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Final Copy 291 Ga. 156 S12A0764. SCOTT v. THE STATE. THOMPSON, Justice. Appellant Steven Scott was convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in connection with the shooting death of Dan Smith, the boyfriend of Scott's sister.1 He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, contending the trial court erred by excluding from trial evidence that the victim had been molesting appellant's niece and refusing to charge the jury on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. For the reasons that follow, we reverse. 1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence

The crimes occurred on April 1, 2008. Appellant was indicted by a DeKalb County grand jury on June 26, 2008, on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was found guilty by a jury on March 10, 2010 of felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm. The jury did not reach a verdict on the malice murder charge. Appellant was sentenced the same day to life in prison on the felony murder count and a consecutive five-year term of imprisonment for the possession count. The aggravated assault count merged by operation of law, Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369, 373-374 (434 SE2d 479) (1993), and the malice murder count of the indictment was dead docketed. Appellant filed a motion for a new trial on March 31, 2010, which was amended on August 30, 2011. The trial court denied the motion for new trial on October 5, 2011. Appellant filed a notice of appeal on November 3, 2011. The appeal was docketed to the April 2012 term of this Court and orally argued on April 16, 2012.

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authorized the jury to conclude that on the day of the crimes appellant's 16-yearold niece told him she had been molested by the victim. Appellant walked to a convenience store to get a beer, which he stated calmed him down, then returned home to continue talking to his niece. When the child's mother and the victim arrived to pick her up, the child, her mother, and appellant went inside the house to talk privately. Minutes later, appellant exited the house, asked the victim why he did it, and fatally shot the victim as he sat in his car. We conclude the evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). 2. Appellant contends the trial court erred by refusing to charge the jury on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary

manslaughter occurs when one kills another human being under circumstances which would otherwise be murder, if the killer "acts solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person." OCGA

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