Manchester v. State
Manchester v. State
Opinion of the Court
Earl Manchester was convicted of murder at the April term, 1929, of Bibb superior court. He made a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and the case was brought here for review, and after review the judgment of the court below refusing a new trial was affirmed. 171 Ga. 121 (155 S. E. 11). Under the verdict in the case the defendant had been sentenced to execution, and later he was resentenced; and again the execution of the sentence against him was postponed by executive clemency, and he was again sentenced. On February 19, 1932, Manchester presented
“In taking up the consideration of this case for the purpose of rendering judgment thereon, the court has in mind, and must preserve the long-established and well-settled rules that necessarily bind the conscience and discretion of the court, keeping in mind the sanctity that surrounds the verdicts of juries rendered after serious and careful consideration of the case which they try. It is the well-settled policy of the law of this State, and this court is bound by that law, that new trials upon the grounds of newly discovered evidence are not favored, and that therefore an application for a new trial if based upon newly discovered evidence, that evidence must be strong and convincing; and it is well and proper that the policy of the law is such, for the reason that litigation should not be prolonged beyond the point of clearly and legally establishing the truth and justice of legal controversies. In the case at bar the defendant insists upon a new trial upon eight grounds, and I deem it proper to take these up in order.
“1. The first of these grounds urges that the defendant was not mentally responsible at the time of the alleged crime, for the reason that though defendant is of mature years, to wit, between nineteen and twenty-one years old, that by reason of defective mentality he has the mind of a thirteen-year-old child, and for this reason should not be held responsible, and in support of this contention he introduces an affidavit from Dr. Frank Mitchell, who testifies that in his opinion the defendant’s mind is that of a child of thirteen years. The State contests the correctness of Dr. Mitchell’s conclusion by an affidavit of Dr. Y. A. Little. Dr. Little con-
“2. In the second ground urged by the defendant, the defendant alleges that he was induced to make the confession, which he made on his former trial, by reason of duress, and hoping that if this confession was made that the punishment that the defendant would receive would be less than that inflicted upon him if he did not make the confession. In support of this ground no evidence is offered save the statement under oath of the defendant. The State denies that any duress was used, or that any hope of reward was held out to defendant; and in support of this contention by the State affidavits of J. B. Hicks Jr., Sheriff of Bibb County, L. J. Stevens, Oscar Harris, and William Branam, all deputy sheriffs of Bibb County, were introduced, the purport of which affidavits is to the effect that they, deponents, are all of the officers who had any conversation or communication with the defendant, and that none of them exercised any duress or held out any hope to induce defendant to make said confession, but that on the contrary the confession was freely and voluntarily made. The evidence on this question is therefore manifestly preponderant against the allegations in this ground for new trial. In this ground the defendant also urges that he was persuaded by Mrs. Powers and others to assume full responsibility for the killing; but there is no evidence to sustain this contention, other than the affidavit of the defendant; and the fact, as evidenced by this statement, does not bear him out in the assertion that he did assume full responsibility, because it is apparent from his statement that Mrs. Powers was as deeply involved in the commission of the crime as was the defendant; so that this assertion needs no further consideration.
“é. In the fourth ground urged by the defendant, evidence of an alibi is introduced, in the form of an affidavit from one Beebe Haggerty. In this affidavit evidence is introduced which is to the effect that the deponent ivas a friend of the defendant, and was with him on the night that the alleged crime was committed, from the hours of seven thirty p. m. to twelve thirty á. m., and that therefore the defendant could not have committed the crime. It is only necessary to state that this could not be newly discovered evidence on the part of the defendant, as he knew of this, if true, before the former trial, and therefore this evidence could not be considered upon this extraordinary motion. In addition to this, there is impeaching testimony of the statement of Haggerty, introduced by the State, contained in the affidavit of Paul M. Conoway.
“5. In support of the fifth ground urged by the defendant, an affidavit of Mrs. E. F. Hubbard is introduced, in which, among other things, is alleged a statement by Mrs. Sarah E. Powers, jointly indicted with the defendant, to the effect that the defendant did not kill the deceased. This statement can not be considered, for the reason that it is hearsay evidence, and therefore could not be introduced upon a trial of this case. The other allegations in this affidavit going to show the good behavior of the defendant, and the feeling upon the part of the public that the defendant should not be punished as the jury directs, are clearly not proper things for this court to consider, those being matters outside of the province of legal investigation.
“6. In view of the opinion heretofore expressed by the court con
The opinion thus rendered by the court below sufficiently reviews the evidence and states the law applicable to the questions involved, and renders further discussion here unnecessary. But it may not be unprofitable to set forth our statutes in reference to extraordinary motions for new trial, as it was in the light of these and certain decisions of this court in cases involving extraordinary motions for new trial that the court below decided the questions coming before him for decision.
Section 6085 of the Civil Code reads as follows: “A new trial may be granted in all cases when any material evidence, not merely cumulative in its character, but relating to new and material facts, shall be discovered by the applicant after the rendition of a verdict against him, and shall be brought to the notice of the court within the time now allowed by law for entertaining a motion for a new trial.” And section 6086 is in the following language: “Ordinarily, cumulative and impeaching evidence is not ground for a new trial; but when such a motion is made on the ground of newly discovered evidence, it must appear by affidavit of the movant and each of his counsel that they did not know of the existence of such' evidence before the trial, and that the same could not have been
As to certain of the grounds of the extraordinary motion a counter-showing was made, and evidence was submitted by the State to support the counter-showing; and the issues of fact thus made were for determination by the trial court, and in regard to these it does not appear that he abused his discretion. The grounds of the motion not specially referred to in the opinion of the trial judge are not of such a character as to require the grant of a new trial.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MANCHESTER v. State
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- Published