Cawthon v. State
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his conviction for felony murder of a homeless man (victim) in downtown Decatur, Georgia. At issue was whether the trial court should have excluded testimony of three witnesses regarding prior difficulties between defendant and the victim. Also at issue was whether the jury should have been instructed on the law regarding involuntary manslaughter and simple battery as lesser included offenses. The court held that counsel for defendant had stated that he saw no basis to exclude the testimony from the first witness and thus, the trial court correctly ruled that review of the issue was waived. In any event, the evidence was admissible where defendant adopted as his own the statement that "we" beat up the victim, and would do so again. The court also held that there was no hearsay in the testimony from the second witness where the witness testified as to his observations. The court rejected defendant's claim that the testimony of the third witness did not bear indicia of reliability where the circumstances of the victim's statements indicated otherwise and the victim had no apparent reason to lie to the third witness where his statements were part of spontaneous exchanges with the witness, and the victim's face was visibly swollen at the time he spoke to the witness. The court finally held that the trial court, noting that the evidence was undisputed that the victim was seriously disfigured, did not commit plain error in concluding that only a charge on the greater offense of aggravated battery was warranted. Accordingly, the judgment was affirmed.
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