Court Opinion

ID: 9591496
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:04:38.451843+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:45.758088
License: Public Domain

Hill, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Braddy testified that (1) he was an active church member, (2) he taught Sunday School, (3) he was an associate minister of youth at his church, and (4) he had never been charged with or convicted of a crime. The majority hold that this testimony is “sufficient to raise the character issue” and thereby require the court to instruct the jury upon request on good character.
The difficulty I find with this holding is its lack of clarity. If the defendant had testified as to any one, two, or three of the four elements the court relies upon, would that be “sufficient to raise the character issue” and thereby require the judge to give a request to charge as to good character? The majority do not say. If the defendant’s mother testifies that the defendant has always been a “good boy,” is that “sufficient” and must the requested charge be given? The majority do not say.
They could be saying that any evidence, no matter how slight, as to good character is “sufficient to raise the character issue” and man*369dates the giving of the requested charge. This is not the law, see Richmond v. State, 210 Ga. 403, 406 (80 SE2d 178) (1954), as the majority probably will recognize.
Thus, as I see it, the majority has granted certiorari and decided this case, but it has provided little guidance and much uncertainty. To provide clarity and certainty, I would hold that it is not error to refuse to give a request to charge on good character unless the defendant introduces evidence as to his or her good reputation in the community by the testimony of a character witness. See OCGA § 24-9-84. Such witnesses and testimony are readily identifiable, and such a rule could be applied uniformly.
Because the defendant in this case did not call a character witness who testified as to his good reputation in the community, and because the majority opinion provides little guidance to trial judges, I respectfully dissent.