Harris v. State

• Decision Date: 11 April 1934
• Docket Number: No. 10090.,10090.
• Citation: 178 Ga. 746,174 S.E. 240
• Parties: HARRIS . v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

178 Ga. 746

174 S.E. 240

HARRIS .

v.STATE.

No. 10090.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

April 11, 1934.

Syllabus by Editorial Staff.

Error from Superior Court, Warren County; C. J. Perryman, Judge.

Willie Harris was convicted of an offense, and he brings error.

Affirmed.

The testimony shows that the death of Moore resulted from the defendant, Willie Harris, beating him on the head with a rock; that the defendant, his brother Jessie Harris, Waddell Moore, and Ella Evans were in an automobile; that some controversy arose over the direction in which they should go, and the two Harris boys and Waddell got out of the automobile and started back down the road. They got into a difficulty which resulted in the death of Waddell. Ella Evans testified that Jessie and Willie Harris went down the road together and were engaged in a tussle; that she looked out of the window of the automobile and discovered that they were fighting; that she saw a man stretched out, and another man "on top had his hand going up and down, right over him." Jessie Harris testified, for the defendant, that when he and Willie Harris got down the road a short distance from the automobile, Waddell caught up with them and picked a fuss with Willie, threatening him with violence, and undertook to cut him with a knife; that Wad dell grabbed Willie by the wrist, "and Willie kept hitting him with the rock until he turned him loose; * * * my brother beat him after he got on the ground, and left him there bleeding; * * * he knocked Waddell down. He was over him fighting with the rock after he fell on the ground." Jim Worthen was a passenger in the automobile, but remained with the car and did not go to the scene of the difficulty until the fighting was over. He testified that Jessie Harris had a rock in his hand when he got down there, "and he drawed a rock on me." Horace James, for the state, testified that he reached the scene of the homicide shortly after the fight was over, found the deceased lying in the gully, bleeding, and saw some blood on the ground; that he saw two rocks there, both of which had blood on them; and that he did not smell liquor on Waddell. The sheriff testified that he went to the scene of the homicide and found a track close by a place where a rock had been picked up; that he compared the size of the track with the size of the shoes worn by Waddell; that the track was made by a smaller shoe than that worn by deceased; and that the defendant told the sheriff that he killed the deceased with a rock, but that he had to kill him to save his own life.

W. A. Slaton, of Washington, for plaintiff in error.

J. Cecil Davis, Sol. Gen., of Warrenton, and M. J. Yeomans, Atty. Gen., and B. D. Murphy and Jno. T. Goree, Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court.

HUTCHESON, Justice.

1. There being testimony which would authorize the conviction of the defendant of the...