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Harris v. State

The State presented sufficient circumstantial evidence to show that the defendant entered a school's gymnasium without authority and with the intent to commit burglary.

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Walter Eugene Harris was indicted, tried by jury, and convicted of burglarizing Tubman Middle School in Richmond County and sentenced as a recidivist to serve 20 years. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Harris appeals. He argues that the State failed to present evidence that he was in the school without authority or that he had the appropriate criminal intent. We affirm.

Construed in favor of the verdict, the evidence shows that at about 9:40 p.m. on March 6, 2009, someone used a large piece of concrete to break a window in a door on the side of the school gymnasium, which activated an alarm that eventually led police to respond. Blood was found on the inside of the door and a trail of blood led to the parking lot; it appeared that the perpetrator had cut himself on the broken glass while reaching through the window in an effort to enter the building. DNA samples taken voluntarily from Harris matched the blood found at the scene. The principal of the school at the time testified that there was no damage to the main school building, which is separated from the gymnasium by a 15 to 20 foot breezeway, and nothing was missing from the gymnasium or the school. At the time of the incident, computers were located in the media center in the main school building, the door to which was located about 15 to 20 feet away from the gymnasium. Harris was not an employee of the school or a parent of a student. Harris did not present any evidence or testify.

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