Title: Guilford v. State
Citation: 258 Ga. 253, 368 S.E.2d 116
Docket Number: 45546
State: Georgia
Issuer: Georgia Supreme Court
Date: May 26, 1988

258 Ga. 253 (1988) 368 S.E.2d 116 GUILFORD v. THE STATE. 45546. Supreme Court of Georgia. Decided May 26, 1988. Charles G. Haldi, Jr., for appellant. Lindsay A. Tise, Jr., District Attorney, Michael J. Bowers, Attorney General, Dennis R. Dunn, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee. MARSHALL, Chief Justice. William Allen Guilford appeals his conviction of the murder of James W. Johnson and the kidnapping of Kathy H. Burt, for which he received consecutive sentences of life and 10 years' imprisonment respectively.[1] For reasons which follow, we reverse. 1. OCGA § 17-7-130.1 provides in part: Here, the appellant, at his arraignment, filed a notice of intent to raise the issue of his insanity or mental incompetence as part of his defense, thereby invoking the provisions of the above statute for a court-appointed medical expert. Although there may be a basis in the record for holding that there was waiver of this right and/or harmless error, nevertheless the appellant is entitled to this statutory right on the retrial of the case, which we order on other grounds. (See Div. 3, post.) 2. The appellant enumerates as error the trial court's denial of his motion for new trial on the ground that the verdict was invalidated by the misconduct of a juror in making a telephone call during the trial of the case to the mother of one of the defense witnesses, in which conversation the issue of whether the appellant had a psychiatrist examine him was discussed. We do not reach the question of whether the state carried its burden of rebutting the presumption of harm raised by this conduct, Owens v. State, 251 Ga. 313 (9) (305 SE2d 102) (1983), as this error is not likely to recur on retrial. OCGA § 17-7-131 (b) (1). OCGA § 17-7-131 (b) (3) (A). Failure to give such a charge when required by the statute is reversible error. Spraggins v. State, 258 Ga. 32 (364 SE2d 861) (1988). Although the jury was instructed that a defendant's insanity did not need to be proved by expert testimony, and although the verdict form contained the possible verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity," the charge required by § 17-7-131 (b) (3) (A) was not given. Accordingly, this was reversible error, requiring a new trial. Judgment reversed. All the Justices concur. [1] The crimes occurred on April 13, 1987. Guilford was convicted on August 14, 1987, and sentenced on August 28, 1987. His motion for new trial was filed on September 11, 1987, and denied on December 8, 1987. Notice of appeal was filed on December 31, 1987. The transcript of evidence was filed on February 10, 1988. The record was docketed in this Court on March 8, 1988. After briefs were filed, the case was argued on May 9, 1988.