Smith v. State

Supreme Court of Georgia

Smith v. State

248 S.E.2d 634, 242 Ga. 224, 1978 Ga. LEXIS 1149

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia

DecidedSeptember 6, 1978

Docket33797

StatusPublished

This text of 248 S.E.2d 634 (Smith 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

Smith v. State, 248 S.E.2d 634, 242 Ga. 224, 1978 Ga. LEXIS 1149 (Ga. 1978).

Pincite

Opinion

Jordan, Justice.

The appellant was convicted of the murder of her husband, and was given a sentence of life imprisonment. [225]*225On appeal she contends that the court erred in charging on the "presumption of malice,” and "implied malice,” and in not charging that the evidence did not raise a presumption of malice.

Argued July 11, 1978 Decided September 6, 1978 Rehearing denied September 26, 1978. Guy Velpoe Roberts, Jr., for appellant. D. E. Turk, District Attorney, Gary C. Christy, Assistant District Attorney, Arthur K. Bolton, Attorney General, William B. Hill, Jr., Staff Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

The court did not charge on the "presumption of malice.” He gave the definition of implied malice as stated in the statute defining murder. Code Ann. § 26-1101 (Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1249, 1276).

Under the evidence the court did not err in presenting the issue of implied malice to the jury, and did not err in failing to charge that the evidence did not raise a presumption of malice. See Jones v. State, 234 Ga. 648 (217 SE2d 597) (1975).

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.

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