Black v. State
| Decision Date | 06 October 1925 |
| Docket Number | 16585. |
| Parties | BLACK v. STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Rehearing Denied Nov. 10, 1925.
Syllabus by the Court.
An indictment for involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act, containing three counts which differ only as to the nature of the specific unlawful act set out as the cause of the same homicide, charges but one offense, and sufficient proof of any one or more of such counts authorizes a general verdict of guilty.
Where one operates an automobile upon a public street or highway of this state at a rate of speed penalized by statute, or while he is under the influence of intoxicating liquors, and, in consequence thereof, he kills a human being, without any intention to do so, he is, under that view of the case most favorable to him, guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
"If an involuntary killing happens in the commission of an unlawful act which, in its consequences, naturally tends to destroy the life of a human being, the offense is murder." Gadsden v. State, 134 Ga. 785 (2), 68 S.E. 497.
Error from Superior Court, Cobb County; D. W. Blair, Judge.
O. L Black was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act, and he brings error. Affirmed.
W. C Munday, of Atlanta, and H. B. Moss, of Marietta, for plaintiff in error.
John S Wood, Sol. Gen., of Canton, for defendant in error.
Black was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act. He excepts to the judgment overruling his motion for a new trial, which was based on the usual general grounds.
The first count of the indictment alleged:
"That the said O. L. Black, on the 25th day of January 1925, in the county aforesaid, with force and arms, did unlawfully then and there, without any intent to do so, but while in the commission of an unlawful act of driving and operating a certain Buick touring automobile, the same being then and there a motor vehicle, over and upon the public highway of said county known as the Marietta and Atlanta public road, at a greater rate of speed than 30 miles per hour, he, the said accused, did then and there run said automobile against a certain pole, a certain tree, a certain embankment, and into and over a certain ditch, the same being located on a certain curve near Locust Grove schoolhouse, thereby wrecking said motor vehicle, and, in so doing, he, the said accused, did hurl and throw one Mary Lee King, a human being, violently from said automobile, and did then and there turn said automobile over on her, the said Mary Lee King, thereby inflicting upon her, the said Mary Lee King, a certain mortal wound and certain mortal wounds, upon her head, body, and members thereof, from which she, the said Mary Lee King, then and there died."
The second count was identical with the first, except as to the unlawful act therein set out, which consisted in the operation of the automobile at a rate of speed in excess of 10 miles per hour while approaching and traversing a designated sharp curve upon the same highway. The third count, which was otherwise identical with the other two, charged the unlawful act of operating an automobile upon a public highway while under the influence of intoxicating liquors.
There was evidence tending to show that on the 25th of January 1925, the...
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