State v. Grant

Defendant's indictment for felony murder sufficiently put him on notice of the crimes with which he was charged, even though the indictment failed to include an essential element of the predicate offense, since the indictment set out all of the elements of the predicate offense in a separate count.

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This is an appeal from the grant of a motion in arrest of judgment. Arthur Grant was indicted for two counts of felony murder, with fleeing and attempting to elude and theft by receiving as the underlying felonies, and one count each of felony-grade fleeing and attempting to elude, theft by receiving stolen property, homicide by vehicle in the first degree, and reckless driving. The charges arose from an incident in which Grant, while driving a stolen car and attempting to elude capture, collided with another car in an intersection, killing a passenger in the other car. The felony murder count which specified theft by receiving as the underlying felony was quashed on Grant’s pre-trial motion, but the trial court denied Grant’s motion to quash the felony murder count with fleeing and attempting to elude as its predicate felony. That count read as follows:

The grand jurors . . . charge and accuse ARTHUR GRANT with the offense of FELONY MURDER O.C.G.A. § 16-5-1 for the said accused, in the County of Fulton and State of Georgia, on the 7th DAY OF MARCH, 1999, DID UNLAWFULLY DURING THE COMMISSION OF A FELONY, TO WIT: FLEEING AND ATTEMPTING TO ELUDE A POLICE OFFICER, CAUSE THE DEATH OF JOSEPH LEWIS, JR., A HUMAN BEING, BY DRIVING A MOTOR VEHICLE INTO AN INTERSECTION AND STRIKING ANOTHER MOTOR VEHICLE AT THE INTERSECTION . . . .

State v. Grant

Defendant's indictment for felony murder sufficiently put him on notice of the crimes with which he was charged, even though the indictment failed to include an essential element of the predicate offense, since the indictment set out all of the elements of the predicate offense in a separate count.

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