Stephens v. State
| Decision Date | 29 October 1903 |
| Citation | 45 S.E. 619,118 Ga. 762 |
| Parties | STEPHENS. v. STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
CRIMINAL LAW—NEW TRIAL—AMENDMENT OF MOTION — REMARKS OF COURT — ASSAULT WITH INTENT TO KILL-INSTRUCTIONS.
1. An indorsement by the trial judge upon an amendment to a motion for a new trial to the effect that the amendment is "allowed, and the same is certified and ordered filed, " is a sufficient verification of the truth of the grounds of the amendment.
2. Under Civ. Code 1895, § 4334, it is error for a trial judge to express or intimate to the jury his opinion as to what has been proved. Where, therefore, a judge in the trial of a criminal case tells the jury that the evidence tends to prove a mutual combat between the parties, such charge is a violation of this section.
3. One accused of the offense of assault with intent to murder may defend upon two theories of self-defense—that applicable to cases of mutual combat, and that of reasonable fear where there is no mutual combat. If, in his statement to the jury, the accused relies entirely upon the latter theory, it is error for the judge, if he charges at all upon the statement as to this defense, to fail to charge upon the subject of reasonable fears as a defense.
4. There was no material error in any of the other rulings of which complaint is made.
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Error from Superior Court, Thomas County; R. G. Mitchell, Judge.
Eugene Stephens was convicted of assault with intent to kill, and brings error. Reversed.
S. A. Roddenbery and Roscoe Luke, for plaintiff in error.
W. E. Thomas, Sol. Gen., for the State.
SIMMONS, C. J. Judgment reversed. All the Justices concur.
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Southern Ry. Co. v. Hixon
... ... therein are true. The same is allowed and ordered filed as an ... addition to the original motion for new trial in this ... case." Stephens v. State, 118 Ga. 762, 45 S.E ... 619; Tifton, Thomasville & Gulf Ry. Co. v. Chastain, ... 122 Ga. 250, 50 S.E. 105 ... The ... ...
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Southern Ry. Co v. Hixon
...are true. The same is allowed and ordered filed as an addition to the original motion for new trial in this case." Stephens v. State, 118 Ga. 762, 45 S. E. 619; Tifton, Thomasville & Gulf Ry. Co. v. Chastain, 122 Ga. 250, 50 S. E 105. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see New Trial, Cent. Dig. § ......
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Owens v. State
...real issue in the case. The judge told the jury there was evidence of statements tending to connect him with the crime. In Stephens v. State, 118 Ga. 762, 45 S.E. 619, court held that-- "It is error for a trial judge to express or intimate to the jury his opinion as to what has been proved.......
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Hughes v. State, 50925
...agree that the judge's statement amounted to an expression of opinion that mutual combat had been proved. Appellant cites Stephens v. State, 118 Ga. 762, 45 S.E. 619 and Dorsey v. State, 110 Ga. 331, 35 S.E. 651, as requiring a contrary conclusion. The charges in these cited cases went furt......