Opinion
30588.
ARGUED JANUARY 19, 1976.
DECIDED APRIL 6, 1976. REHEARING DENIED APRIL 20, 1976.
Armed robbery. Fulton Superior Court. Before Judge Fryer.
John Thomas Chason, for appellant.
Lewis R. Slaton, District Attorney, Carole E. Wall, Assistant District Attorney, Arthur K. Bolton, Attorney General, Kirby G. Atkinson, Staff Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
The defendant Brady Fears appeals his conviction of armed robbery and sentence to eight years imprisonment.
1. The testimony of the victim of an armed robbery a year earlier showed sufficient similarities between the two robberies to make the earlier robbery relevant as to the identity of the defendant. Hicks v. State, 232 Ga. 393, 396 ( 207 S.E.2d 30) (1974). Regarding the time lapse between the two, see Campbell v. State, 234 Ga. 130 ( 214 S.E.2d 656) (1975). In the case of Bacon v. State, 209 Ga. 261 ( 71 S.E.2d 615) (1952), relied on by the defendant, the state erroneously introduced evidence of convictions of similar crimes, to wit: burglaries and attempts to commit burglaries. There was no evidence in Bacon that the burglaries were conducted in a manner similar to the burglary for which the defendant was being tried. Hence, Bacon is clearly distinguishable.
2. The trial court did not err in overruling the defendant's motions for mistrial based upon allegedly improper argument by the prosecutor. Walker v. State, 232 Ga. 33 ( 205 S.E.2d 260) (1974); Shy v. State, 234 Ga. 816 ( 218 S.E.2d 599) (1975). In United States v. Lamerson, 457 F.2d 371 (5th Cir. 1972), and Hall v. United States, 419 F.2d 582 (5th Cir. 1969), relied on by defendant, the prosecutor's arguments were not authorized by evidence before the jury, whereas in the case before us there was evidence before the jury from which the prosecutor's deductions could be made.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.