Court Opinion

ID: 9606923
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:54:10.721559+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:36.467735
License: Public Domain

Jordan, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from Division 1 of the majority opinion which holds that the appellant waived his right to have evidence of prior convictions barred from the jury in the *308guilt-innocence phase of his trial. The appellant in this case objected to the state’s attempted introduction of the actual records of prior convictions, and this objection was properly sustained by the trial court and the evidence rejected. By making specific objection to the introduction of the actual records of his prior convictions, which constituted the highest and best evidence of that fact, the appellant negated any intention to waive his right not to have the same information go to the jury in an unmasked indictment. The facts here are substantially different from those in Cofer v. Hopper, 233 Ga. 155, 156 (210 SE2d 678) (1974) in which the appellant in that case allowed the introduction of records of prior convictions without objecting thereto.
In my opinion the trial court erred in not finding a substantial denial of the appellant’s rights. I would reverse.
I am authorized to state that Justices Gunter and Hill concur in this dissent.