 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Classified Postings in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
CARR v. STATE3/10/1997
This appeal is from Weldon Wayne Carr's convictions of malice murder and first degree arson . Carr's wife died in a fire in their home. He recounted to authorities that he awoke and realized there was a fire downstairs in their home; that he tried to get his wife to escape with him through a bedroom window, but she resisted and tried to go toward the fire; and that he lost her in the smoke and confusion after a struggle, but finally saved himself by jumping out of a second-story window. The State's theory of the case was that Carr set the fire, then injured his wife so that she could not escape. Although she died of smoke inhalation, Carr's wife suffered other injuries, including cerebral bleeding. Prior to the fire, the couple had been experiencing marital difficulty and had been seeing a marriage counselor. Ms. Carr was having an affair, of which Carr had learned, and she had told several persons that she intended to divorce Carr and marry her lover. In a short period before the fire, Carr engaged in conduct which appeared suspicious after the fire: checking on fire insurance; getting copies of his and his wife's will; telling their adult son, who resided elsewhere, to remove some of his belongings from
the family home; putting valuables into a safe deposit box; and conducting an uncharacteristic spring cleaning of the house. To support its theory that Carr used an accelerant to start the fire, the State presented evidence that burn patterns at the site of the fire's origin were consistent with the use of an accelerant, and presented testimony that a dog trained to indicate the presence of chemical accelerants had alerted at the same site.
On appeal, Carr contends the trial court erred in the following ways: permitting evidence of a dog alerting to the possible presence of an accelerant as substantive evidence of the presence of an accelerant; ordering certain pre-trial discovery; admitting into evidence inadmissible hearsay testimony; improperly admitting bad character evidence; excluding defense evidence regarding the reliability of dog alert evidence; erroneously qualifying witnesses as experts; permitting testimony tainted by a warrantless search; refusing to record the entire proceeding; and improperly limiting the evidence presented on motion for new trial. He also contends his convictions must be reversed because of prosecutorial misconduct and because the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the convictions. After a review of the voluminous record and the extensive argument of counsel, we conclude that the convictions must be reversed for the reasons which follow.
1. The question of whether an accelerant had been used in the Carr house was an important point in the State's case. Testimony from fire fighters was used to show that the progress of the fire and burn patterns in the house were consistent with the presence of an accelerant, but the State Crime Lab report on fire-debris sent to it was negative for the presence of accelerants. However, the State proffered evidence that Blaze, a dog trained to give an alert when he smelled certain hydrocarbons, had given such an alert at the site in the house where investigators had already come to believe an accelerant was used. Carr argues on appeal that the evidence was inadmissible because there was no evidence at trial that dog-alerts have reached a state of verifiable certainty as required by Harper v. State, 249 Ga. 519 (1) (292 S.E.2d 389) (1982), and that the error was harmful because it was the only substantive evidence purporting to show the presence of an accelerant. We agree.
Prior to permitting the testimony about the dog's alerts, the trial court conducted a hearing at which the State pu
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Georgia Classifieds
Classified Postings
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Classified Postings in your area.
|
|