Court Opinion

ID: 9582468
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:27:14.611154+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:49.967298
License: Public Domain

Carley, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority that a new substantive ruling can apply retroactively to cases on habeas review, while a new procedural rule generally has limited prospective application to those criminal cases that are then in the direct appeal “pipeline.” However, I differ with the majority as to the type of new rule we adopted in Brewer v. State, 271 Ga. 605 (523 SE2d 18) (1999). The majority concludes that Brewer established a new substantive principle upon which Luke can rely to obtain habeas relief. I believe, however, that the habeas court correctly held that Brewer sets forth only a new procedural rule and, thus, does not apply in the context of this collateral *376attack on Luke’s conviction. Therefore, I respectfully dissent to the reversal of the judgment of the habeas court.
Luke was convicted of aggravated sodomy under former OCGA § 16-6-2 (a), which defined the offense as an act of sodomy committed “with force and against the will of the other person.” (Emphasis supplied.) That statute was clear and unambiguous, and there was never any question that a conviction under its provisions required proof that the defendant’s act was both forceful and against the will of the victim. Compare Bailey v. United States, 516 U. S. 137 (116 SC 501, 133 LE2d 472) (1995) (construing a federal criminal statute requiring “use” of a firearm as requiring proof of more than mere possession of the weapon); Lockwood v. State, 257 Ga. 796 (364 SE2d 574) (1988) (holding that a conviction for “constructive” possession of contraband is not authorized under a statute expressly requiring that possession be “actual”). The issue addressed in Brewer is the manner in which the State was authorized to satisfy its burden of proving those two elements. Previously, this Court had held that sodomy committed on a young child was “in law, forcible and against the will. [Cit.]” Cooper v. State, 256 Ga. 631 (2) (352 SE2d 382) (1987). In Brewer, however, we simply held that the prosecution could no longer show both elements by relying upon the presumption that sodomy committed against a child was forceful as well as non-consensual. See also State v. Collins, 270 Ga. 42 (508 SE2d 390) (1998) (presumption of both elements based upon age of the victim impermissible in forcible rape case).
Thus, the substantive elements of the crime for which Luke was convicted were completely unaffected by the decision in Brewer. Compare Fiore v. White, 531 U. S. 225 (121 SC 712, 148 LE2d 629) (2001); Bailey v. United States, supra; Lockwood v. State, supra. Both before and after Brewer, a conviction for aggravated sodomy under the former statute required proof that the act was committed with force and against the victim’s will. The only difference was that, after Brewer, the State could no longer rely upon an evidentiary presumption arising from the sodomy victim’s age to prove the element of force. I submit that appellate disapproval of an evidentiary presumption is simply a procedural change which does not come within any exception to the general rule of non-retroactive application and, thus, applies only to criminal cases then in the “pipeline” and not to cases on habeas review. See Harris v. State, 273 Ga. 608, 610 (2) (543 SE2d 716) (2001) (holding that rejection of a presumption of malicious intent arising from use of a deadly weapon is a “new rule of criminal procedure” which will not be applied on habeas corpus). Compare Bousley v. United States, 523 U. S. 614 (118 SC 1604, 140 LE2d 828) (1998) (applying the substantive rule of Bailey retroactively); Scott v. Hernandez-Cuevas, 260 Ga. 466 (396 SE2d 900) (1990) (applying the *377substantive rule of Lockwood retroactively on habeas). The majority attempts to distinguish Harris on that ground that, even after that decision, “juries are free to infer that a person who uses a deadly weapon has the intent to kill and to use that evidence to support a finding of guilt. See Renner v. State, 260 Ga. 515, 517-518 (397 SE2d 683) (1990) ...” (Majority Opinion, p. 374, fn. 36.) However, nothing in Harris expressly supports that conclusion. Compare Renner v. State, supra. Moreover, Harris and Brewer both dealt with evidentiary presumptions regarding an essential element of the crime. Renner, on the other hand, only concerns the general concept of flight as circumstantial evidence of guilt in all criminal cases. The majority does not explain how it is possible for jurors to consider an inference of the existence of an essential element of the actual crime on which the trial court is expressly forbidden to instruct, which would constitute error if included in the charge, and of which inference they are otherwise totally unaware. “ ‘Qualified jurors under oath are presumed to follow the instructions of the trial court.’ [Cits.]” Holmes v. State, 273 Ga. 644, 648 (5) (c) (543 SE2d 688) (2001). Thus, before Harris, we presumed that the jury considered the deadly weapon inference as evidence of the essential element of intent when it was charged and, after Harris, we can safely presume that the jury does not consider because it is not charged. Therefore, I cannot agree with the majority’s explanation as to why our rejection in Harris of an evidentiary presumption as to the element of intent in a malice murder case is only a new procedural rule, but our similar disapproval in Brewer of an evidentiary presumption as to the element of force in an aggravated sodomy case is a substantive change applicable to cases which, having passed through the “pipeline,” have become final. I submit that there is no valid distinction, that Harris controls, and that Brewer is not applicable in this habeas case.
