Court Opinion

ID: 9854758
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:13:35.4375+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:21.005212
License: Public Domain

Head, Justice,
dissenting. I dissent from the ruling by the majority entertaining and considering the motion for rehearing filed by the State. Errors in criminal cases are not subject to revision at the instance of the State. State v. Jones, 7 Ga. 422, 424.
A rehearing in this court, at the instance of the State, is not authorized under the theory that the judgment of this court granting the defendant a new trial remains within the breast of the court until the remittitur has been sent to the trial court. It has been many times held by this court that a decision of a *386trial judge in civil cases is within the breast of the court and may be vacated, set aside, or revised at the term in which such judgment is rendered. If, after conviction and upon a motion for new trial, a judgment is entered granting the defendant a new trial by a superior court judge, can that judgment properly be vacated at the term at which it is rendered, at the instance of the State? If so, why may not a trial judge at the same term reverse his judgment, at the instance of the State, sustaining an oral motion to quash an indictment? In neither instance could it properly be said that the defendant was the movant, since a judgment favorable to his contentions would have previously been entered. Neither the Constitution nor the statutes of this State authorize any appeal, reconsideration, or review in any criminal case in any court at the instance of the State. The writer knows of no instance wherein a judgment of this court granting a defendant a new trial in a capital case has ever been vacated and a contrary judgment entered by the court on its own motion. A judgment by this court granting a new trial to the defendant in a capital case has been very carefully considered.
Under the ruling of this court in State v. Jones, supra, motions on behalf of the State should not be considered in any instance where a judgment favorable to the defendant is final, or would become final by operation of law. The motion for rehearing filed by the State should have been dismissed. See dissenting opinions in Glustrom v. State, 206 Ga. 734, 740 and Henderson v. State, 209 Ga. 238, 241. I am authorized to say that Mr. Presiding Justice Wyatt and Mr. Justice Almand concur in this dissent.