State v. Layman

The appellant, the State of Georgia, appeals from the trial court’s order quashing seven counts of an indictment against the appellee, Josh Layman. On appeal, the State contends that the trial court erred by quashing those counts of the indictment on the ground that the indictment did not allege the date of the alleged crimes with enough specificity. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. On November 10, 2003, Layman was indicted for eight crimes stemming from the death of Cameron Green. Counts 1-7 of the indictment were for the crimes of felony murder, malice murder, armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another, and theft by taking of a motor vehicle. All seven of these counts alleged that the crimes occurred between June 30, 2003, and July 19, 2003. Count 8 of the indictment was for the crime of making a false statement, and the indictment alleged that the crime occurred on July 24, 2003.

Layman filed a special demurrer to Counts 1-7 of the indictment, contending that the indictment failed to identify the date of the crimes with sufficient particularity. At a hearing on the special demurrer, Agent David King of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation testified that on July 19, 2003, the body of Cameron Green was found in Dawson County, and that he investigated Green’s death. Agent King testified that several witnesses had seen Green alive on July 4, and that they had seen Green with Layman on that day. In addition, Agent King testified that Green’s father stated that he had talked to his son about 11:00 a.m. on July 4. Moreover, Agent King testified that the remains found were skeletal, and that, based on his experience, Green had been dead about a week when his remains were found. He also added, however, that he was not trained in estimating the time of death; that he could not form an expert opinion as to the time of death; that the autopsy report did not list an estimated time of death; and that no medical examiner had related an estimated time of death to him. The agent also added that Green’s black Mercedes automobile was found abandoned on July 8, 2003.