116 Ga. 617 | Ga. | 1902
Hatcher, the plaintiff in error, was indicted for murder, and it was charged that with malice he unlawfully killed one Will Harrold by shooting him with a gun. The trial resulted in
Some of the witnesses testified also that just before the deceased was shot he made a step towards the accused. All of them agree that the parties were within a few steps of each other; that the deceased held his gun, which was cocked, pointing directly towards the accused, and that no reason existed why he could not have shot him. One of the witnesses for the State gives substantially the following account of the shooting and what happened immediately before. Referring to the time when the deceased and the
1. The theory of the State was that the accused was guilty of murder, because he did not shoot the deceased under the fears of a reasonable man to prevent the deceased from committing a felony on his person. The theory of the defense was that the accused in shooting the deceased acted in self-defense. These two theories were fairly given in charge to the jury in connection with the law relating to voluntary manslaughter. The jury did not take the view that the accused shot in self-defense, and the circumstances of the shooting, in our opinion, did not require such a finding. From the evidence of witnesses for the State it would appear that the accused shot the deceased more because he would not cease pointing his gun at him, than because he feared that it was the purpose
2. As to the proposition that the trial judge committed error in failing to instruct the jury on the law as to the impeachment of witnesses, when there was no request made for such instruction,it is sufficient to say that this court has more than once ruled that such a failure, in the absence of a request, is not error. See Smith v. Page, 72 Ga. 539; Stevens v. Railroad Co., 80 Ga. 19; Cole v. Byrd, 83 Ga. 207; Lewis v. State, 91 Ga. 168; Joiner v. State, 105 Ga. 646.
Judgment affirmed.