O'Neal v. State
| Decision Date | 13 May 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 19664,19664 |
| Citation | 213 Ga. 232,98 S.E.2d 376 |
| Parties | Clarence O'NEAL v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
It is error for the trial court to give in charge to the jury the law governing confessions when there is no evidence of a confession. The other assignments of error are without merit.
Clarence O'Neal was convicted of the murder of Curlie Gray without a recommendation to mercy and sentenced to death. He made a motion for new trial on the usual general grounds and by amendment added four special grounds. The motion as amended was denied. The exception here is to that judgment.
Francis Houston, W. P. Strickland, Blackshear, for plaintiff in error.
Dewey Hayes, Solicitor-Gen., Douglas, Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen., J. R. Parham, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.
1. In so far as the general grounds of the motion for new trial are concerned, the only contention is that the State failed to prove malice. Cases in which the statement is contained that, if the 'defendant admits the Killing, but at the same time and as a part of the statement states facts of justification, no presumption that the homicide was murder would arise on such admissions,' among these cases being Futch v. State, 90 Ga. 472(8), 16 S.E. 102, differ on their facts from the instant case. Here, a witness, Mary Lou Sloan, testified:
There was evidence that about two hours later, he did kill Curlie Gray. There was also evidence of a previous difficulty between the defendant and the deceased the night of the killing. Certainly this evidence was sufficient to authorize the jury to infer malice. It follows, there is no merit in the general grounds of the motion for new trial.
2. Special grounds 4 and 5 of the motion will be considered together. Ground 4 complains of the admission in evidence of a picture of the outside of the house where the killing was alleged to have happened. Ground 5 complains of the admission in evidence of a picture of the inside of the house. These two pictures, showing the location of the doors on the outside of the house, and the condition of the room where the killing is alleged to have occurred, were certainly admissible in evidence, and it was not error to admit them. There is no merit in these two special grounds.
3. Special ground 6 of the motion for new trial complains because the trial judge charged the jury the law of confessions. It is contended there was no evidence of a confession. The evidence disclosed that the defendant on three occasions after the killing and before the trial made statements to the effect that he admitted he administered the blows that resulted in the death of Curlie Gray; but in each of these statements he stated circumstances which, if true, would have been sufficient to justify the killing in order to protect his own life. His statement to the jury was to the same effect.
Owens v. State, 120 Ga. 296(2), 48 S.E. 21. 'Where, upon the...
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Oglesby v. State
...in charging the law of confessions as he contends that his statement was exculpatory and tended to show justification. O'Neal v. State, 213 Ga. 232, 98 S.E.2d 376 (1957). There is no merit in the first enumeration of error. The trial court charged the law of confessions in the exact languag......
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Holcomb v. State, 48524
...is not a confession, and a charge on confessions is erroneous. Pressley v. State, 201 Ga. 267, 271, 39 S.E.2d 478; O'Neal v. State, 213 Ga. 232(3), 98 S.E.2d 376. 'A charge on confessions is authorized when the accused admits the homicide with which he is charged and in connection therewith......
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