Court Opinion

ID: 9585564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:01:38.308699+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:41:33.044786
License: Public Domain

Smith, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur with the judgment in this case, but I disagree with Division 2. We held in Simpson v. State, 250 Ga. 365, 367 (297 SE2d 288) (1982), “No motion for new trial was filed. Therefore the trial court has not ruled on this matter. More importantly, defendant’s two trial attorneys have not been heard on this issue. For these reasons, we decline to decide this enumeration of error in this case.” Later, in Brown v. State, 251 Ga. 598, 600-601 (308 SE2d 182) (1983), we declined to address the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel when the appellant’s motion for new trial did not raise the issue. We declined to review the same enumeration of error in Gardiner v. State, 252 Ga. 422, 423 (314 SE2d 202) (1984), stating in that case, “[n]o motion for a new trial was filed and as a result the trial court has not ruled on this matter.” I believe that Williams v. State, 251 Ga. 749, 809 (312 SE2d 40) (1983), misconstrued Simpson, supra, and Brown, supra, when it held, “appellant’s trial counsel were not heard on this issue at the motion for new trial hearing, and for this reason, we decline to address the merits of this enumeration of error.” (Emphasis supplied.) Both Simpson, supra, and Brown, supra, were cases in which no ruling was made by the trial court, therefore, there was *363nothing for us to review. But in this case, as in Williams, supra, the issue was raised in a motion for new trial, overruled by the trial court, and appealed to this court.
Grounding its position on Division 20 of Williams, supra, the state contended that we should not consider the merits of appellant’s claim because his trial counsel was not heard at the motion for new trial. In reaching the merits of the claim, the majority, in my opinion, has overruled Division 20 of Williams, supra, without so stating. I would expressly overrule it. We cannot decline to address the merits of such a serious claim merely because the alleged ineffective counsel was not heard. Once appellant has presented his evidence of ineffective counsel, the state has the burden of producing appellant’s trial counsel if it so wishes. It makes no sense to require appellant to produce the very counsel he claims is ineffective to prove him ineffective.