Supreme Court of Georgia, 1906

Williams v. State

Williams v. State
Supreme Court of Georgia · Decided July 2, 1906 · Cobb
125 Ga. 741; 54 S.E. 661; 1906 Ga. LEXIS 253

Williams v. State

Opinion of the Court

Cobb, P. J.

1. “When a house is consumed by fire and nothing appears but that fact, the law rather implies that the fire was the result of accident, or some providential cause, than of a criminal design.” Phillips v. State, 29 Ga. 105.

2. “Before a person charged with a particular crime can be lawfully found guilty thereof, it is necessary to establish the corpus delicti. This can not be done by the mere extra-judicial confession of the accused. There must be aliunde proof of the corpus delicti.” Bines v. State, 118 Ga. 320.

3. In the present case, when the confessions of the accused are eliminated, the other evidence is not sufficient to show beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a willful and malicious burning of the house which was destroyed by fire.

Judgment reversed.

All the Justices concur, except Fish, G. J., absent.

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