Schneider v. State

The Court vacated the defendant's conviction for felony theft by taking and remanded the case for the entry of a misdemeanor conviction and sentence because the state failed to establish that the value of the stolen jewelry exceeded $500.

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After a jury trial, John Schneider was convicted of terroristic threats, false imprisonment and felony theft by taking. He appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and a jury charge regarding the offense of terroristic threats. Because the jury charge did not amount to reversible error and there is enough evidence to support the guilty verdicts as to false imprisonment and terroristic threats, we affirm those convictions. We also find sufficient evidence to support the guilty verdict as to theft by taking; however, since there was insufficient evidence showing that the value of the stolen property exceeded $500, we vacate Schneider’s felony theft sentence and remand for resentencing as a misdemeanor. “On appeal from a criminal conviction, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence.” Citations and punctuation omitted. Hyde v. State , 291 Ga. App. 662 662 SE2d 764 2008. So viewed, the evidence shows that approximately a year after having been released from prison for drug and other offenses, the 41-year-old Schneider met the victim, a 65-year-old widow, in Sunbury, Georgia. The two began a romantic relationship, and several weeks later, Schneider, who had been living on a salvaged sailboat that he had bought for $300, moved into the victim’s house.

Shortly after moving in with the victim, Schneider began physically and verbally abusing her. On several occasions, he burned her furniture —including tables, chairs and fans that he had ripped out of the ceiling —in the yard. During one of these furniture-burning episodes, Schneider forced the victim to sit in a chair for hours, cursed at her, refused to let her use the bathroom, and poured soda and beer on top of her head when she asked for water. When she later got up from the chair and approached him on the deck of the house, he held his hand so tightly across her face that it caused bruising around her nose.

Schneider v. State

The Court vacated the defendant's conviction for felony theft by taking and remanded the case for the entry of a misdemeanor conviction and sentence because the state failed to establish that the value of the stolen jewelry exceeded $500.

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