Court Opinion

ID: 9852678
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:34:47.645123+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:32.003469
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting In part.
Mattie Lou Henderson was convicted in Bibb Superior Court of voluntary manslaughter of her husband, and of aggravated assault of his paramour, when she caught them in bed together engaging in illicit sexual relations.
While there was conflicting evidence in the case, as we are here concerned with the failure to give certain instructions to the jury, suffice to say that there was ample evidence, including the sworn testimony of defendant, to show the following:
Mattie Lou Henderson discovered her common law husband of three years, Grady Williams, in bed with Catherine Thomas, clothed only in a work shirt, and lying directly on top of Catherine Thomas, who was clad only in a bra. She heard Catherine "grunting and going on.” She entered the bedroom where her husband and Catherine were in bed together and inflicted cuts with a knife on Grady (her husband) from which he died, and she *495inflicted cuts on Catherine Thomas of less severity.
Mattie Lou Henderson was tried in Superior Court of Bibb County and convicted of voluntary manslaughter as to her common law husband, Grady Williams, and convicted of aggravated assault as to Catherine Thomas. The jury was unable to agree on sentences, after which the trial judge sentenced Mattie Lou Henderson to 12 years on the voluntary manslaughter conviction and to 5 years on the aggravated assault conviction, both sentences to run concurrently. She filed a motion for new trial which was overruled, and she appeals to this court.
The majority reverses as to the failure of the trial judge to charge that the adulteress would have no right to use a deadly weapon nor make a deadly attack upon the innocent spouse of the husband-adulterer in order to defend herself. This is found in Division 2 of the majority opinion. I concur fully in the judgment of reversal and in this portion of the opinion. When a spouse discovers another woman in bed with her husband, in the act of committing adultery, the adulteress has no right whatever to use a deadly weapon to defend herself against the innocent spouse who has just made this discovery of what is going on; and about the only thing the adulteress can do is to run if she can find running room.
However, I violently dissent from the majority opinion in Division 1. Here the majority says the trial judge did not err in failing to give in charge to the jury five written requests by defendant. The substance of these five written requests to charge was to the effect that an innocent spouse may be acquitted if she kills her husband to prevent the commission or completion of the act of adultery; that the jury may acquit the innocent spouse if she kills her husband to prevent the act of adultery, including its commission or completion; that if the innocent spouse finds her husband and another woman engaging in the act of adultery, and is so enraged that she kills her husband, such killing of the husband-adulterer could be justified.
I submit that the trial judge should have given each and every one of these written requests to charge and his failure to do so was reversible error.
*496Let it be remembered that the common law wife came into the room and found her common law husband, Grady Williams, dressed only in a work shirt, in bed and lying directly on top of Catherine Thomas, who was clad only in a bra. Catherine was "grunting and going on,” and there was no question whatever that the act of adultery had commenced and was in progress. What were the rights of the common law wife — to walk away, taking no action whatever to prevent the act of adultery, or its completion? That is directly at variance with the law of Georgia!
1. There is a suggestion, although not strongly emphasized, in the majority opinion to the effect that the new Georgia Criminal Code, effective July 1, 1969, does not afford the same protection to husbands and wives who kill to prevent adultery as did the former laws of Georgia, including the Code of 1933. Let us deal with this question and eliminate it at the outset.
All of the protection that was afforded by all former laws, including the Code of 1933, to husbands and spouses to kill in order to prevent adultery, is carried forward and fully effective in the new Criminal Code. In the Code of 1933, that protection was found in Code § 26-1016 which provided: "All other instances which stand upon the same footing of reason and justice as those enumerated, shall be justifiable homicide. ’’(Emphasis supplied.) In the new Criminal Code, § 26-901,' it is provided that: "The fact that a person’s conduct is justified is a defense to prosecution for any crime based on that conduct. The defense of justification can be claimed: . . . (e) When the person’s conduct is justified for any other reason under the laws of the State; or (f) In all instances which stand upon the same footing of reason and justice as those enumerated in this Chapter.” (Emphasis supplied.) It will be noted that the language in the two different codes is almost identical.
