Alfred v. The State Of Ga.
| Decision Date | 31 March 1849 |
| Docket Number | No. 64.,64. |
| Citation | 6 Ga. 483 |
| Parties | Alfred, a slave, plaintiff in error. vs. The State of Georgia, defendant. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Certiorai, decided by Judge Weight, Cass Superior Court, February Term, 1849.
Alferd, a slave, the property of James W. M. Berrien, was placed upon his trial before the Justices of the Inferior Court of Cass county, for the offence of an assault with intent to commit a rape, upon the person of a white girl of about four years of age. Twenty-three Jurors were impannelled, and the farther impannelling was waived by the owner of the slave, then in Court, acting as counsel for the slave. After the evidence was gone through, (which it is unnecessary to insert,) the Court being of the opinion th; t the testimony was insufficient to find the said Alfred guilty of the charge, charged the Jury that there would be no impropriety in a verdict of guilty of an assault and battery, if they thought he was not guilty of the crime charged. The Jury returned a verdict of guilty of the crime charged.
A certiorari was prayed to the Superior Court, on the grounds that the Jury were improperly impannelled, and that the verdict was contrary to law and evidence and the charge of the Court.
Upon hearing the certiorari, the Judge of the Superior Court refused to grant a new trial, and this decision is alleged as error.
W. H. Underwood, for plaintiff in error.
J. Milner, for defendant.
By the Court.—Warner, J., delivering the opinion.
Two grounds of error have been assigned upon the record to th6 judgment of the Court below.
First, that the Jury were not impannelled as required by law.
Second, that the verdict of the Jury was contrary to law and evidence and the charge of the Court.
The 9th section of the Act of 1816, which is amendatory of the Act of 1811, provides, that the Justices of the Inferior Court, or a majority of them, when notified of the commitment of a slave for a capital offence, shall cause to be drawn, fairly and impartially, from the Jury box, the names of persons subject to serve as jurors, not less than twenty-six, nor more than thirty-six Jurors, who shall be summoned to attend at the time and placepointed out for the trial of such slave by the Inferior Court. Prince, 792. On the trial of the slave, Alfred, only twenty-three Jurors were impannelled; but the reason why the legal number was not impannelled, the record states to be that the slave was represented in Court by his owner, J. W. M. Berrein, Esq, and Thomas Berrein, as his counsel, who waived the impannelling the legal mumber of Jurors, and agreed...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Whitus v. State
...is true because a verdict supported by any competent evidence will not be disturbed by this court unless errors of law appear. Alfred v. State, 6 Ga. 483(2); Reed v. State, 195 Ga. 842(7), 25 S.E.2d Where evidence is adduced to authorize a conviction in a criminal case, it is the province o......
-
Samples v. State
...because the verdict was not supported by the evidence. It is only necessary that there be some evidence to support the verdict. Alfred v. State, 6 Ga. 483(2); Russell v. State, 68 Ga. 785(2); Waters v. State, 15 Ga.App. 342(4), 83 S.E. This is not a case in which the conviction is wholly de......
-
Washington v. State, 53947
...merit in either the general grounds of the motion for new trial or defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Alfred v. State, 6 Ga. 483(2); Reed v. State, 195 Ga. 842(7), 25 S.E.2d 2. The next enumeration of error concerns a charge which the defendant contends was burden ......
-
Cloudis v. The Bank Of Tenn.
...6 Ga. 481Radford R. Cloudis, plaintiff in error. vs. The Bank of Tennessee, defendant.No. 63.Supreme Court of the State of GeorgiaMARCH TERM, 1849. Motion to dismiss the writ of error. 1st. Because the bill of exceptions was not signed by ... ...