21 Ga. App. 244 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1917
1. The following instructions of the court are excepted to: (1) “If you find from the testimony, beyond a reasonable doubt, in the county of Haralson on the day named in the indictment, or any
2. The following excerpt from the charge was excepted to: “The burden is on the defendants to establish the defense of alibi, by a preponderance of the evidence, under the rules I have called your attention to, and if you find, from a preponderance of the testimony submitted on the trial of the case, that it was impossible for the defendant or defendants, to have been present at the scene of the alleged offense, then you would be ^authorized to find the defendants not guilty of the offense as charged, but should acquit them.” This was not erroneous for the reason assigned, to wit, “because said charge required defendants to prove said defense of alibi by a stronger weight of evidence than is required by the law, which only requires a sufficient amount of evidence to create a doubt ip the minds of the jury.” The judge elsewhere in his charge properly instructed the jury upon the subject of reasonable doubt, and also, immediately following the charge complained of, gave the following instruction: “You may consider the testimony as to an alibi with the other testimony, and, with all the evidence considered together, if it creates within your minds-a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused, it would he your duty to give them the benefit of the doubt and acquit the defendants.” Cochran v. State, 113 Ga. 726 (39 S. E. 332) ; Lucas v. State, 110 Ga. 756 (2) (36 S. E. 87) ; Bone v. State, 102 Ga. 387 (2) (30 S. E. 845).
3. The verdict was authorized, by the evidence, and the court did not err in overruling the motion for a new trial.
Judgment affirmed.