Opinion
A93A2195.
DECIDED OCTOBER 14, 1993.
Aggravated battery. Spalding Superior Court. Before Judge Whalen.
Johnny B. Mostiler, for appellant.
Johnnie L. Caldwell, Jr., District Attorney, Daniel A. Hiatt, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
Defendant was accused, tried and convicted of aggravated battery and aggravated assault. The trial court vacated the aggravated assault conviction by merging it with the aggravated battery conviction and sentenced defendant to serve 20 years in confinement. This appeal followed the denial of defendant's motion for a new trial. Held:
It was not incumbent upon the State to prove that defendant intended to maim. The former offense of mayhem was replaced by the offense of aggravated battery. Wells v. State, 125 Ga. App. 579 ( 188 S.E.2d 407). In a prosecution for aggravated battery, the State must show that defendant "maliciously cause[d] bodily injury to another by depriving him of a member of his body, by rendering a member of his body useless, or by seriously disfiguring his body or a member thereof." OCGA § 16-5-24 (a).
The State demonstrated that, following a quarrel between defendant and the victim, defendant aimed a gun at the victim and shot her, leaving her left leg paralyzed. This evidence was sufficient to enable any rational trier of fact to find defendant guilty of each element of the offense of aggravated battery beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560); Drayton v. State, 167 Ga. App. 477 (1) ( 306 S.E.2d 731). See also Magsby v. State, 169 Ga. App. 637 (1) ( 314 S.E.2d 473).
Whether or not defendant's conduct was justified was a question for the jury to resolve. See Taylor v. State, 252 Ga. 125, 126 (1) ( 312 S.E.2d 311). This Court considers only the sufficiency, not the weight, of the evidence. Steele v. State, 166 Ga. App. 24, 25 (2), 26 ( 303 S.E.2d 462).
Judgment affirmed. Johnson and Blackburn, JJ., concur.