Court Opinion

ID: 9585698
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:02:57.415241+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:02.733393
License: Public Domain

Sognier, Judge,
concurring specially.
I specially concur. The admission of the testimony of Annie Thomas concerning the complaint of the prosecutrix that appellant had raped her goes far beyond the mere complaint of a prosecutrix that she was raped. The testimony of Ms. Thomas goes into the particulars of who, how, when and where. In my opinion, this testimony exceeds the standards of Watson v. State, 235 Ga. 461, 463 (219 SE2d 763) (1975): “ ‘The rule is well settled that, in a prosecution for rape, the fact of the woman’s having made complaint soon after the assault took place is admissible in evidence for the purpose of rebutting the idea that the female consented to the criminal act, and it is equally well settled that the particulars of her complaint cannot be given in evidence. [Cits.]”’
However, I do not find the wrongful admission of the particulars of the rape as testified to by Ms. Thomas to be error as the same testimony came properly before the jury as a result of the appellant’s admission to the particulars when he was later accused and questioned by Ms. Thomas. Wharton v. State, 145 Ga. App. 880, 881 (2) (245 SE2d 69) (1978).