Court Opinion

ID: 9626842
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:25:21.49594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:34.383734
License: Public Domain

Hill, Justice,
dissenting.
The outdated rule in Georgia used to be that in a trial for rape, evidence tending to show that before the commission of the alleged offense the woman had been of unchaste character was relevant as affecting her credibility as a witness, and as bearing upon the question of whether or not she had consented to the sexual intercourse. Seals v. State, 114 Ga. 518 (40 SE 731) (1901).
In 1974 in Lynn v. State, 231 Ga. 559 (203 SE2d 221) (1974), this court adopted the majority rule in the United States and held that the victim of an alleged rape may not be cross examined as to specific acts of prior sexual intercourse with men other than the accused. See also Ga. L. 1976, p. 41 (Code Ann. § 38-202.1).
Having corrected the law insofar as the alleged victim of the rape is concerned, the majority now applies *617the outdated rule to the accused and holds that in a trial for rape evidence tending to show that before the commission of the alleged offense the accused had been of unchaste character is relevant as bearing upon the question of whether or not he committed the sexual intercourse. I do not agree with such a ruling and I join the dissent of Justice Jordan.