Court Opinion

ID: 9846085
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:34:22.449816+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:33.084826
License: Public Domain

Hall, Presiding Judge,
dissenting. I dissent from Division 3 of the majority opinion. Defendants charged error in the refusal of the trial court to allow them to cross examine one of their own witnesses after their counsel pleaded entrapment. The trial court based its ruling on the fact that counsel had no written evidence of the prior inconsistent statements he said the witness had made to him and upon which he relied in calling him. Code Ann. § 38-1801 provides that a party may impeach a witness voluntarily called by him where he can show the court he has been entrapped by a previous contradictory statement the witness made. To show entrapment, counsel must show that he was both surprised and deceived. Kitchens v. Hall, 116 Ga. App. 41 (2) (156 SE2d 920). I can find no authority, however, that requires this to be written proof. Counsel here stated to the court that the witness, *143in two separate interviews (the last one only the preceding day), had related facts to him that were in contradiction to the testimony he had just given. I believe that is a sufficient showing of surprise and deception. To hold otherwise would make the formal deposition, a costly and time consuming procedure, a requirement of all litigation. Plaintiff’s contention that there could have been no surprise since the witness had previously stated his great reluctance to testify is unsound. Most witnesses are to some extent reluctant to testify, but lawyers are entitled to expect that once in court they will relate a version of the facts at least similar to that which they first related to the party’s lawyer and which was the basis for their being called to testify.
The majority opinion holds that the above error was rendered harmless for the reason that eventually the witness gave the same version on the witness stand as related previously by him to defendant’s counsel. The transcript does not support this contention. Defendants’ counsel had asked this witness if he had "ever observed Mr. Newsome when in your opinion he was intoxicated or abnormal by virtue of having consumed alcohol or dope?” The witness answered "No, sir. He always conducted himself in a very gentlemanly manner.” Defendants’ counsel then told the court that the basis of his plea of entrapment was that the witness had recently related to him that he had seen plaintiff when he was on dope and that on the evening of August 31, 1967 (day of the alleged assault and battery) he appeared to be in the same condition and was more violent than on previous occasions. After the plea was disallowed, counsel for defendants asked the witness if he had ever had any reason to suspect that plaintiff habitually drank or took dope. After hedging a bit, the witness said, only one time, in the spring of 1967. Defendants’ counsel then asked a series of questions to elicit a description of plaintiff’s actions and appearance on that one occasion in the spring the witness mentioned. Counsel then asked the witness to state whether plaintiff’s actions on the evening of August 31 were similar to those described. The witness said they were different and elaborated upon this. Counsel also asked the witness how plaintiff’s speech was on August 31, and the witness gave a description indicating a difference from that of the previous occasion in the spring. The whole tenor of the *144witness’s testimony was that on August 31, plaintiff was experiencing nothing but emotional upset. This is not the testimony defendants’ counsel claims he expected.
I believe the questioning by defendants’ counsel was not that of a cross examination. The questions asked for descriptions and comparisons in the witness’s own words. More important, the examination was not impeaching. With a favorable ruling on the plea of entrapment, counsel would have been entitled to ask the witness, specifically and forcefully, whether or not he had made the prior inconsistent statements to counsel concerning plaintiff’s behavior on August 31, and if so, to explain the inconsistency.
As to any contention concerning the fact that the witness was the plaintiff’s minister, it is elementary that a visual observation by a minister of a parishioner’s appearance or actions does not amount to a "privileged communication” by the parishioner under Code Ann. § 38-419.1.
In my opinion, the trial court erred in refusing defendants the right to cross examine this witness.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Bell and Judges Eberhardt and Quillian concur in this dissent.