Court Opinion

ID: 9591306
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:03:33.840871+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:09.420618
License: Public Domain

Bell, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the judgment but not with all that is said in the first division of this court’s opinion. In the first division the majority states that “[w]hen the appellant testified, he admitted on cross-examination that the confrontation took place, and admitted the substance of the statements made at the confrontation with his co-conspirator.” Thus, the majority appears to implicitly hold that appellant’s admissions during cross-examination constituted a waiver of his objection to the admission of Sliger’s statement.
However, the appellant so testified only after the substance of Sliger’s statements had already been introduced into evidence by Captain Ragland. Our Code provides that, “[i]f on direct examination of a witness objection is made to the admissibility of evidence, neither cross-examination of the witness on the same subject matter nor the introduction of evidence on the same subject matter shall constitute a waiver of the objection made on direct examination.” OCGA § 24-9-70. Because appellant moved in limine to exclude Sliger’s statement and objected at trial to Ragland’s testimony, his own testimony on cross-examination did not, as the majority implies, constitute waiver of his objection, and I therefore respectfully cannot agree with this court’s reliance on appellant’s testimony to uphold the admission of Sliger’s statement. Nevertheless, in my view the remaining reasons outlined in the first division are sufficient to uphold the trial court’s decision to allow Sliger’s statement, and I therefore concur with the judgment reached in the first division.