This certainly is not a case in which the general grounds were never considered. The Court of Appeals fully addressed that issue on the direct appeal. Luke v. State, 222 Ga. App. 203 (1) (474 SE2d 49) (1996). Compare Valenzuela v. Newsome, 253 Ga. 793 (1) (325 SE2d 370) (1985). Nor is this a case in which the evidence did not authorize the guilty verdict. The conviction for aggravated sodomy was clearly authorized under the then-applicable evidentiary presumption that sodomy against a child was a forcible and non-consensual act. Cooper v. State, supra. Compare Fiore v. White, supra; Bailey v. United States, supra; Lockwood v. State, supra. The State could not rely upon that presumption if this case were tried today, because force is no longer presumed when the sodomy victim is a child. However, that is not a substantive change in the law affecting the constitutional validity of the conviction in accordance with the evidentiary presumptions then in effect. It is only a procedural change in the man*378ner in which the prosecution may meet its burden of proving the essential elements of the crime. Harris v. State, supra.
Decided July 3, 2002
Reconsideration denied July 26, 2002.
Marcus C. Chamblee, for appellant.
Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior *379Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
*378In Brewer, we followed the mandate of the holding in the then recent case of State v. Collins, supra. In Collins, we had reaffirmed our holding in Drake v. State, 239 Ga. 232 (495 SE2d 748) (1977), “that the state must prove the element of force as a factual matter in forcible rape cases rather than presuming force as a matter of law based on the victim’s age.” Collins v. State, supra at 43. Brewer observed that “aggravated sodomy shares many of the unique characteristics of the crime of forcible rape which we set forth in [Collins]
. . . [cits.]” Brewer, supra at 607. Thus, we concluded that “Ij]ust as in forcible rape cases, establishing a single presumption of force in all aggravated sodomy cases involving underage victims is problematic. [Cits.]” Brewer, supra at 607. It is clear that Brewer was correctly decided and, if properly construed, has a very limited impact. The Brewer rule applies only to the appellant in that case and to those relatively few additional defendants whose direct appeals from convictions for violating former OCGA § 16-6-2 (a) were then in the “pipeline.” However, in this case, the Court broadly extends the holding in Brewer retroactively so as to include any and all defendants whose convictions for the aggravated sodomy of a child under the former statute were otherwise “final.” It is true that the majority’s ruling will not necessarily result in the immediate release from confinement of Luke or other affected petitioners. However, the ultimate effect of today’s opinion is to vacate the convictions of an untold number of child molesters even though the procedure used in proving their guilt was sufficient at the time their convictions for aggravated sodomy became final. Opening the floodgate so as to permit collateral attacks by that group of persons convicted of aggravated sodomy of children is an erroneous extension of Brewer, and I believe that the habeas court correctly denied habeas corpus relief.
I dissent not because of any emotional overreaction, but because today’s holding transcends Harris and Brewer, and will have pernicious consequences on the overall symmetry and continuity of the law by advancing an unrestrictive concept of habeas corpus in which no constitutionally valid conviction for any criminal offense is ever really final and free from collateral attack.
I am authorized to state that Justice Hunstein and Justice Thompson join in this dissent.
*379James C. Bonner, Jr., amicus curiae.