119 Ga. 446 | Ga. | 1904
The accused was convicted of the offense of adultery and fornication. His motion for a new trial is based upon the
Notwithstanding this admission, the credibility of this witness’s testimony was for the trial judge, who presided without a jury. Specific acts of sexual intercouse may be proved by circumstantial evidence. If direct evidence were required, it would be almost impossible to make out the offense. All that the law requires is that the evidence be such as to justify the inference, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the carnal act has been committed. If the testimony above abstracted was true, it came within this rule and authorized the judgment of conviction. See State v. Austin (N. C.), 13 S. E. 219; State v. Ean (Iowa), 58 N. W. 898; Com. v. Mosier (Penn.), 19 Atl. 943 (4); Com. v. Clifford (Mass.), 13 N. E. 345 (1); Blackman v. State, 36 Ala. 295. The facts above set forth are stronger than those in Eldridge v. State, 97 Ga. 192, and Starke v. State, Id. 193, in which cases a majority of the court upheld the conviction. The circumstances proved in Weaver v. State, 74 Ga. 376, and in Weems v. State, 84 Ga. 461, and especially in the former, did not afford such strong evidence of guilt as those in the present case. In both of those cases the conviction was set aside. In Lawson v. State, 116 Ga. 571, it was held that under an accusation charging the offense of living in a state of adultery, mere proof of a single act of adultery would not be sufficient to convict. Counsel for the plaintiff in error in
Judgment affirmed.