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Brown v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
Oct 18, 1977
239 S.E.2d 229 (Ga. Ct. App. 1977)

Opinion

54463.

SUBMITTED SEPTEMBER 20, 1977.

DECIDED OCTOBER 18, 1977.

Voluntary manslaughter. Fulton Superior Court. Before Judge Langford.

Robert C. Ray, for appellant.

Lewis R. Slaton, District Attorney, Joseph J. Drolet, Donald J. Stein, Assistant District Attorneys, for appellee.


Brown was indicted for murder and convicted of voluntary manslaughter. She appeals from the trial court's denial of her motion for new trial alleging the general grounds and the special ground that the charge was erroneous. We find that Brown's enumerations of error are meritless, and we therefore affirm.

The evidence shows that on the night of September 11, 1976, Brown and her common law husband, the victim Hemphill, had a heated misunderstanding on a date and that he left her and returned to the apartment they shared. When Brown arrived at the apartment, she continually attempted to talk with him, but he refused to speak. Then Brown began to converse on the phone, and Hemphill struck her and ordered her out of the apartment. After that episode, Hemphill again became silent, and Brown went to bed. Hemphill came into the bedroom and began to pull the bed covering from her. Then he picked up Brown's small daughter, who had been asleep at the foot of the bed. Brown testified that she grabbed a gun to scare Hemphill, that it accidentally discharged and the bullet struck him. The court charged the jury on murder, voluntary manslaughter, justifiable homicide and accident, and the jury found Brown guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

1. Since Brown did not submit a written request to charge, the trial court did not err in failing to charge the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter. State v. Stonaker, 236 Ga. 1 ( 222 S.E.2d 354) (1976).

2. Since there was evidence in support of the verdict, we will not disturb it. Proctor v. State, 235 Ga. 720 ( 221 S.E.2d 556) (1975).

Judgment affirmed. Bell, C. J., and McMurray, J., concur.

SUBMITTED SEPTEMBER 20, 1977 — DECIDED OCTOBER 18, 1977.


Summaries of

Brown v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
Oct 18, 1977
239 S.E.2d 229 (Ga. Ct. App. 1977)
Case details for

Brown v. State

Case Details

Full title:BROWN v. THE STATE

Court:Court of Appeals of Georgia

Date published: Oct 18, 1977

Citations

239 S.E.2d 229 (Ga. Ct. App. 1977)
239 S.E.2d 229