Court Opinion

ID: 9850762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:02:43.573789+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:42.991035
License: Public Domain

Benham, Chief Justice,
concurring specially.
Although I concur in the judgment of affirmance and in the first three divisions of the majority opinion, I write separately to express my conviction that the “preponderance of the evidence” standard adopted by the majority in this case is not appropriate to the trial of criminal cases, and that the “clear and convincing evidence” standard should be adopted. I am able to concur only because I conclude that the extrinsic crimes evidence offered in this case was sufficient to meet not only the “clear and convincing evidence” standard, but even the more stringent “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard, rendering the failure to charge harmless.
I concur with the majority in rejecting Freeman’s argument that the proper standard of proof is the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard and that the absence from his trial of an instruction to apply that standard to the evidence of an extrinsic crime relieved the State of its burden to prove every element of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. However, I do not believe the “preponderance of the evidence” standard adopted by the majority is adequate in a criminal case.
In Devier v. Zant, 3 F3d 1445, 1467 (11th Cir. 1993), the Eleventh Circuit discussed the importance of a standard of proof:
The function of a standard of proof, as that concept is embodied in the Due Process Clause and in the realm of factfinding, is to “instruct the factfinder concerning the degree of confidence our society thinks he should have in the correctness of factual conclusions for a particular type of *190adjudication.” The standard serves to allocate the risk of error between the litigants and to indicate the relative importance attached to the ultimate decision. [Cits.]
That rationale supports our rejection of the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard in that the decision whether the extrinsic crime has been proved sufficiently for the jury to consider it on the issue of the defendant’s identity is relatively less important than the ultimate decision to be made by the jury, guilt or innocence. However, as Justice Smith noted in his dissent in Williams v. State, 251 Ga. 749, 816 (312 SE2d 40) (1983), “[a] relatively high standard of proof is necessary because of the questionable relevancy of other crimes evidence and its devastating effect on a defendant’s case.” In addition, “preponderance of the evidence” is particularly inappropriate for an evidentiary standard in a criminal case because the word “preponderance” is basically a word of comparison, referring to superior numbers or weight. The phrase suggests that the defendant has some burden of proof, some burden of coming forward with evidence which would preponderate over that presented by the State. The preferable standard, which gives appropriate protection to the rights of an accused without unduly burdening the prosecution, is the “clear and convincing evidence” standard. As is noted by Edward J. Imwinkelried in Uncharged Misconduct Evidence, § 2.08 (1992 & Supp. 1997) (cited by Presiding Justice Fletcher in his concurrence in Freeman, 266 Ga. at 345), a majority of states who have considered the issue have adopted some version of the “clear and convincing” standard. This Court’s adoption of the lesser standard of “preponderance of the evidence” in this case moves Georgia from the undecided category into a minority of jurisdictions who permit the use of extrinsic crime evidence on so slight a standard of proof.
In addition to disagreeing with the specific standard adopted by the majority, I must disagree with the rationale given for finding no error. Freeman’s enumeration of error raising these issues was not that the trial court failed to give the specific charge Freeman wanted (“beyond a reasonable doubt”), but that the trial court failed to give any standard at all, and that the failure was due to the absence of an established standard. The very process of reasoning employed by the majority (the standard is not “beyond a reasonable doubt,” and is less than “clear and convincing,” so it must be “preponderance of the evidence”) demonstrates that there was no applicable standard. The error asserted by Freeman was the trial court’s failure to give the jury any standard at all, and that error is not resolved by invoking boilerplate language about the precision with which jury charges must be requested. Instead, the error should be considered by means of the following “harmlessness” analysis.
*191Decided June 30, 1997 —
Reconsideration denied July 11, 1997.
Antoinette D. Johnson, for appellant.
Thomas J. Charron, District Attorney, Nancy I. Jordan, Debra H. Bernes, Russell J. Parker, Assistant District Attorneys, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Allison B. Goldberg, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
The specific extrinsic crime evidence of which Freeman complains here is eyewitness identification of appellant as the perpetrator of the crimes at both fast food restaurants; testimony linking the gun with which appellant was armed at the time of his arrest with bullets found on or in the victims of the other two fatal armed robberies; the testimony of appellant’s accomplice and another friend relating appellant’s admission to them that he had committed the other crimes; and the similar method of operation used in each case: entering the establishment at night when no other customer was present; making a small purchase; shooting the cash register attendant when the sale was rung up and the cash drawer open; leaning over the counter to grab currency from the exposed drawer; and fleeing the premises. The testimony presented with regard to each extrinsic crime was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was the perpetrator of that crime. See, e.g., Chastain v. State, 260 Ga. 789 (400 SE2d 329) (1991); Williams v. State, 251 Ga. 749 (4) (312 SE2d 40) (1983); Rector v. State, 213 Ga. App. 450 (1) (444 SE2d 862) (1994). The evidence being sufficient to meet the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard, it was perforce sufficient to meet the lower “clear and convincing” standard. It is highly probable, therefore, that the error in failing to charge on the standard of proof did not contribute to the judgment of conviction and is, therefore, harmless. Johnson v. State, 238 Ga. 59, 61 (230 SE2d 869) (1976).
Accordingly, although I lament the choice of standard of proof adopted by the majority in this case, and believe the trial court’s failure to charge on any standard to be error, I conclude that no reversible error has occurred. For that reason, I concur in the judgment of affirmance.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Justice Fletcher and Justice Sears join in this special concurrence.