14 Ga. App. 503 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1914
Walter Lewis was convicted on the charge of assault with intent to murder by cutting and stabbing his wife with a knife, alleged to be an instrument likely to produce death. His
To constitute the offense of assault with intent to murder, there must be a specific intent to kill. This intent is not necessarily or conclusively shown by the use of a weapon likely to produce death. The jury should have been given the discretion, under proper instruction from the court, to convict of a lesser offense included in the higher felony charged, if they believed that the evidence failed to show a specific intent to kill. The failure so to instruct the jury was error. See Powell v. State, 7 Ga. App. 744 (67 S. E. 1048); Ripley v. State, 7 Ga. App. 679 (67 S. E. 834); Fallon v. State, 5 Ga. App. 659 (63 S. E. 806), and eases therein cited.
Judgment reversed.