From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Echols v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jan 14, 1953
74 S.E.2d 128 (Ga. Ct. App. 1953)

Opinion

34449.

DECIDED JANUARY 14, 1953.

Voluntary manslaughter; from Gwinnett Superior Court — Judge Pratt. October 22, 1952.

W. L. Nix, Thomas G. Moore, for plaintiff in error.

Hope D. Stark, Solicitor-General, contra.


1. Where, upon the trial of one charged with murder, a third person is permitted to testify that, at the time the victim of the homicide lay dying of a gunshot wound in the defendant's house, the defendant stated that he had shot him and had intended to kill him, and that the defendant's wife had replied, "Don't say that, say something else," such testimony as to that conversation between the defendant and his wife was relevant as illustrating intent, and was not inadmissible on the ground that the wife could not testify against her husband. Kennedy v. State, 191 Ga. 22 (5) ( 11 S.E.2d 179); Williams v. State, 139 Ga. 591 ( 77 S.E. 818); Hudson v. State, 153 Ga. 695 ( 113 S.E. 519), and citations. Special grounds, complaining of such testimony, are without merit.

2. "Good character is a substantive fact in defense, and may itself alone be sufficient to generate a reasonable doubt of guilt. When the evidence warrants it, trial courts may very properly state to the jury the weight that they would be authorized to give to proof of good character, but without an appropriate written request the failure to do so will not amount to reversible error." Webb v. State, 6 Ga. App. 353 ( 64 S.E. 1001); Mills v. State, 17 Ga. App. 116 (1) ( 86 S.E. 280), and citations. Special ground 3, complaining of the court's failure to charge the jury on the law of good character, is, under the foregoing authorities, without merit.

3. Applying the rule in Goldsmith v. State, 54 Ga. App. 268 ( 187 S.E. 684) — that, in determining whether the homicide was murder or manslaughter, it is the prerogative of the jury to believe certain parts only of the defendant's statement and to combine those parts with certain parts only of the evidence — to the evidence and the defendant's statement, the verdict finding the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter is authorized, and the trial court did not err in overruling the motion for a new trial for any reason assigned.

Judgment affirmed. Gardner, P. J., and Townsend, J., concur.

DECIDED JANUARY 14, 1953.


Summaries of

Echols v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jan 14, 1953
74 S.E.2d 128 (Ga. Ct. App. 1953)
Case details for

Echols v. State

Case Details

Full title:ECHOLS v. THE STATE

Court:Court of Appeals of Georgia

Date published: Jan 14, 1953

Citations

74 S.E.2d 128 (Ga. Ct. App. 1953)
87 Ga. App. 399

Citing Cases

McDaniel v. State

2. In addition to Code § 26-1007 and decisions cited by the Supreme Court ( McDaniel v. State, supra), we…

Frazier v. State

The rule applies to criminal as well as civil cases. Deese v. State, 137 Ga. App. 476, 477 ( 224 S.E.2d 124)…