Echols v. State

Defendant Bobby Echols was convicted by a jury of burglary. The evidence was sufficient to support defendant's burglary conviction. But the evidence also could have supported a conviction for the lesser offense of criminal trespass. Thus, the trial court erred in denying defendant's timely written request to charge the jury on this lesser offense. See State v. Alvarado, 260 Ga. 563 (397 S.E.2d 550) (1990). We therefore reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial. The State alleged in the indictment that defendant committed burglary by breaking into a church building with the intent to commit theft. To prove its case, the State presented testimony that an officer responded to a silent alarm at a church building at about 4:45 one morning. When he arrived, he saw a man standing on the porch of the building near an open doorway. The man was not wearing a shirt, but had a cloth item in one hand. He hurried off the porch and ran behind the building, but officers soon found the man lying in nearby bushes, still not wearing a shirt. The man — whom the officer identified as defendant at trial — appeared moderately intoxicated but coherent.