116 Ga. 835 | Ga. | 1903
Charlie Griffith was indicted for a misdemeanor, in the. superior court of Madison county, and it was specifically charged that the accused did unlawfully and willfully turn out, to go at large, a certain horse belonging to him, and omitted and neglected to feed and take care of said, horse, whereby unjustifiable physical pain and suffering and death were caused and permitted to be occasioned to the horse. The trial resulted in a verdict of guilty. The accused asked' for a new trial on the ground that the verdict was contrary to law and the evidence. The motion was overruled, and he excepted. Without going into a detailed statement of the evidence, we are of the opinion, after an examination of the record, that the jury were authorized to find the following to be the facts: The accused was the owner of a horse which, in the winterof 1901, was allowed to go at large, and to which during very bad weather he gave no food or shelter. The horse trespassed on a neighbor’s land, endeavoring to find food, where he remained for about a week. He was very poor and of considerable age. The person to whose premises the horse came, by inquiry, ascertained that he belonged to the accused, whom he notified of its whereabouts and condition, and asked him to come and get the animal, which he did ; but in a very short time thereafter the horse returned, and remained on the premises of the neighbor until he died a few days afterward. Nothing was done to protect the horse, nor wa.s he furnished any shelter or food. There was some evidence to the effect that after-the horse was down and unable to get up he appeared to be swollen and otherwise diseased. One witness testified that the accused said that he had turned the horse out to die. There was also evidence that after the horse had returned the second time to the premises of the neighbor where he died, the accused, who owned the animal; wa.s notified of his 'whereabouts and condition. The defendant in his statement said that he put the horse at a place where ' he had some land rented, and did not see the horse very often; that when he was notified that the horse was sick, he brought him to his house; that the horse was about twenty-four years old, and could do but little. He carried him to the farm, and directed a person there to attend to him and take him up at night. Afterwards he ascertained the horse had left the farm, but was not told where
The accused was indicted under the Penal Code, § 703, which reads as follows: “Every person who shall instigate, engage in, or do anything in furtherance of an act of cruelty to a domestic animal, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor..” By the same Code, § 705, the “ cruelty” referred to is declared to include “ every willful act, omission or neglect, whereby unjustifiable physical pain, suffering, or death is caused or permitted.” These provisions are based on an act approved October 20,1879. Prior to the passage of that act there was in force an act which was approved March 1, 1875, entitled “an act for the prevention of cruelty to animals,” and which declared that any person who should torture, torment, deprive of necessary sustenance, cruelly heat or maltreat, etc., any horse or other animal, should be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished in a named way. The act of 1879, however, is very much broader in its scope than the act of 1875, and in express terms repeals all previous acts on the subject. The first section of this act is, in substance, the code section first above referred to, while section 5 contains the definition of “ cruelty ” found in the Civil Code, §705, also above referred to. Plainly, under the terms of these two sections, the act of cruelty to a domestic animal, which is made
Judgment affirmed.