Home/Court of Appeals of Georgia/Vassy v. State

Vassy v. State

305 S.E.2d 664, 166 Ga. App. 854, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 2354
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJune 8, 1983
Docket66323
StatusPublished

This text of 305 S.E.2d 664 (Vassy v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vassy v. State, 305 S.E.2d 664, 166 Ga. App. 854, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 2354 (Ga. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

Quillian, Presiding Judge.

Appealing his conviction for involuntary manslaughter, the defendant contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the verdict in that the proof of the corpus delicti failed to establish the identity of the victim beyond a reasonable doubt. Held:

“The essential elements in the proof of the corpus delicti in a case of homicide are: that the person alleged in the indictment to have been killed is actually dead; and that his death was caused or accomplished by violence, or other direct criminal agency of some other human being.” Reddick v. State, 202 Ga. 209 (1b) (42 SE2d 742). As pointed out in Johnson v. State, 231 Ga. 138, 140 (2) (200 SE2d 734), “We have held numerous times that the corpus delicti may be proved by both direct and circumstantial evidence.”

Here the first element of the corpus delicti — that the person alleged to have been killed is actually dead — was established by evidence sufficient to convince a rational trier of fact beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. State, 210 Ga. 303, 309 (79 SE2d 812). See Wrisper v. State, 193 Ga. 157, 161 (17 SE2d 714); Jester v. State, 193 Ga. 202, 208 (17 SE2d 736); Alexander v. State, 223 Ga. 34 (3) (153 SE2d 431); Pitts v. State, 141 Ga. App. 845 (1) (234 SE2d 682).

Judgment affirmed.

Sognier and Pope, JJ., concur. Guy E. Davis, Jr., for appellant. Thomas J. Charron, District Attorney, Debra H. Bernes, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Johnson v. State
200 S.E.2d 734 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1973)
Alexander v. State
153 S.E.2d 431 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1967)
Pitts v. State
234 S.E.2d 682 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1977)
Jackson v. State
79 S.E.2d 812 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1954)
Jester v. State
17 S.E.2d 736 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1941)
Reddick v. State
42 S.E.2d 742 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1947)
Wrisper v. State
17 S.E.2d 714 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1941)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
305 S.E.2d 664, 166 Ga. App. 854, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 2354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vassy-v-state-gactapp-1983.