Case Name: MILLER v. THE STATE
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1988-11-22
Citations: 189 Ga. App. 587
Docket Number: 76630
Parties: MILLER v. THE STATE.
Judges: Birdsong, C. J., Deen, P. J., Sognier, Pope and Benham, JJ., concur. Banke, P. J., concurs specially. McMurray, P. J., and Beasley, J., concur in part and dissent in part.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 189
Pages: 587–598

Head Matter:
76630.
MILLER v. THE STATE.
(376 SE2d 901)

Opinion:
Carley, Judge.
Appellant was tried before a jury and convicted of child molestation and aggravated sodomy. Appellant appeals from the judgments of conviction and sentences entered by the trial court on the jury's verdicts.
1. The trial court allowed appellant to examine the notes which a witness for the State had used to refresh his recollection while he was on the stand. The trial court refused, however, to allow appellant to examine any other notes which the witness may have reviewed prior to his being called to the stand. This ruling is enumerated as error.
In Baxter v. State, 254 Ga. 538, 548 (18) (331 SE2d 561) (1985), our Supreme Court held "that a defendant in a criminal case has the right, upon request, to examine a document used by a witness to refresh his recollection. [Cits.]" Appellant urges that this right extends to any and all materials which were reviewed by a witness in preparation for his testimony at the trial and is not limited to only those materials which were reviewed by a witness to refresh his recollection while actually on the stand. There is explicit authority for the proposition advanced by appellant. In Caviness v. State, 180 Ga. App. 792, 793 (3) (350 SE2d 813) (1986), this court held that "because we can discern no logical basis for distinguishing between notes used by a witness to refresh his or her recollection while actually on the witness stand and notes reviewed for that purpose immediately prior to trial, we hold that the trial court erred in refusing to allow the appellant's counsel to examine the report in question in the present case." (Emphasis supplied.) There is, however, also implicit authority for the contrary proposition. Our Supreme Court has indicated that where it "does not appear that the witness was using these notes during the trial to refresh his recollection. . . . Baxter is inapposite." (Emphasis supplied.) Catchings v. State, 256 Ga. 241, 247 (9) (347 SE2d 572) (1986). Accordingly, resolution of the merits of appellant's enumera tion of error requires that we undertake a reconsideration of our explicit holding in Caviness in light of the implicit holding of the Supreme Court in Catchings.
As previously noted, the reason given in Caviness for its broad holding was an inability to discern a logical basis for distinguishing between the right to an examination of notes used to refresh the recollection of a witness for the State immediately prior to trial and the right to an examination of notes which were used for that purpose during the trial itself. Upon reconsideration, however, we find that a logical basis for making such a distinction does exist. The obvious rationale which underlies the holding in Baxter v. State, supra at 548 (18), is that the defendant in a criminal case is to be afforded the right to a thorough and sifting cross-examination concerning the credibility of the assertion by a witness for the State that certain materials had served the purpose of refreshing his recollection. See Williams v. State, 250 Ga. 664, 667 (300 SE2d 685) (1983) (Special concurrence of Weltner, J., and dissent of Hill, C. J., which were cited with approval in Baxter v. State, supra at 548 (18)). This right is preserved by affording the defendant in a criminal case the limited opportunity to examine only those specific materials upon which the witness for the State has based his assertion of a refreshed recollection. To extend that right to encompass any and all other materials which a witness for the State may have reviewed at some indefinite point in time prior to his actually being called to testify would not result in an extension of the right to a thorough and sifting cross-examination as to a relevant topic. The only relevant inquiry is the credibility of the witness' assertion of a refreshed recollection as the basis for his testimony at trial, not the credibility of the witness' trial testimony for which no such assertion of a refreshed recollection is advanced.
An extension of the right to encompass such materials as the witness may have reviewed out-of-court would result in an unwarranted and potentially unworkable extension of the permissible scope of discovery in criminal cases beyond its presently limited statutory bounds. Any and all materials which had been reviewed by a State's witness in preparation for trial would be "discoverable" at trial by the defendant, notwithstanding the absence of any statutory authorization for such discovery. Every cross-examination of a witness for the State would become a potential "fishing" expedition, wherein the defendant could seek access to any and all materials which the witness may have seen prior to and in preparation for trial. Trial courts would be required to interrupt criminal trials to conduct a series of hearings to determine exactly what materials each witness for the State may or may not have reviewed in advance of the trial. It is undoubtedly for these reasons that the majority of jurisdictions allow only a limited rather than a broad right of access to materials which are available for a witness' review. "Although there is some authority to the contrary, it is generally held that opposing counsel is not entitled to examine a writing which the witness used to refresh his recollection prior to his examination, where he was able to testify from independent recollection after so refreshing his memory." 98 CJS, Witnesses, § 362, p. 101. See also 81 AmJur2d, Witnesses, § 460, p. 469; Cleary, McCormick's Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 9 (3d ed. 1984); Torcia, Wharton's Criminal Evidence, § 388 (14th ed. 1986).
Accordingly, we construe the decision in Catchings as an implicit recognition by our Supreme Court that Georgia is among those states which follow the majority rule: The defendant in a criminal case is entitled to examine all materials which are used by a witness for the State to testify from recollection refreshed during the trial itself, but he is not entitled to examine any and all such documents as may have been reviewed by the witness prior to trial, without regard to whether ' the out-of-court review was conducted "immediately" prior to trial or at some earlier time. To the extent that Caviness v. State, supra, is in conflict with Catchings v. State, supra, as thus interpreted, it is hereby overruled. It necessarily follows that the trial court did not err . in not allowing appellant access to notes reviewed by the witness before he began his testimony.
