Kitchens v. StateKitchens v. State
The defendant was convicted of murder with a recommendation of mercy and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His motion for a new trial was over
1. The Supreme Court is a court for the trial and correction of errors of law committed in the trial courts, as shown by the record of what transpired therein which has been transmitted to it. This court has no original jurisdiction, and it cannot decide questions raised for the first time after the case has been appealed to it. Constitution of the State of Georgia, Art. VI, Sec. II, Par. IV
(Code Ann.
§ 2-3704);
Velkey v. Grimes,
2. The third ground of enumerated error complains of the refusal of the court to charge the jury on manslaughter and self-defense. The evidence for the State with respect to the manner in which the killing occurred made out a case of cold-blooded murder perpetrated during an armed robbery in which it appeared, from the evidence for the State, that the victim, when confronted by the persons committing the robbery, reached for his gun and was shot three times by one of the robbers. The accused did not put in any evidence but merely made an unsworn statement in which he, in substance, contended that he had parted company with his co-indictees prior to the time the crime was committed. There was, thus, not one particle of evidence which in any way raised an issue as to manslaughter or self-defense, and it was not error for the court to fail to charge on this issue.
3. In the fifth ground of enumerated error appellant con
4. In the fourth ground of enumerated error appellant contends that the court erred in denying his motion for a new trial. The only ground of the motion which is argued and insisted upon before this court relates to alleged newly discovered evidence, to wit, the testimony of the co-indictees of the accused, which he contends, if presented, would have exonerated him. Motions for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence are not favored. All applications for new trial upon the ground of newly discovered evidence are addressed to the sound discretion of the trial judge, and unless it affirmatively appears that he has abused his discretion in overruling the same, his discretion will not be controlled.
Miller v. State,
5. The evidence authorized the verdict of guilty. While it was admitted that the accused did not actually enter the premises wherein the murder was committed, there was evidence that early in the evening of the night of the murder the accused was seen in a bar, or tavern, in Augusta in the company of the other individuals who were charged with the same crime and overheard planning with them a robbery, and that he was seen near the locale of the crime and in the company of the same individuals at about the time of its commission. The murder was perpetrated in the commission of an armed robbery of an AmVets Club on the outskirts of Statesboro. A taxicab driver testified that, early the next morning he picked up the accused on the outskirts of Savannah and drove him to downtown Savannah, and that while in the taxicab the accused volunteered certain information as to the reason for his presence at the place where he was picked up, which information, it appears, was false. Another witness testified that the accused later registered at a hotel in downtown Savannah, giving an assumed name, and that his co-indictees separately registered in a group at the same hotel, all giving assumed names. The circumstances were sufficient to authorize the jury to convict the defendant. No error of law appearing, the
Judgment affirmed.