgia Court Of Appeals - Dennard v. The State., 154 Ga. App. 283, 267 S.E.2d 886 (1980)
Supreme Court of Georgia - PADGETT v. THE STATE., 251 Ga. 503, 307 S.E.2.d 480 (1983)
Georgia Court Of Appeals - Sprague v. The State., 147 Ga. App. 347, 248 S.E.2d 711 (1978)
Georgia Court Of Appeals - Young v. The State., 149 Ga. App. 78, 253 S.E.2d 410 (1979)
Supreme Court of Georgia - GREEN v. THE STATE., 266 Ga. 237, 466 S.E.2.d 577 (1996)
Supreme Court of Georgia - TANNER v. THE STATE., 242 Ga. 437, 249 S.E.2.d 238 (1978)
Supreme Court of Georgia - FORDHAM v. THE STATE., 254 Ga. 59, 325 S.E.2.d 755 (1985)
Supreme Court of Georgia - APPLEBY v. THE STATE., 256 Ga. 304, 348 S.E.2.d 630
Supreme Court of Georgia - HIGHFIELD v. THE STATE., 246 Ga. 478, 272 S.E.2.d 62 (1980)
Thomas J. Charron, District Attorney, Arthur K. Bolton, Attorney General, B. Dean Grindle, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.Greene, Smith, Davis & Dodson, H. Darrell Greene, Jack M. Smith, for appellant.
Randall Ray Lamb was convicted of murder, sentenced to death and appeals.On February 5, 1976, the appellant along with a male friend drank several beers, then went to a club in Atlanta, had another beer or two and then came back home and began to watch television. As he was watching the police drama, Barnaby Jones, he had a certain urge "to get his gun and blow somebody away." He took a .410 gauge shotgun from his closet, got some shells and went to the nearby home of Mrs. Sylvia Yancey. Looking through a window he saw her lying on the couch, raised his gun and fired it at her head. After he fired the gun, the appellant broke the window and went in the side door. As Mrs. Yancey attempted to get up from the couch, the appellant took the butt of the gun and hit her over the head several times, causing a fracture of the skull and exposure of the brain. When it seemed like she was still breathing, the appellant went to the kitchen, grabbed a couple of knives and made twenty-two stab wounds in her body. He then picked her up by her feet and threw her on the floor.A subsequent autopsy revealed that Mrs. Yancey had suffered a shotgun wound to the top of her head, twenty-two stab wounds primarily on the left side of her body, and blunt force injury to the left side and back of her head. Medical testimony was that death resulted from a combination of blunt force injuries and the stab wounds; that the shotgun blast was not the immediate cause of death but would have eventually caused death if the other injuries had not intervened.Mrs. Yancey's seventeen-year-old daughter, Shelley, who lived in the home with her, returned home about 10:30 p.m. that night and upon entering the home found her mother's body. Just at that time she received a telephone call from the appellant Lamb, who was a neighbor and friend. She advised him that something terrible had happened and that he must hang up so she could call the police. After she called the police the appellant called again and asked her if she wished him to come to the house. She replied that she did and the appellant immediately came to the scene. He checked Mrs. Yancey's pulse, ascertained that she was dead, and waited with Shelley until the police arrived. He appeared calm and did most of the talking to the police since Shelley was almost hysterical. The appellant remarked to the police that this was the most horrible crime he had ever seen and that a person who would do such a thing should be "burnt." After taking a routine statement from the appellant and other neighbors, a police detective noticed a discrepancy in the timing of his call to Shelley and Shelley's call to the police. This and other discrepancies eventually caused the police to focus on the appellant as a suspect.It was discovered that Lamb had access to a .410 gauge shotgun and had indeed attempted to pawn it to a neighbor on the very day of the murder. After being fully advised of his rights Lamb confessed that he killed Mrs. Yancey. He led the officers to where he discarded the shotgun. The bloodstained gloves that the appellant wore and a spent shell casing were also recovered from his home. The appellant was 20 years of age at the time.The appellant did not present any evidence at the guilt phase of the trial. His defense was insanity, premised essentially on the contention that there was no motive for the crime and that a sane, rational person would not perform such an act. The only possible motive disclosed by the record was Shelley's testimony that the appellant frequently called her on the telephone at 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning; that her mother objected to these calls; and that she had communicated her mother's displeasure to the appellant.During the sentencing phase of the trial, the appellant presented several character witnesses.In all criminal cases "both the state and the defendant shall have the right to an individual examination of each juror from which the jury is to be selected prior to interposing a challenge . . . In such examination the counsel for either party shall have the right to inquire of the individual jurors examined touching any matter or thing which would illustrate any interest of the juror in the cause, including any opinion as to which party ought to prevail, the relationship or acquaintance of the juror with the parties or counsel therefor, any fact or circumstance indicating any inclination, leaning or bias which the juror might have respecting the subject matter of the suit, or counsel or parties thereto, and religious, social and fraternal connections of the juror." Code Ann. 59-705.We note that also during the voir dire examination the appellant's counsel questioned jurors as to whether or not any of them had ever been the victim of a crime, had their house burglarized, or ever had anything stolen from them, or anything of that nature.These inquiries by the district attorney and defense counsel were professionally advanced and appear to be nothing more than an attempt to establish a basis for the intelligent exercise of peremptory challenges during the jury selection. There is no indication of any effort to prejudice or inflame the passions of the jurors by either the district attorney or counsel for the appellant. Both the fact that a juror does not want to serve because of the nature of the offense and the fact that he has been the victim of a crime could arguably be taken as a "fact or circumstance indicating any information, leaning or bias which the juror might have respecting the subject matter of the suit."The control of the voir dire examination is vested in the sound legal discretion of the trial judge and will not be interfered with by this court unless the record clearly shows an abuse of that discretion. We find no such abuse here. Pierce v. State,Try vLex for FREE for 3 days
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