Court Opinion

ID: 9854480
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:08:12.373663+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:06.473177
License: Public Domain

Birdsong, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur with the majority opinion, except that the issues addressed in Divisions 11 and 12 thereof require further explanation in view of a potential for error upon retrial.
As to Division 11: Admission of evidence rests largely within the sound discretion of the trial court. Gene Thompson Lumber Co. v. *781Davis Parmer Lumber Co., 189 Ga. App. 573.(2) (377 SE2d 15). Appellant currently has failed to show an abuse of discretion by the trial court in excluding the pathologist’s opinion as to whether he would have expected Dalmane to be present in the decedent’s blood if it had been administered to him about an hour before he went “berserk,” and whether he would have expected “it to turn up” during the drug screening test.
As a general rule, however, even if evidence is of doubtful relevancy or competency, it should be admitted and its weight left to the jury. Id. Thus, “ ‘[u]nless the potential for prejudice in the admission of evidence substantially outweighs its probative value the Georgia rule favors the admission of any relevant evidence, no matter how slight its probative value. Evidence of doubtful relevancy or competency should be admitted and its weight left to the jurors. Where evidence is offered and objected to, if it is competent for any purpose, it is not erroneous to admit it.’ ” Norman v. State, 197 Ga. App. 333, 336 (4) (398 SE2d 395), citing West v. Nodvin, 196 Ga. App. 825, 828 (3) (397 SE2d 567). I believe the answer to the above question, whether affirmative or negative, would not have been misleading, and the question would be relevant. Further, merely because deceased was not tested for Dalmane would not render an answer that Dalmane should have been present and detectible in his blood, at the time of testing irrelevant; such fact goes merely to weight, not admissibility. Thus, if a retrial occurs and the expert duly qualified, it again would lie in the trial court’s sound discretion whether to admit this evidence, and error would not be committed by allowing its introduction if such is deemed fundamentally fair in the search for truth.
As to Division 12: Although a party is entitled to a thorough and sifting cross-examination, the scope of such examination is within the sound discretion of the trial court. Thomas v. Clark, 188 Ga. App. 606, 608 (4) (373 SE2d 668). The record before us shows no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in excluding information presumptively obtained by reason of the attorney-client privilege. However, I believe that unlike any evidence that Dr. Cheatham was once sued for malpractice evidence regarding his prior failure to order physical restraints for one of his former patients who had committed suicide after being admitted to a psychiatric hospital would have some relevance. See Division 1, above. Thus, if on a retrial it could be shown that the evidence was not obtained by means of the attorney-client privilege, or if similar evidence was obtained through an entirely independent source and not due to attorney-client information, it would then lie in the sound discretion of the trial court whether to allow cross-examination into this delicate area bearing in mind that “[t]he object of all legal investigation is the discovery of truth.” See generally OCGA § 24-1-2. With these express reservations, I concur *782fully with the majority and with the reversal of the judgment.
Decided February 28, 1991.
Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, James B. Hiers, Jr., for appellant.
Howard, Secret & Howard, James W. Howard, for appellees.