430 S.E.2d 731 | Ga. | 1993
In December 1986, a Fulton County grand jury returned a six-count malice murder indictment against Michael Devern Terry, the defendant in this case. Terry’s motion to sever the murder counts was granted, and the two counts of malice murder which form the basis of this appeal were tried in February 1987. The jury convicted Terry of both counts and the trial court sentenced Terry to life imprisonment. Terry did not appeal.
Terry was subsequently convicted of one other count of murder which this court affirmed in Terry v. State, 259 Ga. 165 (377 SE2d 837) (1989). He pled guilty to the remaining counts.
In July 1992, the trial court granted Terry’s motion for appointment of counsel, and subsequently granted Terry’s motion to pursue
Our holding in Edge disapproved use of the “sequential charge”
However, where the jury returns a verdict of malice murder, it, of necessity, finds that the defendant committed “the homicide without the provocation sufficient to authorize a verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter.” McGill v. State, 263 Ga. 81 (428 SE2d 341) (1993); Shaw v. State, 263 Ga. 88 (428 SE2d 566) (1993). Thus, where the defendant is convicted of malice murder, the problem which Edge seeks to address is not present.
The trial court did not err in denying the motion for new trial.
Judgment affirmed.
It is unnecessary to reach the question of whether the charge given constituted the sequential charge disapproved in Edge.