Anderson v. State

• Decision Date: 16 May 1914
• Docket Number: 5622.
• Citation: 81 S.E. 802,14 Ga.App. 607
• Parties: ANDERSON v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

81 S.E. 802

14 Ga.App. 607

ANDERSON v. STATE.

No. 5622.

Court of Appeals of Georgia

May 16, 1914

Syllabus by the Court.

While the evidence for the state largely tended to establish a case of murder, the testimony for the defendant required a charge on the law of manslaughter, as it showed that the defendant and the deceased, following up a previous difficulty, engaged in a wordy and threatening altercation only five or ten minutes before the fatal affray, that "both of them had their guns out of their pockets," and that each "wanted to shoot the other then," and when the killing took place, while the deceased may have actually fired first, the defendant then had his pistol in his hand and responded with a fusilade of bullets. There was ample evidence to authorize the inference that the defendant may have acted upon a sudden heat of passion, or that there was a mutual intention to combat.

The jury saw fit to accept the evidence supporting the theory of manslaughter; and hence the charge of the court on the law more especially applicable to murder, and particularly on the question of provoking the danger which may have resulted in the killing, could not have injuriously affected the defendant, nor was the charge argumentative. It was full and fair, and free from substantial errors. On a conviction of manslaughter, if the killing was the result of a sudden heat of passion, it is immaterial who provoked the difficulty or how justifiably that passion may have been aroused. Gann v. State, 30 Ga. 67.

Error from Superior Court, Laurens County; K. J. Hawkins, Judge.

Will Anderson was convicted of manslaughter, and brings error. Affirmed.

J. S. Adams, of Dublin, for plaintiff in error.

E. L. Stephens, Sol. Gen., of Wrightsville, for the State.

WADE, J.

Judgment affirmed.