Teal v. State, 45457
| Decision Date | 08 September 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 45457,45457,2 |
| Parties | Chester B. TEAL v. The STATE |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Troutman, Sams, Schroder & Lockerman, Milton A. Carlton, Jr., Atlanta, for appellant.
Lewis R. Slaton, Dist. Atty., Joel M. Feldman, Tony H. Hight, Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
The accused, tried for murder, appeals from a judgment of conviction and sentence for voluntary manslaughter. The alleged offense occurred on or about August 23, 1969. Held:
1. Photographs of the body of the deceased illustrating the nature and extent of injuries as described by testimony and having probative value in respect to the cause of death as attributable to blows from a blunt instrument were properly admitted in evidence. The actual ruling in Edwards v. State, 213 Ga. 552, 554, 100 S.E.2d 172, cited by the accused, is that once photographs are properly admitted in evidence, the jury is entitled to custody of the photographs during deliberations. The opinion merely recognizes, by way of obiter which we also consider to be sound law, that to insure a fair trial the judge should exclude gruesome photographs which cloud a case with passion and serve no real purpose in proving the material elements of the offense. It is well settled that photographs which do have probative value in establishing the cause of death, although gruesome and only corroborative or cumulative of other evidence, are entitled to admission. Bryan v. State, 206 Ga. 73, 74, 55 S.E.2d 574; Johnson v. State, 226 Ga. 511, 175 S.E.2d 840.
2. The instructions on felony murder (Ga.L.1968, pp. 1249, 1276; Code Ann. § 26-1101(b)), uncoupled with any definition of the elements of an applicable felony, as disclosed by the evidence, provided no guidelines to the jury to determine whether the elements of the offense of felony murder were present, even though the evidence may have authorized the jury to consider felony murder by reason of the death of another in the commission of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (Ga.L.1968, pp. 1249, 1280; Code Ann. § 26-1302) or aggravated battery (Ga.L.1968, pp. 1249, 1281; Code Ann. § 26-1305) under appropriate instructions.
But the fact that the instructions were incomplete falls far short of supporting the contention of the accused that the trial judge injected a wholly irrelevant issue into the case which was misleading and confusing, and therefore reversible error. To constitute reversible error, the error must be one which contributed to the verdict adversely to the complaining party. See Dukes v. State, 109 Ga.App. 825(1), 137 S.E.2d 532. The verdict here having the legal effect of an acquittal for murder see Price v. Georgia, 398 U.S. 323, 90 S.Ct. 1757, 26 L.Ed.2d 300 any error in respect to instructions on felony murder was harmless.
3. The Supreme Court of this State has approved the instructions on reasonable doubt as here given, including the statement, 'neither does it mean a possibility that the defendant may be innocent.' Connell v. State, 153 Ga. 151(2), 111 S.E. 545.
4. In our opinion the evidence excludes the necessity of instructions on involuntary manslaughter as a lesser offense of murder, even though requested. The photographs indicate that the victim received some 15 or more heavy blows, which could have come from a blunt instrument such as the leg of a bar stool, as indicated by the testimony. It is thus clear from this evidence and expert testimony of the cause...
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