12 Ga. App. 688 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1913
A verdict of voluntary manslaughter was returned! against the accused, and this verdict was set aside on the ground that a verdict of involuntary manslaughter, which the court had previously declined' to receive, was a legal verdict and a final termination of the case. 10 Ga. App. 623 (74 S. E. 429). Subsequently the accused were arraigned under the indictment and filed pleas setting up that the effect of the refusal of the court to receive-the verdict of involuntary manslaughter was to declare a mistrial,, and operated to acquit the accused, and that if this were not true,, the verdict finding the accused guilty of involuntary manslaughter was a valid verdict and- a final termination of the case, and they could not be again arraigned under the indictment. The accused! excepted to the judgment striking both of these pleas. This court held (ante, 1, 76 S. E. 652) that the verdict of involuntary manslaughter was a valid verdict and a final termination of the case,, and that the accused could not again be tried under the indictment for any offense. The trial judge was directed to have the verdict of involuntary manslaughter- recorded upon the minutes of the-court, and to impose sentence in the manner prescribed by law. It was contended in that case by counsel for the accused that they never had an opportunity to file a motion for a new trial for the
The accused procured from this court a decision that the verdict of involuntary manslaughter was a valid verdict and a final termination of the case. It was held that the oral pronouncement of the verdict by the foreman of the jury was a sufficient publication of it, and that it was not necessary, in order to give it validity, that it be filed and recorded on the minutes of the court. We are satisfied with the correctness of this decision, and it is too late now to challenge its soundness. The accused could have filed a motion to set aside this verdict at any time within the time required by law after its publication. They were not deprived of this right by the failure of the court to receive the verdict and to allow it to be recorded on the minutes. They have asserted all the while that this verdict was legal and valid and a final termination of the case. They had a right to have the verdict of voluntary manslaughter set aside, and they had a right to have sentence imposed upon the first verdict. They also had a right to file a motion for a new trial, to set aside the first verdict. Having allowed the statutory period to elapse without availing themselves of this right, they can not now be heard to assert that the verdict should be set aside for errors'made during the progress of the trial. They are in laches, because of their own failure to file a motion in time, and not because of anything done by the trial court which prevented them from so doing. The trial judge properly refused to entertain the motion for a new
Judgment affirmed.