Court Opinion

ID: 9580064
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:01:32.187893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:00.481502
License: Public Domain

CARLEY, Justice,
dissenting.
On March 26,1999, the trial court granted Cody’s motion for new trial, concluding that he had produced newly discovered exculpatory evidence in the form of testimony from Olanzier Baker. On April 6, 1999, the State filed a motion for reconsideration and urged that the trial court strike Baker’s testimony. On May 26,1999, the trial court granted the State’s motion, struck the testimony, vacated its original order, and denied the motion for new trial. Today, a majority of this Court reverses, on the basis that the State did not move to strike Baker’s testimony until after the trial court had granted Cody’s motion on March 26. “Because the State failed to move to strike the testimony during the hearing, or in post-hearing briefs, but chose to wait until after the trial court had granted the new trial and issued a scheduling order, the State waived this issue.” Majority opinion, p. 781.1 submit that the majority erroneously relies on the principle of waiver, rather than correctly focusing on the trial court’s jurisdiction to reconsider its prior order.
A superior court retains plenary control over its judgments during the term in which they are entered and, in the exercise of sound discretion, may revoke them. This inherent power applies to all judgments, save those which are founded on verdicts. [Cits.]
Allen v. Allen, 218 Ga. 364, 365 (127 SE2d 902) (1962). Here, the trial court granted Cody’s motion for new trial during the March 1999 Term, but did not vacate that order and deny the motion until May 26, 1999, which was in the next succeeding term. See OCGA § 15-6-3 (3). However, the State filed the motion for reconsideration on April 6, 1999, which was within the March 1999 Term. “ ‘The general principle obtains that a court can not set aside or alter its final judgment after the expiration of the term at which it was entered, unless the proceeding for that purpose was begun during the term.’ [Cits.]” (Emphasis in original.) Maxwell v. Cofer, 201 Ga. 222, 226 (39 SE2d 314) (1946). This “general principle” applies in criminal, as well as civil, cases. Platt v. State, 200 Ga. App. 784 (409 SE2d 878) (1991). Therefore, the trial court clearly was authorized to vacate its order of March 26, “because the State’s motion for reconsideration . . . was filed before the end of the term in which the court entered the order granting a new trial.” Platt v. State, supra at 785.
*783Decided November 23, 2004
Reconsideration denied December 9, 2004.
Eldridge Suggs IV, for appellant.
Paul L. Howard, Jr., District Attorney, Elizabeth A. Baker, Assistant District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Jason C. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
The timing of the State’s motion to strike Baker’s testimony is immaterial, since the trial court had inherent jurisdiction to reconsider the grant of the motion for new trial and, in the exercise of that jurisdiction, to vacate its original order.
A superior court retains plenary control over judgments entered during the term in which they are entered, and in the exercise of a sound discretion may revoke them, and such discretion will not be controlled unless manifestly abused. [Cit.]
Hunter v. Gillespie, 207 Ga. 574, 575 (63 SE2d 404) (1951). “When the motion to re-open the case was made at the same term of court at which the judgment was entered, the right to vacate the prior order lay within the discretion of the trial court. [Cits.]” Conyers v. Fulton County, 117 Ga. App. 649, 651 (1) (161 SE2d 347) (1968). Accordingly, the dispositive issue is not waiver based upon when the State moved to strike the testimony, but whether the trial court abused its discretion when it vacated its order of March 26. The trial court’s conclusion that, upon a de novo reconsideration, it should discount, rather than credit, Baker’s testimony was not a manifest abuse of discretion. Pursuant to the State’s timely motion for reconsideration, the trial court was presented with the opportunity for another determination as to whether the alleged newly discovered evidence authorized the grant of a new trial. I submit that there is no such abuse of discretion in the trial court’s conclusion that, contrary to its original inclination, Baker’s testimony should be stricken and, consequently, that Cody’s motion for new trial should be denied. See Kelly v. State, 209 Ga. App. 789, 793 (3) (434 SE2d 743) (1993). Therefore, when the correct analysis is applied in this case, I believe that the trial court’s ruling that there was no newly discovered evidence mandating a retrial for Cody should be affirmed.
I am authorized to state that Justice Thompson and Justice Hines join in this dissent.