2. The State called Dr. Michael Campion, a clinical psychologist, as an expert witness. During Dr. Campion's direct examination, the. State asked if he had "developed] an opinion as to whether or not [the child] had been molested by [appellant]?" Appellant immediately objected on the ground that the question sought to elicit such opinion testimony from Dr. Campion as would oust "the jury of the ultimate determination of the facts of this case." The jury was removed from the courtroom and an extensive colloquy between counsel and the trial court ensued. The trial court eventually concluded that it would allow the State to ask Dr. Campion two rephrased questions: Whether he was of the opinion that the child had been "sexually involved"; and, if it was his opinion that she had been, whether he had a further opinion regarding appellant's connection therewith. In response to the trial court's ruling, appellant stated that he "would object to the second question." The jury returned and Dr. Campion was asked the first of the two questions which the trial court had allowed: "Do you have an opinion as to whether or not [the child] has been sexually involved in any way?" When he responded that he had, he was then asked to give his opinion in that regard. Dr. Campion not only responded to that question, but he also anticipated the State's next inquiry. He testified: "I believe there was a sexual involvement between [the child and appellant] on more than one (1) occasion from a period of her first grade up until and including the fourth grade." At that point, appellant stated "[f]or the record [that he was] re new[ing] [his] motion — renewing] [his] objection." On appeal, appellant enumerates the admission' of Dr. Campion's opinion testimony as error.
We need not decide whether it would have been error for the trial court to confine the State's inquiry merely to Dr. Campion's opinion concerning the child's "sexual involvement." See State v. Butler, 256 Ga. 448 (349 SE2d 684) (1986) (holding that it was not error to allow an expert to give her opinion that the child had been molested); Allison v. State, 256 Ga. 851 (353 SE2d 805) (1987) (holding that it was error to allow an expert to give his opinion that the child had been molested). By allowing the State to propound and Dr. Campion to respond to both inquiries, the trial court erroneously allowed the State to elicit what was, in effect, Dr. Campion's opinion that appellant was guilty of child molestation. If the child had been "sexually involved" with appellant, then appellant was guilty of sexually molesting the less than fourteen-year-old child. It has long been the law of this state that such opinion testimony is inadmissible. See Allen v. State, 9 Ga. 492 (1) (1851); Woolfolk v. State, 81 Ga. 551, 556 (2) (8 SE 724) (1889); Tiller v. State, 96 Ga. 430, 433 (3) (23 SE 825) (1895). Dr. Campion's testimony "was clearly inadmissible. It amounted to nothing more than the opinion of the witness as to the [appellant's] guilt. It was just as inadmissible as it would have been if he had been asked his opinion as to whether the [appellant] was guilty or not." Woolfolk v. State, supra at 556 (2). The guilt or innocence of appellant was clearly the ultimate issue in the case and, as a matter of law, that issue was certainly not beyond the ken of the jurors whose sole and exclusive function it was to make that determination. "While it would have been entirely proper to permit [Dr. Campion] to testify to relevant facts within his knowledge [and expertise], it was for the jury, and not for him, to say what conclusions should be drawn from the same." Tiller v. State, supra at 433 (3).
It is clear that appellant preserved the right to enumerate as error on appeal the admission of Dr. Campion's opinion testimony. See generally Woolfolk v. State, supra at 556 (2). Appellant raised a viable objection to the original question posited to Dr. Campion as an invasion of the province of the jury. When, after the colloquy, the trial court ruled that it would allow the rephrased questions to be asked, appellant indicated his continued objection to the second of the rephrased questions. Immediately upon Dr. Campion's giving of the inadmissible testimony in the presence of the jury, appellant renewed his objection for the record. Under these circumstances, it would be a misstatement of the record to suggest that appellant failed to preserve his right to enumerate the admission of Dr. Campion's testimony as error on appeal. Compare Boatner v. Kandul, 180 Ga. App. 234 (3) (348 SE2d 753) (1986); Glisson v. State, 165 Ga. App. 342, 343 (5) (301 SE2d 62) (1983); Jackson v. State, 146 Ga. App. 736 (1) (247 SE2d 512) (1978). Accordingly, we hold that the trial court erred in allowing the erroneous opinion testimony of Dr. Campion into evidence over appellant's objection. "No evidence can be admitted against him, that is not legal, according to the rules of evidence, as they obtain in other cases on the criminal side of the Court. The opinion of [Dr. Campion], that [appellant] is guilty of the offense charged, is clearly illegal evidence, and ought not to be admitted." (Emphasis in original.) Allen v. State, supra at 494 (1).
3. Appellant further enumerates as error certain other portions of the testimony of Dr. Campion and portions of the testimony of two other expert witnesses called by the State. We have reviewed each instance cited by appellant as error. In some instances, there was a failure to preserve the right to enumerate the testimony as error on appeal. In other instances, the objection which was raised below differs from that asserted by appellant in his enumeration of error on appeal. Accordingly, the enumeration of the admission of these other instances of expert testimony presents nothing for review.
4. Appellant's remaining enumerations need not be addressed, as the issues raised therein are not likely to recur on retrial. See generally Guilford v. State, 258 Ga. 253 (2) (368 SE2d 116) (1988).
Judgment reversed.
Birdsong, C. J., Deen, P. J., Sognier, Pope and Benham, JJ., concur. Banke, P. J., concurs specially. McMurray, P. J., and Beasley, J., concur in part and dissent in part.