Vaughn v. State

• Citation: 18 S.E.2d 469,193 Ga. 282
• Decision Date: 13 January 1942
• Docket Number: 13968.
• Parties: VAUGHN v. STATE.
• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia

18 S.E.2d 469

193 Ga. 282

VAUGHN v. STATE.

No. 13968.

Supreme Court of Georgia

January 13, 1942

Statement of facts by BELL, Justice:

Hayden Vaughn was convicted of murder in the alleged killing of Mrs Grover Henderson by striking and running over her with an automobile. The verdict contained a recommendation of mercy and a sentence to life imprisonment was accordingly imposed. The defendant moved for a new trial on the general grounds only. His motion was overruled, and he excepted.

A. E Parris, sworn as a witness for the State, testified as follows:

'My name is A. E. Parris. I live down at Six Mile Station, on the Cave-Springs-Cedartown road. I operate a filling-station down there. That is in Floyd County. * * * I do know Hayden Vaughn, the defendant in this case now, but I did not know him prior to this accident. On or about the 18th day of May this year, I saw him run his car over Mrs. Grover Henderson. On this date in the afternoon this young fellow and a young lady drove up to my filling-station, and Mr. Vaughn asked me to examine the oil in his car, and I went out to examine the oil and found it to be O. K. While I was examining the oil in Mr. Vaughn's car he got out of his car and came around where I was examining the oil, and looked at the gauge himself; and when I got through I asked Mr. Vaughn where he lived, and he said he lived in Rome but had been to Florida. After I finished examining the oil and closed the car up, he turned around and went back to the car and walked around on the side where the young lady was. She was still in the car. She asked me to bring her a package of Camel cigarettes, and I went in the station and got them and brought them back to her and turned around and walked back up in the station and sat down in a chair in front of two big windows there in the station. They stayed out there around ten or fifteen minutes something like that. They were in the car at the station. I didn't hear anything they said, but they were talking. In a few minutes she got out of the car and passed directly in front of the windows where I was sitting, and was going up towards the Taft highway; and when she did that, he whirled the car around the station and went back behind the store, and at that time another car was coming down the highway, and this car blew the horn at Mrs. Henderson, and she stopped until the car passed, and then she walked directly across the road out on the shoulder of the road, and then Mr. Vaughn drove right up behind her off the pavement; all four wheels were off the pavement when he drove up behind her. She was off on the side of the road, and he drove up behind her. She paid no attention and she was holding a purse over her eyes or her face to hide her face from the sunshine. She was on the east side of the highway, on the right-hand said coming towards Rome. Hayden Vaughn was driving his car in the direction of towards Rome, and she was traveling in the direction towards Rome. He got entirely off of the pavement when he drove up behind her, and she was out on the shoulder walking up the highway. I would say that she was approximately six or eight feet, I don't know exactly, but I would say six or eight feet off of the pavement. It was far enough off of the pavement that all four of the wheels on the car were off of the highway over on the shoulder. As to whether or not he struck her with the car, well, not at that time; she proceeded on down the highway about two hundred feet, and he stood in his tracks until she got about that distance. She was still off the highway; and then he speeded up his car until the wheels on the car were spinning, his rear wheels were spinning, and he shot on down the road in his car while the wheels were still spinning and while he was still off of the pavement, and when he got pretty close to her, that is, enough to obstruct my view, as his car was between me and her.

'I was looking at he car at this time because I never took my eye off of them, but his car was between Mrs. Henderson and me when he drove up behind her. She disappeared, and I looked down and saw her under the car. I could see her very plainly, and she was off of the pavement. There was plenty of room for Mr. Vaughn to pass her as she was way off the road. As to whether or not any other car was passing at that time, well, I just don't know whether another car was passing at that time or not, I don't think so, not right at that time. There was nothing to prevent Mr. Vaughn from driving down the highway, and he was off the road entirely, and he had that side of the highway entirely to himself. When I saw the woman under the car I jumped up and I said he has run over that woman, and I ran out of the door and started down there, and when I got out of the door he pulled the car off of her, and pulled about the distance, I guess, about the distance to where the jury is sitting there, off of her. I was going down there all the time, and when he pulled the car off of her he got out of the car and came around and proceeded to pick this lady up by the shoulders, and she was a pretty heavy girl, and he threw her back down on the ground and started to run off, and run down I guess about fifty feet down the road, and turned around and came back and came right up to my face, and I told him, 'Young man, you ought to have to pay for this.' And about that time he jumped in the car and left. As to whose car it was that he got in, well, I just don't know whose car it was, but there was somebody in there with him. It was not his car; it was another car that he got in, but I don't know who it belonged to. This car that he got in had come up after the accident, and they left hurriedly. When he picked her up and threw her back on the ground I was standing within a few feet of her. He made no effort to do anything for her. When I got to the girl she said she was dying. My filling-station and store is at the intersection of the Taft highway and Cave Springs highway road, in between the two roads. It is in Floyd County. This accident happened in Floyd County. As to whether or not he made any effort to get an ambulance there, well, he didn't that I know of, I called for a couple of boys to get an ambulance, and I didn't know whether they were going to get it or not, and I got in my car and met the boys coming from Mr. Roberts' house, and they said they had called an ambulance and that it was on its way. But so far as I knew Hayden Vaughn made no effort to get an ambulance for the lady. She did not die on the scene, but she died the following week-end.'

'I don't know exactly what time of day this happened, but it happened in the afternoon somewhere around three o'clock. I didn't look at the time. As to whether or not there were any other people around my place of business at the time, well, yes sir, there were a good many around there. I could not tell you who they were, but several of the neighbors were around there, but I could not tell you exactly who they were. I waited on him, that is, I examined his oil and I brought the young lady a pack of cigarettes, I didn't hear them engage in any conversation, that is, I didn't hear what they said, they looked like they were talking after I went back in the store, but I didn't hear what they said. There was no evidence of any ill feeling between them that I could see. There was no evidence of any kind that there was any ill feeling between them, and nothing in their conduct to indicate that he had any ill feelings towards her or that she had any towards him. They talked very calmly and didn't seem excited. She just told me to bring her a package of Camel cigarettes, and I did. My place of business is between sixty and seventy-five feet from the fork where the 'Y' comes around there, and my pump is still forty feet further down in front of the place. This accident occurred round the tip of the fork and on the main road leading to Rome. As to whether or not at the point there where the roads divide, one coming to Cedartown and the other going to Rome, there is a big sign there; there are three big signs that set out in the point, little signs. These signs are on a signboard. As to whether or not, when the accident occurred, they were behind the signboard, that is the signboard between their car and me, well, no sir, they were ten or fifteen feet in the clear on the Taft highway. As to whether or not you understood me to say that she had gone out of the vision, well, the car was between Mrs. Henderson and me when he ran over her. He was driving the car off of the pavement on his right-hand side of the road. The left-hand wheels of his car were not on the pavement; they were off the pavement. All four wheels were off of the pavement. As to how fast he was traveling when he went off from my place of business, well, I can't say, but his wheels were spinning, and he picked up some as he went off, and just before the car obstructed my view he slowed up the car. As to whether or not just before he struck her with the car he called to her, well, I don't know about that, I could not hear that, I was inside of my place of business. Immediately after he pulled the car off of her he jumped out and ran back and picked her up by the shoulders. He did not lay her down. He had her in his arms for a moment, and then he threw her down on the ground and ran down the road about fifty feet and turned around and came back...