Davidson v. State
Annotate this CaseAppellant was convicted of felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the shooting death of a three-year-old. Appellant appealed from the denial of his motion for new trial arguing that the trial court erred by failing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter. The court affirmed the judgment and held that the trial court did not err by refusing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter where appellant's testimony showed that he did not shoot the child in the heat of passion because he was not upset and fired out of fear to defend his and his mother's life and where the testimony of the child's parents demonstrated, at most, that appellant could have opened fired in response to their heated or angry statements, which as a matter of law, could not constitute "serious provocation" within the meaning of OCGA 16-5-2(a).
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