137 Ga. 769 | Ga. | 1912
In order to render dying declarations admissible in evidence, it is not necessary to show that the declarant said affirmatively that she was in a dying condition, or used words of similar import. If she was in fact in a dying condition, and the circumstances were such as to indicate that she had knowledge that this was so, it is proper to allow the declarations to be proved and instruct the jury to determine for themselves whether or not the statements made by the deceased were “conscious utterances in the apprehension and immediate prospect of death.” Young v. State, 114 Ga. 849 (40 S. E. 1000); Perdue v. State, 135 Ga. 278 (8), 285 (69 S. E. 184); Washington v. State, 137 Ga. 218 (73 S. E. 512). See also Findley v. State, 125 Ga. 579 (1, 2), 582 (54 S. E. 106); Mitchell v. State, 71 Ga. 128 (2); Jefferson v. State, 137 Ga. 382 (73 S. E. 499 (3)). It is insisted further that the charge quoted is erroneous, because the court told the jury that “consciousness of her condition may be inferred from the nature of the wound, or other circumstances.” This portion of the charge is not erroneous under the facts of this case, and comes within the ruling made in the case of Barnett v. State, 136 Ga. 65 (70 S. E. 868), where it is held, that, “In an instruction on the subject of dying declarations, after eharg
Judgment affirmed.