Thomas v. State

• Decision Date: 21 January 1955
• Docket Number: No. 35438,No. 2,35438,2
• Parties: Jones THOMAS v. The STATE
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 644

85 S.E.2d 644

91 Ga.App. 382

Jones THOMAS v. The STATE.

No. 35438.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 2.

Jan. 21, 1955.

Syllabus by the Court.

In a proscecution for involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act, the evidence fails to authorize a conviction if the State fails to show an unlawful act committed intentionally or as the result of criminal negligence.

The plaintiff in error, Jones Thomas, was jointly indicted in the Superior Court of Franklin County with William T. Minyard for involuntary manslaughter in the following manner: 'The said Jones Thomas, while operating a Chevrolet motor vehicle truch, hereafter referred to as the Thomas vehicle, on a public road and highway which leads from 'Sanders Tree' to Mize, and known as State Highway No. 106, did halt, stop, and park said Thomas vehicle on his, Thomas' right side of the highway, with the left side of same within approximately six inches of the center line of said highway, and without any lights showing on said vehicle, during the hours of darkness, and the said William T. Minyard, while operating a Ford automobile, same being a motor vehicle, hereafter referred to as the Minyard vehicle, on said highway in an opposite direction from that of the Thomas vehicle, did halt, stop and park said Minyard vehicle on his, Minyard's right side of said highway, with the front left side of said Minyard vehicle parked within one foot of the center line of siad highway approximately abreast of the Thomas vehicle, with bright headlight showing on said Minyard vehicle, and without dimming same, and while said vehicles were so positioned on said highway, so that Horace York, who was operating an Oldsmobile automobile, same being a motor vehicle traveling along said highway, behind and in the direction the Thomas vehicle was headed, and in the opposite direction from that the Minyard vehicle was headed, and after the advent of darkness and before the dawn of the following day, and while the Minyard's vehicle headlights were blinding and interfering with the vision of Horace York, in whose automobile Mrs. Mollie York was a passenger, and as a result of the unlawful acts of parking said Thomas and Minyard vehicles abreast and within eight feet of the center line of said highway, and because of the unlawful act on the part of Minyard of not dimming his headlights on the approach of York, and because of the unlawful act of Thomas in not having any lights on his vehicle, Horace York did not see the vehicle of Thomas, and his vehicle collided with the rear of the Thomas vehicle and also with the Minyard vehicle, inflicting upon Mrs. Mollie York injuries from which she died, said death being caused by the joint and concurring unlawful acts of the accused, and which unlawful acts concurred to cause said death.'

The defendants were jointly tried. There was undisputed evidence that the defendant Thomas was traveling in a Ford truck on a highway 18 to 18 1/2 feet wide in the direction of Mize; that, due to mechanical failure, his lights suddenly went out and he stopped the truck about 6 inches from the center line; that Minyard was proceeding in the opposite direction toward Toccoa and while some distance from the truck saw the lights go off; that he pulled up approximately alongside the truck about a foot from the center line and said, 'Old man, can I help you?'; that Thomas asked whether he could put in a fuse; that he got out, took a fuse which Thomas handed him, took out the old fuse and replaced it, and that that fuse also blew out immediately; that he then heard a car approaching and got back into his automobile to pull away and unblock the road; that this transaction took about two minutes; that the York car, in which Mrs. Mollie York, the decedent, was riding as a passenger in the right front seat, came down the road at a speed of between 50 and 65 miles per hour; that, from the time the driver applied his brakes this vehicle skidded a total of 51 feet; that it hit the truck, which was knocked a distance of 18 feet; that the Minyard vehicle was knocked a distance of 11 feet and overturned; that a timber protruding from the rear of the truck struck Mrs. York and inflicted injuries from which she died almost immediately. Minyard testified that his lights were dimmed. York testified that the lights of the Minyard car were on bright and so blinded him that he was unable to see the stalled truck until he was right up on it, and that the Minyard car was stationary as he approached.

After conviction this defendant filed his motion for a new trial on the general grounds, and the denial of this motion is assigned as error.

George L. Goode, Toccoa, for plaintiff in error.

Wm. Carey Skelton, Sol. Gen., Hartwell, Johnson & Johnson, Royston, for defendant in error.

TOWNSEND, Judge.

1. In Carbo v. State, 4 Ga.App. 583, 62 S.E. 140, it was held: '1. There can be no conviction of the offense of involuntary manslaughter, either in the commission of an...