Currie v. State

118 S.E. 724, 156 Ga. 85, 1923 Ga. LEXIS 207
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided July 14, 1923·No. No. 3426·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinions

Hines, J.

The court refused, although duly requested in writing, to charge the jury as follows: (1) “ If you find from the evidence that the mind of the defendant at the time of the killing was diseased, that by reason of such mental disease his will power was impaired, that by reason of such impairment, so caused, he did not have sufficient will power to refrain from committing the act, and that the act was the product of such mental disease, he was not responsible for the act and it would be your duty to acquit the defendant. To be held criminally responsible, a man must have reason enough to be able to judge of the character and consequence of the act committed, and he must not have been overcome by. an irresistible impulse arising from mental derangement.” (2) “In order to constitute a crime, a man must have intelligence and capacity enough to have a criminal intent and purpose: and if his reason and mental powers are either so deficient that he has no will, or if through the overwhelming power of mental dis[87] ease Ms intellectual power is for the time obliterated, he is not a responsible moral agent, and is not' punishable for criminal acts.” The principles of law, in so far as correct and applicable, embodied in the foregoing requests, were fully and fairly covered by the court in the general charge; therefore these grounds of the motion do not show error.

The third ground of the amendment to the motion for a new trial complains that the court erred in charging the jury as follows : “ There is no manslaughter involved in this ease, either voluntary or involuntary. Either the defendant in this ease is guilty of murder and should be convicted, or the State has failed to make good its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and he should be acquitted. Or he has made good by the preponderance of the evidence, if you should so find, his contention of mental irresponsibility, and should be acquitted and discharged by this jury.” The testimony relied upon to show manslaughter was that of the witness McLeod, who testified, with reference to an alleged confession of the defendant, as follows: “He [defendant] started to get the whisky, and Burleigh asked him to pay his car-fare before he went, and he told him to wait until he came back, and Burleigh took out his knife and started towards him, and he said he pulled his pistol and Burleigh wheeled to run, and he said he shot him.” The testimony here quoted is a disconnected part of the alleged confession related by the witness. Taken as a whole, the evidence did not require a charge on the subject of either voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.

The fourth ground of the amendment to the motion for a new trial complains, that “the court did not at any place in its charge state that the evidence of insanity could be considered with the other evidence of the case in determining whether or not the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and that if in considering all the evidence including the evidence of insanity the jury entertained a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt they should acquit him.” The court did charge fully and fairly upon the subject of reasonable doubt as applicable to the entire evidence. The court also charged that “in all eases of circumstantial evidence, the circumstances must not only be consistent with a man’s guilt, but must be inconsistent with his innocence, and must exclude every other reasonable conclusion or hypothesis [88] save and except only the guilt of the accused.” Finally, at the conclusion of the charge, with reference to the form of the verdict, the court again charged that if “ the State has failed to make good its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant should be acquitted.” The evidence bearing on the question of insanity should, of course, be duly considered, along with all of the evidence in the case, in determining whether there was a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused. In the absence of a proper written request, mere failure of the court to charge the principles just indicated is not cause for a new trial, the general charge being sufficiently full and fair on the subject of reasonable doubt to give the accused the benefit of all the evidence relating to his alleged insanity, for the purpose of casting a doubt upon his guilt. Carr v. State, 96 Ga. 284 (5) (22 S. E. 570); Brown v. State, 148 Ga. 264, 265 (96 S. E. 435).

The fifth ground of the amendment to the motion for a new trial complains that the court charged as follows: “ If the State shows that the defendant did the things that go to constitute murder, convict him unless he carries the burden then of showing, by the preponderance of the evidence, that he is not mentally responsible for the act that the State charges he committed.” The errors alleged are: (1) that the judge'“did not here or elsewhere charge the jury that the evidence of insanity could be considered with the other evidence in the case in determining whether or not the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and if in considering the evidence as a whole, including that of insanity, the jury entertained a reasonable doubt, they should acquit him;” and (2) that this instruction expressly excluded from the consideration of the jury the evidence of insanity in determining whether it and the other evidence raised a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt. A majority of the court are of the opinion that the judge did not err in giving this instruction. Carr v. State, Brown v. State, supra. Peek v. State, 155 Ga. 49 (116 S. E. 629).

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Currie v. State, 118 S.E. 724, 156 Ga. 85, 1923 Ga. LEXIS 207 (Ga. 1923).

118 S.E. 724 (Currie v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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