Court Opinion

ID: 9616695
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:49:00.220237+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:00.327958
License: Public Domain

Hall, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissents to Sims v. State, 234 Ga. 177; Gaither v. State, 234 Ga. 465 and Leach v. State, 234 Ga. 467.
My reading of Code Ann. § 70-207 (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 31; as amended, Ga. L. 1966, pp. 493,498; as amended, Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1072, 1078), leads me to the following conclusions:
1. The Code section as a whole or in pertinent part is presently limited to civil cases. In 1968, the former section was superseded in its entirety "making this section apply only to civil cases, and not criminal.” Editorial Note, Code Ann. § 70-207. This court was simply mistaken in Tiller v. State, 224 Ga. 645 (164 SE2d 137); Tanner v. State, 228 Ga. 829 (188 SE2d 512); and Spear v. State, 230 Ga. 74 (195 SE2d 397) in applying part of Code Ann. § 70-207 to criminal cases. These rulings plus the holding in Sims, supra, have placed the law in its present state of confusion. See also Jackson v. State, 234 Ga. 549.
2. There being no statutory procedure on the subject in criminal cases, this court has the inherent power to promulgate a rule to fill the vacuum. I would adopt the rule found in the American Bar Standards, Jury Instructions 4.6, pp. 329-330, which is similar to that found in the federal courts (Rule 30, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure), the other 49 states, and foreign countries that follow the common law.
3. Even if the first two conclusions are rejected, I am of the opinion that there has been an express waiver under the facts stated in the certified question before us where the trial court turns to the defendant’s effective counsel and inquires if there is anything wrong in the charge as given, and is told there is not. As officers of the *620court, practicing attorneys have an ethical responsibility to assist the court toward the goal of an error-free trial. Where an attorney sees that the court has erred in the charge, he is, in my opinion, obligated to point that out when asked by the court for exceptions. The holdings in Sims, supra, and in this case have the pernicious effect of encouraging counsel to state insincerely to the court that he has no exceptions, and later, in the event of an adverse verdict, to urge on appeal the very error he detected when it was still easily remediable. To me, the rule adopted by the majority erodes both public confidence in the judicial system and the public purse.