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141 Ga. App. 664

234 S.E.2d 133

Kirkland v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia

Decided March 7, 1977

Court of Appeals of Georgia · decided 1977-03-07

Relies on Bruton v. United States · Johnson v. State · Robinson v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1977-03-07

How this case has been cited

Cited by 38 later decisions — most recently March 1998 · most notably 194 Ga. App. 305 - Stamey v. State (1990), 215 Ga. App. 303 - Kimbrough v. State (1994)

38 state decisions

240197719801990decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Webb, Judge.

¶1 A. E. Kirkland appeals from his conviction of burglary urging two errors in the charge and one error on an evidentiary ruling. 1 All three errors concern an oral confession made by the co-defendant Ingram in Kirkland’s presence which inculpated Kirkland. It is contended that this evidence adversely affected the jury’s determination of his guilt.

¶2 We affirm. Even if the confession had been totally excluded, the verdict of guilty was demanded by other evidence. The two inept burglars were caught red-handed stealing television sets from a motel, and the confession added nothing of substance to the state’s case. Accordingly, not only was it "highly probable that the error did not contribute to the judgment” within the contemplation of the newly-announced "highly probable” test (Johnson v. State, 238 Ga. 59, 61 (230 SE2d 869) (1976)), but also any error with respect to it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt (Zinn v. State, 134 Ga. App. 51, 52 (213 SE2d 156) (1975) and cits Robinson v. State, 232 Ga. 123, 128 (4) (205 SE2d 210) (1974)), including any error which might rise to constitutional proportions under Bruton v. United States, 391 U. S. 123 (88 SC 1620, 20 LE2d 476). Cauley v. State, 130 Ga. App. 278, 287 (203 *665 SE2d 239) (1973); Spivey v. State, 138 Ga. App. 298, 301 (226 SE2d 104) (1976).

Argued March 3, 1977 Decided March 7, 1977 Rehearing denied March 22, 1977 Joseph R. Baker, Paul McGee, for appellant. William H. Ison, District Attorney, Clifford A. Sticker, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.

¶3 Judgment affirmed.

Deen, P. J., and Marshall, J., concur.
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