Appellant was indicted for murder. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Appellant’s motion for new trial was denied and he appeals.
1. In two related enumerations of error, appellant raises the general grounds. Our review of the record demonstrates that “appellant may not successfully contend that the evidence does not support his conviction, because he affirmatively offered the alternative theory of voluntary manslaughter to the jury.”
Speights v. State,
2. Appellant enumerates as error the failure to give his requested instruction on the defense of mistake of fact. The asserted mistake of fact concerned whether the victim was armed, and thus, whether appellant was justified in shooting first in self-defense.
The record demonstrates that the trial court gave a full charge on self-defense, which included the following: “a person is legally justified in using force against another when and to the extent that
he reasonably believes
that such force is necessary to defend himself against such other’s [imminent] use of unlawful force.” (Emphasis supplied.) Thus, appellant was not also entitled to a charge on OCGA § 16-3-5. See
McClendon v. State,
3. At trial, evidence of threats made by the victim against appellant was limited to those threats that were actually communicated to appellant. On appeal, appellant asserts that evidence of all the threats made by the victim, regardless of their actual communication to appellant, should have been admitted. “It is well established that evidence of such threats is irrelevant, unless it be shown that they were communicated to the accused. [Cits.]”
Burgess v. State,
Judgment affirmed.