Court Opinion

ID: 9583218
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:36:02.719224+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:53.169711
License: Public Domain

Gardner, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially. I am concurring specially because it is my opinion that in a case such as this the evidence should be set out substantially so- that the bench and bar may derive benefit therefrom so as to guide them in future cases. The record shows that the defendant, William French, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act on an indictment which charges the defendant with the offense of driving and operating an automobile on a public highway in such a manner as to- cause injuries resulting in death to be inflicted upon Henry Grady McDuffie who was riding as a passenger in another car with which the defendant’s car collided. The indictment alleges that the defendant was driving under the influence of intoxicating liquors.
The defendant, before pleading to- the merits of the case, filed general and special demurrers. The court overruled the demurrers and the case proceeded to trial. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and the judge sentenced the defendant to not less than four and not more- than five years in the penitentiary.
The defendant filed a motion for a new trial based on the statutory grounds and thereafter added 7 special grounds. The court denied the motion, and it is on this judgment, as well as *154oii the judgment overruling the demurrers, that the case is here for review.
The evidence shows substantially: Clayton McDuffie testified that at about 12 noon, December 21, 1957, he, with his son as a passenger, was driving his 1952 Ford automobile in a northerly direction towards Warner Robins, Georgia, on Highway 247, when he met the defendant approaching from the opposite direction; that just before the two automobiles met, the defendant’s automobile crossed the center line of the highway onto the left side of the road and crashed into witness’ car causing it to turn over and come to rest with its wheels up; that the passenger was thrown from the automobile and killed more or less instantly as the automobile turned over on him; that as the witness approached the scene of the collision he was driving 50 to 55 miles per hour; that he could not estimate the speed of the defendant’s car but observed him as he began to cross the center line at which time witness applied his brakes and turned to the right but could not avoid the collision; that the collision occurred at a point south of the City of Warner Robins and at a point north of a grade and a slight curve in the highway; that there were no other vehicles on the highway at or near the scene of the collision nor was there a' “slow” sign on the highway near the scene.
State Trooper Floyd testified that he arrived on the scene of the accident at about 12:30 p.m. and gave a description of the scene which tended to substantiate the testimony given by the witness McDuffie and further testified that the defendant had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, his eyes were bloodshot, he spoke incoherently and he staggered when he walked; that the defendant was definitely under the influence of alcohol to a substantial extent; that he observed the defendant two or three hours later at the Warner Robins jail and he was still heavily under the influence; that the defendant first denied that he had been drinking but later admitted it; that the witness arrested the defendant for driving under the influence and three other charges and turned him over to the authorities at the Warner Robins jail; that the witness did not carry the defendant before a magistrate; that the defendant gave the witness the name of *155Walter French and presented a driver’s license bearing that name. Under cross-examination the same witness testified that it was his opinion that an automobile which was traveling 40 miles per hour could do the damage that he observed to the automobiles; that in his opinion the Ford automobile was being driven at 60 miles per hour which was the legal rate of speed at the time and place surrounding the collision.
Deputy Sheriff Keene testified substantially the same as Trooper Floyd as to the condition of the defendant at the scene of the collision and then two or three hours later at the jail, and also as to the name and driver’s license of Walter French given by the defendant, William French.
County Sheriff Chapman testified that between 3 and 4 p.m. on December 21, 1957, he took charge of the defendant at the Warner Robins jail and carried him to the Perry jail; that the defendant was drunk at that time and contended that his name was Walter French; that he did not take the defendant before a magistrate at that time because he does not usually carry a drunk man before a magistrate.
Ida Mae French, wife of the defendant, testified that she was with her husband all of the morning of December 21, 1957, until about twenty or twenty-five minutes before the collision, and that he was sober and had not had a drink at all before he left her; that she saw him about twenty-five minutes after the wreck and he was at that time still sober.
Claude Tucker, an eyewitness to the collision, testified that he observed both vehicles on the road approaching each other; that he observed the defendant turn across the center line and the cars hit; that he could not judge the speed, but the defendant’s car appeared to be slowing as if to turn into the filling station; that he did not get close to the defendant, did not smell his breath and did not know whether or not he was drinking; and that the witness McDuffie, was not trying to pass another automobile before the collision.
Joe J ackson testified that he was a friend of the defendant and arrived on the scene after the collision; that the defendant did not seem to be drunk; that he did not notice the defendant staggering or being bleary eyed; that the witness did not know *156whether the defendant was drinking or not; that he looked like he might not have been drinking. This same witness stated that he was the same Joe Jackson who had pleaded guilty to the offense of sodomy in Houston Superior Court and was sentenced to the penitentiary.
Mrs. Mattie J. Watson stipulated through defendant’s counsel that she collected rent from the defendant on the morning of December 21, 1957, between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a’.m. and that she did not smell whisky on him; that if he was drinking at that time she did not know it.
The defendant, in his unsworn statement, described the collision, stating that he had noticed his gas register and decided he needed gas and had stopped his car when he saw the McDuffie car coming down the road at about 65 or 70 miles per hour like he was coming around the car but couldn’t make it back on his side of the road and hit the defendant’s car. “I was standing still, that is all, he was down there traveling that highway at a speed of about 65 or 70 miles an hour. I wasn’t drunk.”
I agree in the main with what my colleagues have said in regard to the rulings on the points involved in this case. However I wrote the case originally somewhat more in detail, whereupon Judge Townsend and Judge Carlisle specially concurred, which resulted in that opinion becoming the main opinion and my opinion the special concurrence. For that reason and that reason alone I have .reduced my special concurrence to comply with the statements made in the majority opinion and agree to what my colleagues have said.