2. In Todd v. State, 75 Ga. App. 711 (44 SE2d 275), at page 714, it is held: "We agree to this view, with the qualification that the jury may acquit of all crime if they find that the killing was done and was necessary at the time either to prevent the commission of the adultery or the completion of it. Mays v. State, 88 Ga. 399, 403.” *497(Emphasis supplied.) This authority continues at bottom of page 714 and top of page 715: "If the defendant saw the deceased in bed with his wife, or found them together in such a position as to indicate with reasonable certainty to a rational mind that they had just then engaged in copulative conjunction between them, it would be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the law in this regard in that this would be sufficient to authorize the husband to conclude that the criminal transaction of committing adultery had begun and had not been entirely completed, and would authorize an acquittal. See Mays v. State, supra.” (Emphasis supplied.)
In Campbell v. State, 204 Ga. 399 (49 SE2d 867), at p. 403, it is held: "A killing to prevent the beginning or the completion of an adulterous act is justifiable homicide under our law.”
In Scroggs v. State, 94 Ga. App. 28 (93 SE2d 583), it is held that: "If a wife kills another woman to prevent sexual relations between such other woman and her husband, the killing is justified provided it was because of apparent necessity to prevent the commission of such sexual act.”
3. The majority opinion suggests that when defendant came into the bedroom, her husband was asleep. But the testimony of defendant is sufficient to show he was not asleep, especially in connection with the "grunting and going on” that defendant heard from the bedroom just a moment before she entered, and she testified she found her husband dressed only in a work shirt, pants off, and the female had on only a bra, and the deceased was laying on top of the female, which is not considered the orthodox position for sleeping. In considering the written requests to charge, if there was any sworn testimony authorizing them, they should have been given.
4. Of course, it is no longer required that the court charge strictly in the language requested, but the substance of the request must be given in the charge if supported by evidence. See Long v. State, 12 Ga. 293, 323; Carnes v. State, 115 Ga. App. 387, 393 (6) (154 SE2d 781). Defendant’s sworn testimony was sufficient to show that the act of adultery was still in progress when she entered *498the bedroom, and irrespective of whether the state’s evidence was to the contrary, the trial court was required to charge written requests where supported by sworn testimony. Defendant was sworn as a witness in this case. These requests embodied her principal defense as to the killing, and they were not covered in the court’s charge elsewhere. Waters v. State, 83 Ga. App. 163 (1) (63 SE2d 264); Hardy v. State, 100 Ga. App. 88, 89 (2) (110 SE2d 82). It is the general rule in force in this state that the charge must be adjusted to the evidence. See Futch v. Jarrara, 203 Ga. 47, 51 (45 SE2d 420); Thornton v. Parker, 208 Ga. 633, 638 (68 SE2d 695); Brookshire v. J. P. Stevens Co., 133 Ga. App. 97, 102 (7) (210 SE2d 46). The court simply failed to instruct the jury on the law as to when and under what circumstances a spouse would be justified in killing her mate to prevent the commission of adultery upon discovery of the outrage that has been done to her. See in this connection, Wilkerson v. State, 91 Ga. 729, 734 (17 SE 990); Richardson v. State, 70 Ga. 825 (2), 829—830; O'Shields v. State, 125 Ga. 310, 312 (54 SE2d 120); Daniels v. State, 162 Ga. 366, 369 (4a) (133 SE 866).
5. As to the common law husband feature of the case, the courts have gone much further and have held that the jury may allow to an "affianced” wife this right of protection by her prospective husband. Futch v. State, 90 Ga. 472, 473 (6), supra.
Under the above circumstances, I would reverse the trial judge for failing to give the request to charge which would allow the jury to find that one spouse has the right to kill to prevent adultery, the continuation of the act of adultery, or the completion of the act of adultery. These charges were not even given in substance, and though a new trial has been granted, this case should have been reversed also for the failure to include these written requests to charge. The trial judge should be instructed to charge thereon at the new trial.
I am authorized to state that Judge Quillian and Judge Clark join in this dissent.