Daniels v. State

133 S.E. 866, 162 Ga. 366, 1926 Ga. LEXIS 193
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJune 19, 1926
DocketNo. 5333
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 133 S.E. 866 (Daniels 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
Daniels v. State, 133 S.E. 866, 162 Ga. 366, 1926 Ga. LEXIS 193 (Ga. 1926).

Opinion

Hines, J.

Emma Daniels, alias Emma Danielly, was indicted for the murder of Annie Pearson. She was tried and convicted, with a recommendation. She moved for a new trial upon the formal grounds, and by an amendment to her motion added seven special grounds. The trial judge overruled the motion, and to this judgment she excepted.

1. The trial judge charged the jury as follows: “A reasonable doubt is a doubt that is reasonable, growing out of a consideration of the evidence. The jury tries the case by the evidence. If the evidence fails to produce in the minds of the jury reasonable and moral certainty, or fails to remove all reasonable doubt of guilt of the defendant, then the evidence is insufficient to authorize a verdict of guilty.” The defendant excepts and assigns error on this charge, upon the ground that it instructed the jury that a reasonable doubt must grow out of the evidence, thus excluding from their consideration her statement to them in determining whether there was a reasonable doubt of her guilt. Held, that the judge can properly frame his general charge to the jury upon the evidence alone, appropriately instructing them, however, at some stage thereof, with respect to the defendant’s statement. Tolbirt v. State, 124 Ga. 767 (2) (53 S. E. 327) ; Fitzgerald v: State, 136 Ga. 163 (4) (71 8. E. 128) ; Rouse v. State, 136 Ga. 356 (5) (71 S. E. 667). In this case the court fully instructed the jury upon the defendant’s statement.

2. The court charged the jury as follows: “Now in this case, if this defendant made up her mind with any degree of deliberation to kill Annie Pearson, and did kill her, using for that purpose a weapon likely to produce death, when there was no considerable provocation being then given to her by Annie Pearson, or if she made up her mind to kill Annie Pearson on account of some past injury or wrong that Annie Pearson had committed to the defendant, or the defendant may have thought she committed upon her, any wrong she had done her in the past, and killed her in this manner for the purpose of avenging a wrong, a real or fancied wrong, Annie Pearson had done her, then she is guilty [367]*367of murder.” The defendant assigns error upon the grounds: (a) that the court in this charge expressed an opinion that she killed the deceased and used for that purpose a weapon likely to produce death; (6) because the court charged the jury that if the defendant killed the deceased on account of some past injury or wrong she would be guilty of murder, and failed to instruct the jury that if her passion had been aroused by some injury or wrong, and a sufficient time had not elapsed for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, then, if the jury thought she acted under the uncontrollable passion thus raised, she would be guilty of voluntary manslaughter; (c) because the court restricted the jury to a consideration only of provocation given at the time of the killing; and (d) because the court instructed the jury as a matter of law that if the defendant killed the deceased because of some past injury or wrong she would be guilty of murder, thus withdrawing from the jury the right to reduce the killing to voluntary manslaughter should they think the defendant was still acting in the heat of passion and sufficient time had not elapsed for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard. Held:

(а) The contention that this instruction expressed an opinion by the court to the jury that the defendant killed the deceased, and used for that purpose a weapon likely to produce death, is without merit. This instruction left the jury to determine whether the defendant killed the deceased, and whether in doing so she used a weapon likely to produce death. Such hypothetical statement of the facts to be determined by the jury did not amount to an expression of opinion upon the facts by the court. Kitchens v. State, 41 Ga. 217. In Davis v. State, 91 Ga. 167 (17 S. E. 292), the facts were not put hypothetically to the jury.

(б) To kill with any degree of deliberation, when no considerable provocation is given to the slayer by the deceased at the time, not for the purpose of preventing any impending wrong, but for the purpose of avenging a past wrong, is murder. Hill v. State, 64 Ga. 453 (2) ; Mays v. State, 88 Ga. 399 (14 S. E. 560) ; Wilkerson v. State, 91 Ga. 729 (17 S. E. 990, 44 Am. St. R. 63) ; Channell v. State, 109 Ga. 150 (2) (34 S. E. 353) ; Gossett v. State, 123 Ga. 431 (51 S. E. 394) ; Mize v. State, 135 Ga. 291 (69 S. E. 173).

(c) The court did not err in restricting the provocation to the time of the slaying, as the court in its instruction was then dealing with provocation which would justify a homicide, and not such provocation as would reduce the homicide from murder to manslaughter.

(d) In this instruction the court did not withdraw from the jury the right to reduce the homicide from murder to manslaughter, but was enumerating to the jury certain circumstances under which the homicide would be murder, the judge afterwards submitting to the jury the question whether the homicide amounted to manslaughter.

3. The court charged the jury as follows: “But I charge you that an essential element of justifiable homicide, that is if the killing is done for the purpose of preventing an impending wrong, a man can not kill another in self-defense unless'there is at the time a necessity to kill, or an apparent necessity to kill in order for the killer to save'his own life or to protect himself from a felonious assault being made or about to be made upon him. A man can not be justified and guilty of no crime [368]*368unless there is a necessity to kill, or' the facts and circumstances are such as to make him believe as a reasonable man, authorize him to believe, that such a necessity existed at the time. No man is ever justified in killing another for a past wrong. It must appear at the time there was a necessity to kill. There must be a real necessity, or there must be such a danger or the appearance of such danger as to justify him as a reasonable man to believe that a real danger existed either of being killed or suffering a felonious assault by the man who he undertakes to kill.” The defendant excepts to this charge upon the grounds: (a) that it placed upon her the burden of showing an absolute necessity to kill; (b) that it was confusing, and was calculated to impress upon the jury that the burden was upon her to prove that at the time of the homicide there was an absolute necessity to kill, and eliminated the doctrine of reasonable fears; and (e) that it placed upon the defendant the burden of justifying her fears. Held:

(а) The first exception to this charge is without merit. The court expressly instructed the jury that an apparent necessity to kill would be sufficient, and did not restrict them to a real necessity.

(б) This instruction did not put upon the defendant the burden of showing a real necessity to kill, and did not exclude from the jury the doctrine of reasonable fears. In Dotson v. State, 129 Ga. 727 (59 S. E. 774), the court, after first giving the theory of reasonable fears, practically limited this defense to actual danger, and to the question whether the deceased was in fact undertaking to inflict injury upon the accused or take his life. In McCray v.

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Bluebook (online)
133 S.E. 866, 162 Ga. 366, 1926 Ga. LEXIS 193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniels-v-state-ga-1926.