Appellant Conniel Rashon Harris appeals his conviction for murder, 1 claiming that the trial court erred in failing to сharge the jury on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. We find no error, however, because appellant withdrew his requеst for the former charge, and the latter charge was not warranted by any evidence introduced at trial. Therеfore, we affirm.
The evidence introduced at trial was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to сonclude that one evening in April 1998, Stanley Sinkfield and Frank Taylor were traveling in a car in Blackshear, Georgia.
Appellant fled the scene and was captured later that night. Appellant gave post-arrest unsworn statements to the police that on the night of the murder, he respondеd to threats made by Sinkfield, that Sinkfield began shooting first, and that appellant responded with gunfire only to defend himself, and only after someone gave him a loaded gun.
1. Construed most favorably to the verdict, the evidence introduced at trial was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty of the crimes for which he was сonvicted. 2
2. Appellant claims the trial court erred in failing to give the jury a requested charge on voluntary manslaughter. In all murder cases, whenever there is any evidence, however slight, to support a requested jury instruction on vоluntary manslaughter, the trial court must give the instruction. 3
However, our review of the transcript reveals that during the charging conference, appellant conceded before the trial court that there was no evidencе to support a charge on voluntary manslaughter, and tacitly withdrew the request to make such a charge. At the сlose of the court’s charge to the jury, appellant did not raise an objection to the court’s failure to charge on voluntary manslaughter. Insofar as appellant withdrew his request to charge on voluntary manslaughter, hе cannot invite error by the trial court and then seek reversal on that same basis. 4 Furthermore, appellant fаiled to object to the alleged error in the trial court, and acquiesced in the overall charge as given, and hence has waived this claim of error on appeal. 5
3. Appellant also urges trial court error in thе failure to charge the jury on felony grade involuntary manslaughter under OCGA § 16-5-3 (a), as requested. 6 Our review of the record reveals that the charge was not warranted by the evidence.
Under section 16-5-3 (a), a person commits involuntary manslaughter when, without intent and in the commission of an unlawful act other than a felony, he or she causes the death оf another. 7 Appellant claims on appeal that the underlying unlawful act that should have supported a сharge of involuntary manslaughter is reckless conduct. 8
However, as noted above, appellant’s statemеnt, which was introduced at trial although appellant elected not to testify, asserted that he intentionally shot thе victims, but acted in self-defense after they fired the first shots. In his closing statement, defense counsel urged the jury to acсept appellant’s assertion of self-defense. Because
appellant
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
The crimes occurred on the night of April 1, 1998, and аppellant was indicted on July 13,1998, on counts of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. Appellant wаs tried on August 5 and 6,1999, and was found guilty of felony murder, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment, and aggravated assault, for which he was sentenced to ten consecutive years imprisonment. A timely notice of appeal was filed on September 3,1999, the appeal was docketed on October 21,1999, and submitted for decision without oral argumеnt.
Jackson v. Virginia,
Phillips v. State,
Barnes v. State,
Earnest v. State,
Unlike voluntary manslaughter, appellant did object to the trial court’s failure to charge the jury on involuntary manslаughter, and hence this enumeration is preserved on appeal.
OCGA § 16-5-3.
See OCGA § 16-5-60. At trial, appellant argued that the underlying unlawful act to support an involuntary manslaughter charge was discharging a gun near a public road. See OCGA § 16-11-103.
See
Crawford v. State,
Kurtz, Criminal Offenses and Defenses in Georgia, pp. 262-263 (3d ed. 1991); see Crawford, supra.
