Court Opinion

ID: 9613207
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:15:18.243727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:26.804467
License: Public Domain

Bell, Justice,
concurring specially.
I agree with Justice Gregory, for the reasons which he so eloquently states in his dissenting opinion, that the evidence of physical *126and psychological abuse by the appellant’s former husbands was relevant to the issue whether she acted with the fears of a reasonable person under the circumstances. However, unlike Justice Gregory, I would find that the exclusion of that evidence was harmless error.
To begin, the appellant was permitted to testify about the facts in her relationship with the victim which allegedly caused her fear of him, and one of her witnesses, Doris Hartley, was permitted to testify as to the battered woman syndrome. See majority at 118. Therefore, since some evidence concerning abuse of the appellant by her most recent husband and the battered woman syndrome was introduced in her favor, the gravity and prejudicial character of erroneously excluding evidence of abuse by past husbands was minimized. See Johnson v. State, 238 Ga. 59, 61 (230 SE2d 869) (1976). Furthermore, although the appellant testified that just before she shot the victim he pulled a .22 pistol from inside his shirt and announced he was going to kill her, her testimony was contradicted by the state’s evidence showing that none of the witnesses saw the victim armed, no weapon was found on or near his body, and the .22 pistol was found in the appellant’s purse in her closet after the murder. See majority at 117. Apparently the jury chose to believe the state’s evidence and concluded that the appellant was not defending herself against the imminent use of unlawful force by the victim when she shot him.
Therefore, in light of the minimal prejudicial character of the error and the very strong evidence that the appellant was not acting in self-defense when she shot the victim, I would conclude that it is highly probable that the error did not contribute to the jury’s verdict.
I am authorized to state that Justice Hunt joins in this special concurrence.