Court Opinion

ID: 9578726
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:47:52.260363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:20.202079
License: Public Domain

Judge Harold R. Banke,
dissenting.
In Allen v. State, 146 Ga. App. 815 (247 SE2d 540) (1978), this court established the foundational requirements for admission of videotapes into evidence. As the comprehensive research of the majority indicates, the “silent witness” theory pertaining to pictorial evidence had already been formulated. However, rather than adopting that theory, this court instead determined that the foundation for ad*178mission of videotapes should be the same as that for audiotapes previously established in Steve M. Solomon, Jr., Inc. v. Edgar, 92 Ga. App. 207 (88 SE2d 167) (1955).
Decided July 15, 1994
Reconsideration denied July 28, 1994
Gerald N. Blaney, Jr., Solicitor, Richard E. Thomas, Assistant Solicitor, for appellant.
Russell T. Bryant, for appellee.
Since Allen v. State, supra, this court has consistently applied those foundational requirements for the admission of videotapes, without ever questioning their viability. See Givens v. State, 211 Ga. App. 290 (3) (439 SE2d 22) (1993); Bedley v. State, 189 Ga. App. 90 (3) (374 SE2d 841) (1988); Newberry v. State, 184 Ga. App. 356 (3) (361 SE2d 499) (1987). The majority now abandons that well-settled rule of evidence, apparently in reaction to the pathetic event of the arresting officer’s subsequent death in the line of duty.
The majority asserts that the new foundation is consistent with the current law. However, inasmuch as the videotape in the instant case is inadmissible under the old foundational requirements but may be admitted under the new foundation, I think the majority is mistaken on that point.
I believe that the majority has needlessly changed the foundational requirements for the admission of videotapes. For that reason, I respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge McMurray, Presiding Judge Birdsong and Judge Johnson join in this dissent.