Powers v. State

• Decision Date: 12 January 1932
• Docket Number: No. 8753.,8753.
• Citation: 162 S.E. 275,174 Ga. 202
• Parties: POWERS. v. STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

174 Ga. 202

162 S.E. 275

POWERS.

v.STATE.

No. 8753.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Jan. 12, 1932.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The evidence introduced by the state authorized the jury to find that Manchester was guilty of the murder of Parks as principal in the first degree; and such evidence likewise authorized the jury to find that Mrs. Powers was guilty of such murder as an accessory before the fact.

2. The motion for new trial is based solely upon the general grounds; and the only contention urged by movant in this court being that the evidence introduced by the state was not sufficient to show either the guilt of Manchester as principal in the first degree or the guilt of the defendant as accessory before the fact, the judge did not err in overruling the motion for new trial.

Error from Superior Court, Bibb County; H. A. Mathews, Judge.

Sarah Powers was convicted of murder as an accessory before the fact, and she brings error.

Affirmed.

E. W. Maynard, of Macon, for plaintiff in error.

Chas. H. Garrett, Sol. Gen., of Macon, for the State.

HINES, J.

Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Powers was jointly indicted with Early Manchester for the murder of James W. Parks; Manchester being charged as principal in the first degree, and Mrs. Powers being charged as accessory before the fact. Under this indictment she was convicted without a recommendation to mercy, and was sentenced to be electrocuted. She filed a motion for new trial, which the judge overruled, and to that judgment she excepted and brought her case to this court. This court reversed the judgment, and granted her a new trial. Powers v. State, 172 Ga. 1, 157 S. E. 195.

When the case went back to the lower court, Mrs. Powers was reindicted for the homicide of Parks. The indictment contained two counts; one charging her with being an accessory before the fact, and the other charging her with being principal in the second degree. Upon her trial under this indictment the state abandoned the second count. She was convicted under the first count andwas recommended to mercy. She was thereupon sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. She moved for a new trial upon the general grounds alone. The judge overruled her motion, and to this judgment she excepted in the present writ of error. The contention of her counsel is that the evidence does not show that Manchester killed and murdered Parks as alleged in the indictment, and that the evidence does not show that Mrs. Powers counseled or procured Manchester to kill and murder Parks. To establish the guilt of Mrs. Powers it was necessary for the state to show: First the commission of the murder by Manchester; and, second, that Mrs. Powers, being absent at the time of the commission of the homicide, procured, counseled, or commanded Manchester to commit it. Cantrell v. State, 141 Ga. 98, 100, 80 S. E. 649.

To establish the guilt of Manchester the state introduced his confessions of guilt, incriminatory statements tending to show his guilt, and the previous record of his conviction as such principal. Such confessions of the principal were admissible on the trial of the accessory...