Supreme Court of Georgia July 1, 1886 (Jackson v. State)

lead-opinion

Jackson, C. J.

1. If one of a number of penitentiary convicts, who were engaged in emptying and filling cans with water from a river, fell into the stream, and was not attempting escape, and if the guard in charge, as a reasonable man, must have so concluded by observing his efforts to return, if such were made, but nevertheless fired upon and *311killed him, it would be murder.