Sharp v. State

David Sharp was charged by criminal information with hunting without a license, hunting over bait, and misdemeanor obstruction of law enforcement officers. After a bench trial, in which he appeared pro se, Sharp was found not guilty with respect to the bait charge and guilty of hunting without a license and obstruction. His amended motion for new trial was denied, and he appeals. The trial court entered a particularly thorough, well-reasoned, and comprehensive order on Sharp’s motion for new trial, addressing each of the issues that Sharp raises before this court in his enumeration of errors. We can find no fault with the trial court’s reasoning or its careful application of the law to the facts adduced at trial, and we therefore affirm.

1. Sharp asserts the general grounds with respect to his conviction for obstruction of an officer. Construing the record to support the verdict, Sharp acknowledged that he was hunting doves in an open field on his father’s property without a hunting license. Two conservation rangers were patrolling dove fields on the opening day of dove season when they heard shots and “followed the shots to the field.” As the rangers drove into the field, they saw two individuals “stand up from behind a round bale, look at us and take off across the fence and attempt to leave the area.” Sharp testified that he saw the rangers and that he “did fade back into the woods” when he saw them. When one of the rangers asked “why we ran, I told him it was to avoid an encounter with an officer.” He added at trial, “I’m ashamed that I ran.”