Court Opinion

ID: 9582823
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:31:42.960882+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:34.056203
License: Public Domain

Mobley, Justice,
concurring specially. I concur in the judgment, as under the facts in this case the defendant could reasonably have apprehended that his act of driving a truck at a high and negligent rate of speed, in violation of the speed limit, and while intoxicated, over a highway which was under construction, naturally tended to destroy human life. The concurring opinion of Justice Atkinson in Huntsinger v. State, 200 Ga. 127, 140 (36 S. E. 2d 92), expresses my views upon this question.
Head, Justice, concurring. A wanton and wilful disregard of human life may be the equivalent of a specific intent to kill, and the jury may find that the accused acted in such state of mind when the wilful, wanton, and intentional acts result in the destruction of human life. See Myrick v. State, 199 Ga. 244, 248 (34 S. E. 2d 36), and citations. In the present case it appears that the defendant not only was operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquors and at an excessive rate of speed, but that he ignored and disregarded at least three warning signs that the road was under construction, and in disregard of the warning signs, drove his motor vehicle into such construction, which was open only for one-way traffic. The combination of acts in the present case authorized the jury to find that the defendant acted with that wilful and wanton disregard of human life equivalent to a specific intent to kill, and I therefore concur in the judgment of affirmance.