Court Opinion

ID: 9570166
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:20:39.593188+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:04.451345
License: Public Domain

Gregory, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the judgment. However, I believe the issue in Division 1 requires consideration of a different statute than that used in the majority opinion. OCGA § 24-9-85 (b) (Code Ann. § 38-1806), used by the majority, gives guidance to a factfinder where there is evidence that a witness has wilfully and knowingly sworn falsely during the trial. The issue we have to face arises from an extraordinary motion for new trial. Perjury by one of the State’s rebuttal witnesses is asserted as the ground. This requires a consideration of OCGA § 17-1-4 (Code Ann. § 110-706): “Any judgment, verdict, rule, or order of court which may have been obtained or entered shall be set aside and be of no effect if it appears that the same was entered in consequence of corrupt and willful perjury. It shall be the duty of the court in which the verdict, judgment, rule, or order was obtained or entered to cause the same to be vacated upon motion and notice to the adverse party; but it shall not be lawful for the court to do so unless the person charged with perjury shall have been duly convicted thereof and unless it appears to the court that the verdict, judgment, rule, or order could not have been obtained and entered without the evidence of the perjured person, . . . .”
In order to set aside a judgment for perjury, the statute requires (1) that the witness be convicted of perjury and (2) that the judgment could not have been obtained without the perjured testimony. In a case *455where there is no conviction for perjury but the evidence thereof is so strong as to cause this court to conclude as in the majority opinion “(T)here can be no doubt of any kind that Frady’s testimony in every material part is purest fabrication,” I would hold that requirement number one of the statute has been met. Considering the importance of the testimony in question, I would hold that requirement number two has also been met.