Sirmans v. State

• Decision Date: 17 November 1972
• Docket Number: No. 27312,27312
• Citation: 194 S.E.2d 476,229 Ga. 743
• Parties: James Paschal SIRMANS, Jr. v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 476

194 S.E.2d 476

229 Ga. 743

James Paschal SIRMANS, Jr. v. The STATE.

No. 27312.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 17, 1972.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Introduction in evidence of the photograph in question was not error.

2, 3. Refusal to charge the jury as to voluntary and involuntary manslaughter was proper.

4. The sentence of death should be vacated and a sentence of life imprisonment be imposed.

P. C. Andrews, Jr., Thomasville, for appellant.

George A. Horkan, Jr., Dist. Atty., Moultrie, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Harold N. Hill, Jr., Executive Asst. Atty. Gen., Courtney Wilder Stanton, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frank M. Palmour, Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.

GRICE, Presiding Justice.

The appellant, James Paschal Sirmans, Jr., appeals from a judgment conviction and sentence for the murder of Willie Mae Sirmans. He was indicted by the grand jury of Thomas County, tried and convicted by the Superior Court of that county. Sentence of death was imposed therein. No motion for new trial was filed but he asserts three enumerations of error.

1. The first is that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence over objection a photograph of the nude body of the victim on a slab in a mortuary.

The objection was that the photograph was prejudicial, irrelevant and not necessary for the trial of the case.

In support of this enumeration the appellant urges in substance the following: that the photograph is not material to any issue because the location of the wound is not shown thereby; that the victim was fully clothed when she died elsewhere; that other exhibits show the location of the wound and the surrounding circumstances; that the photograph was introduced for the purpose of inflaming the jury; that the wound was a single one at the edge of the victim's mouth; that the undressing of the body, the photographing of it in color hours later and exhibiting it had no purpose than to prejudice the jury; that there must be some probative value to evidence of an inflammatory nature to authorize its introduction and that an irrelevant and immaterial fact or display intended solely for the purpose of inflaming the jury is ground for reversal.

We do not regard the introduction of this photograph as error.

The type and location of the wound causing death was a material issue here.

The undisputed testimony was that the victim died of a gunshot wound in the head; that the appellant inflicted this wound; that this wound was identified by the coroner as the cause of death; and that the photograph complained of accurately depicted the condition of the victim's body and was a true representation of the wound.

In Johnson v. State, 226 Ga. 511, 512(2), 175 S.E.2d 840, 842 this court said: 'The photographs were admissible to show the condition of the body of the deceased and the nature and extent of his wounds, and were used to illustrate medical testimony as to the cause of death of the deceased. They were not inadmissible because they might inflame the jury, as they were relevant and material to the issue. (Cit.)' What was said there applies here.

This enumeration is not meritorious.

2, 3. The second and third enumerations of error aver that the trial court erred in failing to charge as requested upon voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

The trial court declined upon the ground that they were not authorized by the evidence or the appellant's unsworn statement.

The evidence offered by the State established that ...