47 Ga. App. 9 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1933
Lead Opinion
The second headnote only will be elaborated. The accused was tried on an indictment in two counts which charged involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act. In one count the unlawful act charged was the driving by the defendant, while under the influence of intoxicating liquors, of an automobile upon a public highway. In the other count the unlawful act charged was the driving of an automobile upon a public highway at a rate of speed greater than forty miles an hour. The jury returned a general verdict of guilty, which in law meant guilty on both counts. The evidence, while it authorized a finding that several persons, shortly after the homicide, smelt whisky on the defendant’s breath, did not support the evident finding of the jury that he was to some extent under the influence of intoxicating liquors while he was driving the car at the time of the homicide. All the witnesses who testified that they smelt the odor of whisky on the defendant’s breath swore also, in substance, that they could not say that he was to any extent under the influence of whisky or of any other intoxicating liquor. This fact differentiates the case from Hart v. State, 26 Ga. App. 64, and Chapman v. State, 40 Ga. App. 725. In each of these eases there was other evidence, in addition to the odor of whisky upon the defendant, which tended to show that he was to some extent under the influence of intoxicants.
As to the charge that the defendant was operating the automobile at an unlawful speed, the evidence was in sharp conflict, and would have authorized a finding that the car was being driven at a speed
The evidence authorized the verdict, and the refusal to grant a new trial was not error.
Judgment affirmed.
Rehearing
ON MOTION TOR REHEARING.
The indictment alleged that the defendant, at the time of the commission of the offense charged, was operating a motor-vehicle on “that road or highway known as the Dixie Highway, being State Boute number three, at a speed in excess of forty miles per hour.” In a motion for a rehearing the plaintiff in error alleges that no evidence was adduced upon the trial showing that he was operating the automobile upon the '‘Dixie Highway,” as charged in the indictment. There is no merit in this contention. While no witness stated, in totidem verbis, that the defendant was driving the car upon the “Dixie Highway,” the evidence was undisputed that he was operating it on the public highway that ran through Binggold, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee; and the
Motion denied.