Court Opinion

ID: 9540824
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:20:07.481456+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:01:08.929834
License: Public Domain

Sognier, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Appellant’s sole defense in this case was insanity. OCGA § 17-7-131 (c) provides: “In all criminal trials in any of the courts of this state wherein an accused shall contend that he was insane or otherwise mentally incompetent under the law at the time the act or acts charged against him were committed, the trial judge shall instruct the jury that they may consider, in addition to *327verdicts of ‘guilty’ and ‘not guilty,’ the additional verdicts of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the crime’ and ‘guilty but mentally ill at the time of the crime.’ ” (Emphasis supplied.) Not only does the wording of the statute make it mandatory that the court instruct on these possible verdicts, but this court and our Supreme Court have held that the cited portion of the statute is mandatory. Albert v. State, 152 Ga. App. 708, 710-711 (4) (263 SE2d 685) (1979); Aldridge v. State, 247 Ga. 142, 143 (274 SE2d 525) (1981).
Decided March 15, 1985
Rehearing denied March 29, 1985
William M. Taylor, pro se.
Robert E. Wilson, District Attorney, Barbara B. Conroy, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
“While present law exempts the defendant in a criminal case from the strict requirements imposed on litigants in civil cases to preserve an issue on the . . . failure to give instructions to the jury [cit.] this does not relieve him from the necessity of . . . making timely objection in the trial court on the failure to give instructions, except in those circumstances where the omission is clearly harmful and erroneous as a matter of law in that it fails to provide the jury with the proper guidelines for determining guilt or innocence.” (Emphasis supplied.) Spear v. State, 230 Ga. 74, 75 (1) (195 SE2d 397) (1973); Thomas v. State, 234 Ga. 615, 618 (216 SE2d 859) (1975); Yeargin v. State, 164 Ga. App. 835, 838 (8) (298 SE2d 606) (1982). In my opinion, the instant case falls within the exception set forth in these cited cases, as the court’s omission to give the mandatory charge was clearly harmful and erroneous as a matter of law, and failed completely to give the jury proper guidelines for determining guilt or innocence. Under such circumstances the waiver rule is not applicable. Spear, Thomas, Yeargin, supra. While an appellant may waive his own rights under certain circumstances, the majority has cited no authority, and I am aware of none, which authorizes a criminal defendant to waive a requirement imposed on a trial court by statute and judicial decision. As the failure to give a mandatory charge is an error of law, I would reverse.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Birdsong joins in this dissent.