46 Ga. 298 | Ga. | 1872
It was a well-settled rule at common law, that the accessory could not be put upon his trial until after the conviction of the principal felon: Wharton’s American Criminal Law, section 135, 1st volume. This was changed by the Act of Anne, so that if the principal felon was delivered in any way after conviction and before attaint, the accessory might be tried. In the special case of the offense of receiving stolen goods, there was an exception to the rule if the principal was outlawed. And this rule is, in effect, adopted by the provisions of our Code: Eevised Code, section 4421. But we know of no other legislation changing, the common law. There would seem tobe great incongruity in trying, and perhaps, convicting one as accessory to the crime of another^ when perhaps the next day the principal may be found not guilty.
As we understand this record, the defendant in this case, on his arraignment excepted on the ground that the principal had not yet been tried. We think it was error to put him on trial. We are not prepared to say that had the principal in this case been convicted, his confessions would not have been
Judgment reversed.