Court Opinion

ID: 9586289
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:09:10.894101+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:27:31.520706
License: Public Domain

*189On Motion for Rehearing.
Per curiam.
Our original opinion holds that our general recidivist statute, Code Ann. § 27-2511 as amended by Ga. L. 1974, p. 352, is not applicable in capital cases. On motion for rehearing the state has pointed out that this is a departure from the rulings of this court in Coleman v. State, 215 Ga. 865 (114 SE2d 2) (1960), and Winston v. State, 186 Ga. 573 (198 SE 667, 118 ALR 719) (1938).
We think that Georgia’s 1973 death-penalty statute rendered the rulings in these two prior cases on this subject inapplicable to capital crimes committed after its effective date. Code Ann. § 27-2534.1 says in part: "(b) In all cases of other offenses for which the death penalty may be authorized, the judge shall consider, or he shall include in his instructions to the jury for it to consider, any mitigating circumstances or aggravating circumstances otherwise authorized by law and any of the following statutory aggravating circumstances which may be supported by the evidence: (1) the offense of murder, rape, armed robbery, or kidnapping was committed by a person with a prior record of conviction for a capital felony, or the offense of murder was committed by a person who has a substantial history of serious assaultive criminal convictions.”
We conclude that if a capital crime occurred after the effective date of the 1973 death-penalty statute, the accused should not be indicted under our general recidivist statute, Code Ann. § 27-2511 as amended by Ga. L. 1974, p. 352.
However, in this case the appellant was indicted for an alleged crime that occurred prior to the effective date of the 1973 death-penalty statute. In this case the death penalty cannot be imposed. Therefore, the indictment in this case, based on this court’s rulings in Winston and Coleman, was proper. But such an indictment would not be proper if the crime had occurred subsequent to the effective date of the 1973 death-penalty statute.
Our original opinion is accordingly amended to the extent stated herein, and the other ground of the motion *190for rehearing is denied.

Rehearing denied.

All the Justices concur.