☢ test - Í

Williams v. State, 297 Ga.App. 150, 676 S.E.2d 805 (March 27, 2009). Evidence established venue in Jackson County as to Williams: co-defendant, conspiring with Williams, transferred funds from victim’s bank account to co-defendant’s account in Jackson County; defendant withdrew it in Banks County. “[Defendant] argues that venue was not proper in Jackson County because she exerted no meaningful control over the funds until she withdrew them in Banks County. We disagree. This argument confuses control with possession, and our law only requires that she control the property, not possess it. In this case, both the victim and Williams had accounts in the same bank in Jackson County. When the money was transferred into her account in Jackson County, Williams exercised control over the funds. She could control the disposition of the funds at her direction through a check, transfer, withdrawal, or other direction. See Gould v. State, 273 Ga.App. 155, 157(2) (614 S.E.2d 252) (2005).” Tesler v. State, 295 Ga.App. 569, 672 S.E.2d 522 (January 15, 2009). Defendant’s conviction for making false statements reversed for failure to prove venue. Venue lies where the false statements were made; county where that location is sited was not proven at trial. State’s argument that other parts of conspiracy occurred in county of trial unavailing, as defendant was not charged with conspiracy. Bell v. State, 284 Ga. 790, 671 S.E.2d 815 (January 12, 2009). Venue of forgery offense was sufficiently proven by circumstantial evidence. “Uttering or delivering the writing being an essential element of forgery in the first degree, the offense is not completed until the writing is uttered or delivered, and venue lies in the county in which the unauthorized writing was uttered. Cade v. State, 262 Ga.App. 206(1a) (585 S.E.2d 172) (2003).” Evidence showed that the check was uttered at victim’s bank in Fitzgerald. Evidence showed that defendant’s home in Fitzgerald was in Ben Hill County, but no direct evidence placed the bank in Ben Hill County. “There being circumstantial evidence that appellant uttered the check to a bank in Fitzgerald and that Fitzgerald is located in Ben Hill County, there was sufficient evidence to authorize a rational trier of fact to find that [defendant] uttered the check in Ben Hill County.” Compare King (January 25, 2005), below (proof that one location in Fitzgerald was in Ben Hill County was insufficient to prove that place where crime was committed, in Fitzgerald, was in Ben Hill County) . Mahone v. State, 293 Ga.App. 790, 668 S.E.2d 303 (October 2, 2008). Evidence established venue: “In the instant case, [victim] T.A. testified that she lived in Spalding Heights, which was located in Spalding County, and that the incident occurred at another apartment, which the evidence revealed through Sparks's testimony, was also located in Spalding Heights. ‘This evidence was sufficient to prove venue in [Spalding] County beyond a reasonable doubt.’ (Citations omitted.) Flanders v. State, 285 Ga.App. 805, 806(2) (648 S.E.2d 97) (2007) (victim's testimony that crime occurred at aunt's house and aunt's testimony that she lived in county where the defendant was charged established venue).” Accord, Borders v. State , 299 Ga.App. 100, 682 S.E.2d 148 (July 14, 2009) (proof that the “area” that officer traveled to was in county was sufficient to prove venue). Glover v. State, 292 Ga.App. 22, 663 S.E.2d 772 (June 18, 2008). Evidence was sufficient to establish venue despite lack of testimony establishing exact location where defendant’s acts of child abuse occurred. “The evidence presented at trial established that Glover lived with Stephens and the victim at Michael Thomas’s apartment. That apartment was located in Cobb County. The manager of the apartment complex saw the victim at the apartment on a daily basis, and knew that she lived in the apartment with Glover. Glover admitted that he gave the victim whippings on a daily basis. The manager saw the victim in the apartment with injuries. Although no witness testified to actually having seen Glover abuse the child in Cobb County, the above circumstantial evidence authorized the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the offenses occurred in that county, thus establishing proper venue. See OCGA § 17-2-2(h) (‘If in any case it cannot be determined in what county a crime was committed, it shall be considered to have been committed in any county in which the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that it might have been committed.’); Cardenas v. State, 282 Ga.App. 473, 475(2) (638 S.E.2d 866) (2006) (when crimes have been committed continuously, evidence that the defendant committed the crimes in one county even though he may have also committed them elsewhere is sufficient to establish venue); Drake v. State, 238 Ga.App. 584, 588(2) (519 S.E.2d 692) (1999) (venue established by proof of victim’s county of residence and evidence that defendant had access to her there).” Duncan v. State, 291 Ga.App. 580, 662 S.E.2d 337 (May 19, 2008). Defendant wasn’t entitled to raise issue of venue by motion to declare his sentence void pursuant to OCGA § 17-9-4 (“[t]he judgment of a court having no jurisdiction of the person or subject matter, or void for any other cause, is a mere nullity and may be so held in any court when it becomes material to the interest of the parties to consider it.”). “‘While a conviction obtained without proof of venue may be “void,” and will warrant reversal and a new trial, it does not justify the departure from the settled procedures for challenging the sufficiency of evidence used to obtain a conviction.’ Shields [ v. State, 276 Ga. 669, 671 (581 S.E.2d 536)