Court Opinion

ID: 9602894
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:01:27.18649+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:46.051654
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Judge,
concurring specially.
Defendants were charged by accusation with a misdemeanor, that is, cruelty to animals, by causing a cockfight between chickens (game roosters) fitted with metal spurs. I abhor cruelty to animals as much as anyone, but the state here failed to prove which, if any, of the defendants were actually engaged in the cockfighting or parties thereto or that there were acts of cruelty to animals except by inference and knowledge that game roosters generally will fight to the death if allowed to do so. These defendants were present where undoubtedly cockfighting had occurred. The officers testified that they did not see any cruelty to animals nor did they identify any of the defendants as engaged in cruelty to animals. Mere presence at a scene of a crime and nothing more is insufficient to authorize a conviction of every person at a scene who is arrested. Barnes v. State, 136 Ga. App. 626, 627 (7) (222 SE2d 143). I therefore concur in the judgment only.