Edmonds v. State

• Decision Date: 07 June 1946
• Parties: EDMONDS v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

39 S.E.2d 24

201 Ga. 108

EDMONDS v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Georgia

June 7, 1946

Rehearing Denied July 16, 1946.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The judge's charge to the jury on the subject of confessions was authorized by the evidence.

(a) The Code, § 38-411, declares: 'To make a confession admissible in evidence, it must have been made voluntarily without being induced by another, by the slightest hope of benefit or remotest fear of injury.' In elaboration of this section, the court charged the jury as follows: 'In order, however, for the hope of benefit or fear of injury, if any, to render a confession, if any, inadmissible, such hope of benefit or fear of injury must be induced by another. If you find the hope or fear originated in if you find the hope or fear originated in the party's own mind from seeds of his own planting without being induced by another, and under the influence of hope or fear thus originated, the defendant made a confession, this will not exclude the confession, if any, as evidence. The hope or fear that excludes is that, and that only which some other person kindles or excites.' Held, that this charge was not erroneous as being unauthorized by the evidence; nor was it subject to criticism as being confusing and misleading.

2. The charge to the jury on the subject of drunkenness was authorized by the evidence, and was not otherwise erroneous for any reason urged.

3. The following charge, 'Preparation for the act of killing lying in wait, previous difficulties, old grudges, threats to kill, and matters of that character may be some of the evidence tending to show express malice,' was not subject to any of the following criticisms: (a) That it was not authorized by the evidence or the defendant's statement; (b) that it contained an expression of opinion by the court as to what had been proved; (c) that it was misleading and confusing and prejudicial to the defendant, because his only defense was insanity, which excludes all idea of malice.

4. The charge, 'An abandoned and malignant heart, in the sense of law, is commonly held to be evidenced by a weapon or other appliance likely to produce death, and by the brutal and bloodthirsty use of such instrumentality,' did not tend to deprive the defendant of his defense of insanity, as insisted, and was not otherwise erroneous for any reason urged.

5. The judge did not err in failing to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter, there being nothing in the evidence that would have authorized a charge on the subject.

6. The court did not err in refusing to admit in evidence a document offered by the defendant in claimed support of his defense of insanity, purporting to be a certified copy of 'report of physical examination' contained in files of a county selective service or draft board and stating that the defendant was disqualified for military service because of 'simple adult mal. adjustment.' While the certificate as to the genuineness of such document was signed by a person describing herself as clerk of such board, yet, as there was no proof whatever as to the incumbency of the particular person in such position, or as to the genuineness of the signature, the document was not so authenticated as to be admissible.

7. The evidence authorized the verdict, and the court did not err in refusing a new trial.

Luke Edmonds was indicted for the offense of murder, in the alleged killing of his wife, by shooting her with a certain rifle and 'rifle gun,' and was convicted of the offense charged, without a recommendation. His motion for new trial as amended was overruled, and he excepted.

The killing occurred at the home of the defendant in Dougherty County, on a Sunday afternoon, in August, 1945. The only eyewitness was Jimmie Edmonds, the eight-year-old son of the accused and the deceased. This witness testified:

'I was eight years old on January 27. I go to the Leary school and make good marks. * * * I did live on the Reynolds Brothers place, but I am staying with my granddaddy, Jamie Maples, now. He is here. My father's name is Luke Edmonds and my mother's name was Laura Ineeda Edmonds. I go to Sunday-School and church and I know what it means to do right or wrong. I know what would happen to me if I told a story, I would go to the mean man. When I held up my hand to be sworn it meant I was going to tell the truth, that is what I expect to tell these gentlemen. On the 26th day of August, the day my mother was shot, I was on the door steps. My mother was in a rocking chair. My mother and father had been having a conversation with each other that morning. My mother asked my father to go to the store, at Pretoria. My father was sober when he left home. My mother told him not to drink any, and he went on down there and when he come back he brought a half pint of white whisky. I saw him get it out from under the door steps. He drank a little and poured the rest out. My mother told him not to drink it, but he drank it any way. I saw this rifle there that day. While my father was gone to the store, I think my mother hid it, but I don't know. Somebody hid it. My father got the rifle when he got back from the store. He got it from out there side of the hog pen. I reckon mother put it out there while my father was gone. I saw my father go to the hog pen and get the rifle when he told her he was going to kill her. Before that he had been twisting her arm. She was asking him not to twist her arm. She told me to get the brush and hit him and I got the brush and hit him. He did not quit twisting her arm and I hit him another gain and he quit. After he turned her aloose, he went and sat down in one of the chairs in the house. My mother went out on the porch, she had the baby in her lap. * * *

