Steele v. State

Smith, Judge.

Johnny Lee Steele, Worth Talmadge Matthews, Robert Lee Burke, and Michael Bernard Stanford were indicted for the murder of Mary Carswell and convicted by a jury of voluntary manslaughter. OCGA § 16-5-2. Motions for new trial were made and denied as to all four defendants and they appeal.

1. Matthews enumerates as error the trial court’s failure to direct a verdict of acquittal in his favor. Construed to support the jury’s verdict, the evidence showed that an argument over a pool game in a nightclub escalated into a gun battle in the club’s parking lot. A stray bullet travelled…