Collins v. State

111 S.E. 733, 153 Ga. 95, 1922 Ga. LEXIS 24
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMarch 4, 1922
DocketNo. 2644
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 111 S.E. 733 (Collins v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. State, 111 S.E. 733, 153 Ga. 95, 1922 Ga. LEXIS 24 (Ga. 1922).

Opinion

Fish, C.' J.

Kelley Collins, Roach Sikes, Geofge Sikes, and Abram Sikes were jointly tried on an indictment charging them jointly with the murder of Wade H. Coleman, by wilfully and maliciously killing him in Tattnall county on July 24, 1920, by then and there shooting him with-a rifle and shotguns. Coleman was a deputy sheriff, and, as the State contended, had been active in his efforts to arrest and prosecute violators of the pro[96]*96hibition law, and, on the occasion he was killed by the defendants, was endeavoring to search, for contraband liquor, an automobile in which defendants were riding; and when he got upon the running-board of the car, defendants, who were heavily armed, got out of the car with their guns, and, taking positions some short distance from the car, began firing on the deceased when he was making no felonious assault on any of them; and three of the defendants shot and maliciously killed him. The defendants contended substantially that the deceased jumped upon the running-board of their car without a warrant to search it, had a pistol, and with it made a felonious assault upon them, and that he was killed in order to prevent such assault being carried into effect, and that in shooting the deceased they acted purely in self-defense and without malice, and that they were justified in all they did at the time of the homicide. There was a verdict finding all of defendants guilty as charged, with a recommendation to mercy. All made a joint motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and they excepted. The first three grounds of the motion were the usual grounds, that the verdict was contrary to law and the evidence, and without evidence to support it.

1 (ground 4). A ground of the motion complained that a witness for the State was permitted to testify, over defendants’ objection that the testimony was irrelevant, that Kelley Collins “said he had plenty of liquor and was going to get some wine.” The motion does not disclose when such declaration was made. It may or may not have been admissible, dependent upon whether it was a part of the res gestse, or the circumstances in connection with which it was made. This ground is therefore without merit.

2 (grounds 5 and 6). On a trial for murder threats uttered by the accused against the deceased before the homicide were ‘admissible in evidence as tending to show malice, although they were stated conditionally and were not communicated to the deceased. Golatt v. State, 130 Ga. 18 (60 S. E. 107); Graham v. State, 125 Ga. 48 (2) (53 S. E. 816). Accordingly, grounds 5 and 6 of the motion, assigning error upon the admission of evidence of such threats, are not meritorious.

3. Ground seven of the motion assigns error upon the admission in evidence of “a purported diagram or plat of the scene of the homicide, showing distances,” etc., over the objection of the ac[97]*97eused “that it had not been shown the said diagram or plat was correct.” This assignment of error will not be considered, it.not appearing from the ground itself what the diagram or plat shows, and no copies thereof being set forth in the ground, or attached to the motion as an exhibit. Clare v. Drexler, 152 Ga. 419 (110 S. E. 176).

4 (8th ground). The State contended that the deceased was killed nearo Cobbtown. A witness for the defendants testified, on direct examination, that a few hours before the homicide the deceased approached witness and another, and asked, “Boys, you know where any liquor is ? ” to which witness said, “ Yes, I could find some,” and deceased further inquired, “ Well, where is it ? ” On cross-examination the witness was allowed to testify: “Wade Coleman [the deceased] never asked me about liquor before this evening, that I remember of. I knew where liquor was, and knew where I could get it. This was the first time Wade asked me for it. . . I have lived around Cobbtown for years, and I guess Wade Coleman was born and reared out there all his life. I never did see him touch a drop of liquor in his life, and never saw him when he indicated he had a drop in his life.” The testimony of the witness so delivered on cross-examination tended to repel any im ference which might be drawn from the testimony of the witness on his direct examination, to the effect that the deceased was- a drinking man and desired the liquor for his own use; and the court did not err in admitting such evidence on cross-examination, over the objection that it was irrelevant and tended to prove the good character of the deceased when it had not been attacked.

5 (9th ground). The testimony of Will Eason, set forth in the ninth ground of the motion, and to the admission of which error is assigned upon the grounds that it was irrelevant, hearsay, and prejudicial to the defendants, was not subject to the objections. The witness testified in behalf of the defendants, and the testimony objected to was brought out on his cross-examination. In view of the testimony on the direct examination, and other testimony on the cross-examination, the evidence objected to was admissible.

6 The tenth ground of the motion, complaining that the court erred in admitting all Of the evidence set forth in the preceding nine grounds of the motion for new trial, is not good in form, nor meritorious.

[98]*987 (grounds 11 and 12). “ On the trial of one for murder, where the evidence or the defendant’s statement at the trial would authorize the jury to find that the person killing acted in self-defense on account of a reasonable fear aroused in his mind by words, threats, or menaces, in connection with the other facts in the case, it is not erroneous for the court, in instructing the jury on the law of voluntary manslaughter, as contained in the Penal Code of 1910, § 65, to fail or refuse to charge in immediate connection therewith the right of the jury to consider words, threats, or, menaces, in determining whether the circumstances attending tile homicide were such as to justify the fears of a reasonable man that his life was in imminent danger or that a felony was about to be committed upon his person.” Deal v. State, 145 Ga. 33 (88 S. E. 573) ; Vernon v. State, 146 Ga. 709 (92 S. E. 76). In view of the above ruling, the eleventh and twelfth grounds of the motion are without merit.

8 (ground 13). The defendants, as before stated, were jointly on trial for murder. There was evidence tending to show the commission of the homicide under the following circumstances: Defendants were traveling on a public road in an automobile. The deceased, who was an arresting officer, suspecting that they were carrying contraband liquor, stopped them, declaring his intention to search their car. The defendants demanded that he show his search warrant, to which the officer replied that he did not have one, and did not need one, and proceeded'in an effort to search the car, notwithstanding resistance by the defendants. In a difficulty which ensued, the officer was killed by the defendants shooting him with a rifle and shotguns. The State did not introduce evidence showing there was contraband liquor in the car; the defendants adduced uncontradicted evidence to the effect that the car contained no such liquor. The court instructed the jury: “Now I charge you in connection with this . .

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
111 S.E. 733, 153 Ga. 95, 1922 Ga. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-state-ga-1922.