Court Opinion

ID: 9576920
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:30:01.831216+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:09:59.857521
License: Public Domain

Benham, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent to Division 1 of the majority opinion. The majority recognizes that error occurred when the jury, during the guilt/innocence phase of appellant’s trial, was made aware of appellant’s prior convictions for carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a pistol without a license. The majority, however, maintains that the trial court’s refusal to honor appellant’s request to mask the indictment was harmless error (1) because appellant testified he was carrying the gun in a concealed manner and did not present evidence that he had a license to carry the weapon, and (2) because the prior weapons charges were related to the felonies proved under Count 3 of the indictment, alleging appellant was a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. I disagree with the second rationale for the simple reason that appellant’s prior weapons charges were not listed on the indictment as elements of the offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Compare Prather v. State, 247 Ga. 789 (2) (279 SE2d 697) (1981). Additionally, I cannot agree with the rationale employed by the majority in its first basis of harmless error. “Because ... it is error to disclose to the jury prior convictions before a determination of guilt, . . . the only purpose for their inclusion in the indictment is to give to the accused unmistakable advance warning that the prior convictions will be used against him at sentencing.” State v. Hendrixson, 251 Ga. 853, 854 (310 SE2d 526) (1984). (Emphasis supplied.) Prior convictions not alleged in the indictment as the underlying felonies in a charge alleging possession of a firearm by a convicted felon must in some way be concealed from the jury when requested by counsel, and failure to do so is reversible error in the absence of an instruction to the jury that they are not to consider the prior convictions. Evans v. State, 253 Ga. 331, 333 (320 SE2d 168) (1984). Accordingly, I would reverse appellant’s convictions for carrying a concealed weapon and for carrying a pistol without a license.