'Q. Did your father take any more liquor after he shot her? A. He did.

'Q. How many drinks did you see him take after he came from the store and before he shot your mother? A. None. My mother was sitting on the porch with the little baby in her arms. My father came out on the porch. He did not have the rifle the first time. He went and got it after she started fussing at him. * * *

'Q. Jimmie, had your mother asked you to go off anywhere to see if you could get anybody to come there that morning for any purpose? A. No, sir.

'Q. Had your mother said anything about you going to your grandfather's while they were fussing? A. Yes, sir, she told me to go and get Mr. Wilkes to go and get granddaddy. That was after my father had twisted her arm.

'Q. How long was it after your father twisted your mother's arm before your father shot her? A. About three minutes. After I got started to get Mr. Wilkes to get my grandfather, my father said if I didn't come back he would shoot me. I turned around and came back when he told me that. * * * the last thing my mother said to my father before he shot her she called him an ugly name. The last thing he said to her before he shot her was that if she didn't hush up he would shoot her.

'Q. Did she hush? A. Yes, sir.

'Q. Before he shot her? A. Yes, sir. My mother was not looking toward my father when he shot her, she was looking toward that house over there. I saw my father raise the gun and shoot my mother. He shot her two times. When he first shot her she grunted a little bit and fell over on the chair. She fell just like this [indicating.]. When I saw she had been shot I went and took the baby out of her lap.

'Q. What did your father then do? A. He shot her again. The last time he shot her he was standing up right at her. He put the gun about six inches from her head and shot.

'Q. What did your father do after that, after he shot your mother the second time? A. He told me to go get Mr. Wilkes to get the sheriff. I had put the little baby in the room on the floor. After my father shot her he took her under the arms and drug her in and put her on the bed. After he shot her he told me to keep her ring, he had the ring on his finger. * * * After he laid her on the bed, my father said she had gone to Heaven. * * * I didn't see my father drink any liquor at all until after my mother was shot.'

H. C. Campbell, sheriff, and Gordon Stokes, deputy sheriff, who arrested the defendant, testified that a telephone call was received on the afternoon of the killing, and they went to the home of the defendant. The sheriff testified:

'I asked him what was the trouble and he said, 'I killed my wife.' He said he killed her with a rifle and that this was the one. * * * His appearance on the date of the shooting was that he was under the influence of intoxicating liquors. When I got there he could talk intelligently. The first statement he made was that she shot herself and then he shot her. His statement was that she shot herself the first wound and then he shot the next one to get her out of her misery.

'Q. Why did he change his statement? A. I don't know. He changed his statement the next morning in jail. He did not approach me about making a statement. We approached him and he said he shot her both times himself.

'Q. I show you what purports to be a signed statement, witnessed by you, and ask you if that statement was freely and voluntarily made by the defendant? 'A. Yes, sir. The circumstances under which that statement was made was that we just asked him if he wanted to make any statement and he said, 'Well, yes,' and he sat down there and told us just how it happened. When that statement was made he was sober, which was the next day after the killing. There was no force or threats exercised by either the deputy sheriff or me to obtain the statement from the defendant. It was freely and voluntarily made without any hope of reward or fear of punishment being held out to him. We took a statement from Jimmie the same day we took one from...