Court Opinion

ID: 9625320
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:36:15.659847+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:06.188155
License: Public Domain

*542Gunter, Justice,
dissenting.
The appellant was arrested pursuant to a warrant that concluded: "The above is base [sic] on tentative identification of defendant via photographic line-up by witnesses.” A court of inquiry was convened "to examine into an accusation against” the appellant. Code Ann. § 27-401. Appellant was represented at the commitment hearing by counsel. Code Ann. § 27-403 provides that a reasonable time shall be given to the accused or the prosecutor for the preparation of his case before a court of inquiry, "and in no event shall the defendant be forced to trial without the aid of counsel, if there be a reasonable probability of his securing counsel without too great delay.”
Code Ann. § 27-405 provides that a court of inquiry "shall hear all legal evidence submitted by either party.” The presiding judge of the court of inquiry heard the testimony of one witness, and then, over the objection of appellant, refused to hear the testimony of witnesses subpoenaed by the appellant. The court of inquiry was then adjourned, and an order of commitment was entered.
Appellant was thereafter indicted, and, prior to his arraignment, he filed a plea in abatement and motion to quash the indictment on the ground that his statutory and constitutional rights were arbitrarily denied in the preceding court of inquiry proceedings.
The trial judge denied the plea and motion and proceeded with arraignment and the trial. It was at this point, prior to arraignment, that I think error was committed, and I think all subsequent proceedings including appellant’s conviction were fatally infected by this error. On the basis of this record the trial judge should have, prior to arraignment, convened a court of inquiry over which he should have presided, and appellant should have been accorded his statutory rights. To arbitrarily deny those statutory rights is, in my view, a denial of due process of law and equal protection of the law. I therefore think that the appellant’s conviction in this case was unconstitutional in that the procedures that produced it violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of both the Federal and Georgia Constitutions.
The majority opinion in this case, relying on State v. *543Middlebrooks, 236 Ga. 52 (222 SE2d 343) (1976), says that an imperfect commitment hearing "did not authorize the trial judge to quash the indictment or grant the appellant a new trial.” I agree that the trial judge was not authorized to quash the indictment; but the appellant complained in the trial court, before arraignment, that his statutory rights had been arbitrarily denied by the court of inquiry; and he further complained that to place him on trial without rectifying the violation would be a continuing violation of his statutory rights that in turn would amount to due process and equal protection violations. The criminal trial was thereby infected by the arbitrary denial, and the conviction was unconstitutional.
I think the court’s decision in Middlebrooks and the decision in this case today are open invitations to courts of inquiry and to trial judges presiding in criminal trials to arbitrarily deny statutory rights accorded to accused persons by the Georgia legislature. I would reverse the conviction in this case. See my separate opinions on this subject in: Phillips v. Stynchcombe, 231 Ga. 430, 437 (202 SE2d 26) (1973); State v. Middlebrooks, 236 Ga. 52, supra (1976); State v. Hightower, 236 Ga. 58, 63 (222 SE2d 333) (1976); and First National Bank &c. Co. v. State, 237 Ga. 112, 113 (227 SE2d 20) (1976).
I respectfully dissent.