Court Opinion

ID: 9586319
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:09:26.110336+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:15.098293
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Chief Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur in Division 1 and also in Division 2, with respect to which it is important to consider the jury charge in the context of the accusation, which contained two counts. One charged a violation of OCGA § 16-5-23.1, battery. The other charged that Brinkworth “committed the offense of SIMPLE BATTERY by intentionally making contact of an insulting and provoking nature with [the victim] by HITTING HIM in violation of OCGA § 16-5-23.” Thus the words of the statute were used in both the accusation and the jury charge, and defendant was not entitled to a jury instruction employing other words introducing the idea that the statutory words meant other than what they clearly conveyed.
I am authorized to state that Judge Smith joins in this special concurrence.