2019 Murder Suspect Indicted by Georgia Grand Jury

A grand jury in Forsyth County indicted the suspect who was arrested and accused of stabbing a sleeping man to death this past fall.

According to reports, the man was arrested after he stabbed one of his good friends to death last September. The incident came as a complete shock to both men's family and friends.

Authorities discovered the victim's body inside the home after a 911 call. The suspect was still in the driveway when police came to the scene.

As a Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyer, I will outline the crime of murder in Georgia in today's post. There are various types of homicide offenses in the state of Georgia so a lot of the time the offenses are mistaken or used incorrectly. The suspect in the story above is being charged with murder, so that is the law we will look into today.

Murder in Georgia

Murder in Georgia is defined by Georgia Law in O.C.G.A. §16-5-1(a) as:

A person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, express or implied, causes the death of another human being.

There are a few very important terms that set murder apart from other homicide offenses in our state such as voluntary manslaughter in Georgia.

Our courts define malice as a wicked or corrupt motive or an intention to do evil and which the result is fatal and an unlawful objective to kill without justification or mitigation.

Express malice is the deliberate intention to unlawfully take the life of another human being, which is manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall be implied where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.

It probably goes without saying that the criminal offense of murder is classified as a felony in the state of Georgia. The penalty if convicted of murder is either life in prison without the possibility of parole, a life sentence, or the death penalty.

Practice Note

As I mentioned above, there are many different types of homicide offenses in the state of Georgia. Georgia Criminal Law can be very confusing. Therefore, if you or a loved one has been arrested for a crime in the state of Georgia, call our offices today.