Wednesday, December 31, 2003
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Wednesday, December 31, 2003 |
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Shoplifting conviction reversed by Ga. appeals court By JOHN MUNFORD The Georgia Court of Appeals has overturned a woman’s felony shoplifting conviction in Fayette County Superior Court, holding that evidence of her three prior shoplifting convictions shouldn’t have been admitted as evidence in the trial. The Court of Appeals ruled that Karen Denise White deserves a new trial because of the bias that revelation could have created with the jury that convicted her. A reference to her three prior shoplifting convictions was properly entered into her indictment but Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. should have omitted that reference when the indictment was read to the jury, the court ruled. Because a fourth conviction of theft by shoplifting is automatically a felony, the prior convictions must be listed in the indictment so the defendant is aware of the possible sentencing: from one to 10 years in prison, the court noted. White, 46, was sentenced to seven years in prison by Caldwell March 20, 2002, immediately after the jury returned a guilty verdict. She was paroled Oct. 16 of this year after serving almost 19 months; she now lives in Henry County, according to court records. In writing the appeals court’s opinion, Judge John H. Ruffin Jr. noted that prosecutors only presented one eyewitness to the alleged crime, whose story “differed in several respects” from a witness presented by White’s attorney. “The state’s evidence was not overwhelming, and the jury may have been unduly influenced by White’s prior criminal record,” Ruffin wrote in the opinion, which was joined by judges M. Yvette Miller and J.D. Smith. White was accused of shoplifting a packet of underwear from the Old Navy store at the Fayette Pavilion on June 7, 2000. The store manager testified that he saw White put the packet in a large tote bag she carried before she walked quickly past the cashiers without paying for the merchandise, according to court documents. White then noticed the manager was following her and she took the packet out of her bag and threw it back into the store, the manager also testified. But a friend of White’s testified that she witnessed the last part of the incident from her car in the parking lot. Heather Owens said White took a small package from her granddaughter, turned toward the cashier and tossed the item on the counter before leaving the store. Owens also said she didn’t see White take anything from her tote bag. Owens, White and White’s granddaughter had ridden to the store in Owens’ vehicle, which was pulled over by police officers since it matched the manager’s description of the get-away car, according to court documents. Inside the car was an Old Navy bag of Old Navy clothing with the tags intact but no receipt, police testified. Although White also challenged the admission of this evidence, the appeals court ruled that under the circumstances it could not find that Caldwell abused his discretion in allowing the evidence.
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