Opinion
41503.
ARGUED SEPTEMBER 9, 1965.
DECIDED SEPTEMBER 21, 1965.
Voluntary manslaughter. Coffee Superior Court. Before Judge Hodges.
Arthur C. Farrar, for plaintiff in error.
Dewey Hayes, Solicitor General, contra.
1. A motion for new trial filed within the time prescribed by Code Ann. § 70-301, and a bill of exceptions certified, served and filed within the times provided by Code Ann. §§ 6-902, 6-911 and 6-1001 are filed as prescribed by law and the motion to dismiss upon the grounds that the appeal was not timely filed must be overruled.
2. The Act of 1964 (Ga. L. 1964, p. 483), provides for a determinate sentence in all felony cases not punishable by life imprisonment and provides that such Act shall be applicable only to crimes committed after July 1, 1964.
(a) In felony cases, not punishable by life imprisonment, where the crime was committed prior to July 1, 1964, the punishment is prescribed by Code Ann. §§ 27-2502 and 27-2526.
(b) The instructions of the trial court directing the jury to fix punishment in accordance with the Act of 1964, supra, effective as to crimes committed after July 1, 1964, when the crime involved was allegedly committed prior to such date was error requiring the grant of a new trial. See Hurt v. State, 187 Ga. 73 ( 199 S.E. 801); Camp v. State, 187 Ga. 76 ( 200 S.E. 126).
Judgment reversed. Eberhardt and Pannell, JJ., concur.
ARGUED SEPTEMBER 9, 1965 — DECIDED SEPTEMBER 21, 1965.
The defendant was indicted for the murder of Connie Lee Taylor. The indictment alleged that the defendant shot and killed the deceased on April 17, 1963. On October 20, 1964, the jury convicted the defendant of voluntary manslaughter. On October 23, 1964, the defendant filed a motion for new trial based on the usual general grounds which was later amended so as to assign error on the court's instructions dealing with the sentence to be imposed in the event the jury convicted the defendant of voluntary manslaughter. These instructions directed the jury to find a determinate sentence rather than an indeterminate sentence. On May 21, 1965, the trial court overruled the defendant's amended motion for new trial, and on June 19, 1965, the trial court certified the defendant's bill of exceptions which was served on the solicitor general on June 22, 1965, and filed with the clerk of the trial court on June 29, 1965. After the case was docketed in this court the State filed a motion to dismiss because the appeal was not timely presented.