Monday, May 4, 2009
News Cheatin' can be an excuse for murder, suggest Georgia Supremes
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Mon, May 4, 2009 at 7:41 PM
OK, the headline oversimplifies things a bit. As with nearly everything that deals with the law, it's a little more complicated.
The Georgia Supreme Court decided today 4-3 not to overturn a murder conviction for a DeKalb man who killed his girlfriend simply because the jury wasn't told explicitly that, since the killing was motivated by the victim's infidelity, they had the option to instead find the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
Told you it was complicated. The way I see the Supremes' decision, it affirms that, as Presiding Justice Carol Hunstein wrote in her dissent, "adultery may constitute provocation sufficient to mitigate a killing." In other words, if you killed your wife or significant other during a crime of passion because he/she was stepping out on you, it's possible to get away with murder (although you're still likely to go to prison on a lesser charge).
But today's ruling also holds that the judge at your trial isn't responsible for explaining all this to the jury. The moral of the story is, get a good lawyer!
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