Slaughter v. State

A Fulton County jury found Marco Slaughter guilty of the malice murder of his cousin, Tairantae Slaughter. The trial court entered judgment of conviction and sentenced Slaughter to life imprisonment. A motion for new trial was denied on August 11, 2004, and Slaughter appeals,1 enumerating as error only the general grounds. Slaughter contends that the State failed to disprove the defenses of mistake of fact and self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. The asserted mistake of fact was not a separate defense since it “concerned whether the victim was armed, and thus, whether Slaughter was justified in shooting first in self-defense.” Ellis v. State , 174 Ga. App. 535, 536 2 330 SE2d 764 1985. See also Pullin v. State , 257 Ga. 815, 817 3 364 SE2d 848 1988.

Slaughter relies on the fact that the victim had recently robbed and shot at him, and on his own testimony that he saw the victim pull out a pistol. However, the evidence, construed in support of the verdict, shows that, after the victim robbed Slaughter because of his refusal to return some clothes, Slaughter made repeated threats to kill the victim, recruited family members to help him, and went with them to purchase a box of shotgun shells. According to eyewitness testimony, Slaughter pursued and confronted the unarmed victim in the middle of the street, shot him in the back, stood over him and shot him twice more, struck him in the head with the shotgun, put the gun away, left the scene, and bragged to others about the crime.