Court Opinion

ID: 9571466
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:32:01.778011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:30:27.812120
License: Public Domain

Andrews, Judge,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent inasmuch as I believe Cater v. State, 176 Ga. App. 388 (336 SE2d 314) (1985), and Fletcher v. State, 197 Ga. App. 112 (397 SE2d 605) (1990), are controlling and require that the conviction be affirmed.
As we held in Cater, supra at 388-389: “It appears that the court’s objected-to statement neither defined nor elaborated upon the term ‘misdemeanor.’ Nor did the court indicate that the charged offense was a ‘felony’ or carried the potential for more serious punishment. To surmise that the jury knew the significance of classification of offenses for the purpose of punishment and further that such knowledge influenced their verdict is merely speculative. . . . Furthermore, [sexual battery] was being charged here as a ‘lesser included’ offense of [child molestation], and the jury was so informed without objection. Thus, the relative severity of punishment was already clearly implied, as a matter of common sense. To reverse because the judge labeled one crime a ‘misdemeanor’ when the jury knew it was a ‘lesser offense’ . . . would be to ignore the obvious.”
Moreover, in Fletcher v. State, supra, where the defendant was convicted of the offense of aggravated assault, we rejected a defense claim that the following charge instructed the jury on sentencing matters and required reversal: “ ‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, you will also be considering or will be authorized to consider what is termed a lesser included offense, that of reckless conduct, and I will get into the definition of that in just a second. But with regards to the offense of reckless conduct, as (the State’s attorney) has stated, this is a misdemeanor. It is different from an aggravated assault. Aggravated assault is a felony.’ ” (Emphasis in original.) Id. at 113. While recognizing that it is error to instruct the jury as to sentencing matters, we found “nothing in the emphasized language of the above charge which pertains to possible sentences for the crime charged.” Id. at 113. Similarly, the charge given in the present case did not instruct the jury as to sentences, and it is speculative to assume it influenced the jury to consider sentencing matters in reaching the verdict.
The majority speculates that the charge in the present case *544caused the jury’s verdict to be influenced by sentencing matters primarily because the jury asked about the classification and they were able to reach a verdict shortly after the court’s response. I believe Cater and Fletcher, supra, require that we hold otherwise. See also Johnson v. State, 261 Ga. 236, 240, n. 5 (404 SE2d 108) (1991).
Decided December 1, 1992.
Franklin & Franklin, James D. Franklin, for appellant.
Ralph L. Van Pelt, Jr., District Attorney, Mary Jane R. Palumbo, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge McMurray, Presiding Judge Birdsong, and Judge Pope join in this dissent.