77 So. 2d 313 | Miss. | 1955
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Claiborne County convicting the appellant of manslaughter and sentencing him to serve a term of two years in the State penitentiary. The prosecution is under Section 2232 of the Mississippi Code of 1942, providing that the killing of a human being through culpable negligence shall be manslaughter.
The State charged that the appellant, through culpable negligence in the operation of his automobile, killed Joe Baker. In order to maintain the charge, it was incumbent upon the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant was guilty of such gross negligence on the -occasion complained of as to evince on his part a wanton or reckless disregard for the safety of human life, or such an indifference to the consequences of his act under the surrounding circumstances as to render his conduct tantamount to wilfulness. Smith v. State, 197 Miss. 802, 20 So. 2d 701.
The sole contention on this appeal is that the proof is insufficient to establish the guilt of the appellant beyond every reasonable doubt, and that the peremptory instruction requested by the appellant should have been granted.
The State’s proof showed the following with respect to the actual occurrence on the highway: The appellant was drunk. The deceased was sober. The deceased was driving his Chevrolet on his right hand side of the highway, proceeding at a rate of speed of twenty-five or thirty miles per hour, and traveling down grade. Appellant’s Lincoln was approaching from the opposite direction and was first observed by one of the occupants of the Chevrolet a distance of several hundred yards
The appellant denied that he was drunk, but admitted that he had previously been convicted of drunken driving, and that his driver’s license had been revoked, and that on the occasion in question he was wrongfully driving without a driver’s license. He said that he was unable to estimate the speed at which he was traveling at the time of the collision. Appellant told the sheriff when he was arrested that he must have blacked out. He later testified that he felt himself getting drowsy, and then fell asleep.
The issue of the guilt or innocence of the appellant was properly submitted to the jury under proper instructions, and the jury accepted the proof on behalf of the State and found the appellant guilty as charged. The jury was amply warranted in so finding. Faust v. State, 212 Miss. 464, 54 So. 2d 724; Gatlin v. State, 68 So. 2d 291. We have no hesitancy in holding that one who, in the night time and in a drunken condition, drives an automobile on a public highway, proceeding up grade
This is just another case of tragedy resulting from drunken driving, which is one of the greatest menaces to human life on our highways today. It can be as deadly in its effect as a machine gun fired into the automobile of innocent travelers along the way. Those who are guilty of such conduct, resulting in the death of an innocent person, merit the penalty of the law and should not complain when it is meted out to them. The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Affirmed.