Court Opinion

ID: 9539435
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:04:22.679363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:49.405649
License: Public Domain

Hill, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the court’s opinion and write separately to point out two facets of the 1982 amendment to our habeas corpus act which forms the basis of the court’s decision. Ga. L. 1982, p. 786.
First, although the 1982 amendment was signed by the Governor and became effective on April 13, 1982, it was inapplicable to any habeas petition filed prior to January 1, 1983. Ga. L. 1982 at pp. 788-789. Valenzuela’s conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals in January 1981. Valenzuela v. State, 157 Ga. App. 247 (277 SE2d 56), cert. denied, 454 U. S. 963 (1981). The habeas corpus act then in effect did not contain the contemporaneous objection, cause and prejudice requirements imposed by the 1982 amendment. However, Valenzuela could have sought habeas corpus before January 1, 1983, under the old law. His habeas petition, filed in March 1984, is subject to the 1982 amendment.
Second, although Georgia permits defendants in criminal cases to reserve their objections to jury instructions and enumerate them as error on appeal, see DeVoe v. State, 249 Ga. 499 (292 SE2d 72) (1982), and cases cited, compare Rivers v. State, 250 Ga. 303 (7) (298 SE2d 1) (1982), we should not permit defendants in criminal cases to reserve their objections to jury instructions and assert them as error in habeas corpus. That is to say, in my view, the cause and prejudice requirement with its miscarriage of justice exception should apply to alleged errors in jury instructions in habeas corpus cases. See Stynchcombe v. Floyd, 252 Ga. 113, 115, fn. 1 (311 SE2d 828) (1984).