Assad v. State, A90A0524
| Decision Date | 18 May 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. A90A0524,A90A0524 |
| Citation | 394 S.E.2d 617,195 Ga.App. 692 |
| Parties | ASSAD v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Thomas J. Ousley, for appellant.
Robert E. Wilson, Dist. Atty., Patricia G. Higginbotham, Desiree L. Sutton, Asst. Dist. Attys., for appellee.
Appellant was tried before a jury and found guilty of three counts of child molestation. He appeals from the judgments of conviction and sentences entered by the trial court on the jury's verdicts of guilt.
1. Appellant filed a timely pre-trial motion pursuant to Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). On the third day of trial, appellant moved for a mistrial predicated upon the State's alleged suppression of exculpatory evidence in violation of his Brady motion. The evidence at issue was a physician's report finding no physical evidence of abuse or molestation after an examination of one of the victims. The trial court's denial of appellant's motion for a mistrial is enumerated as error.
The indictments alleged appellant's commission of molestation by fondling the victims, not by penetration. Accordingly, the physician's conclusion that there was no physical evidence of abuse was neither exculpatory nor "material." See Glenn v. State, 255 Ga. 533, 535(2), 340 S.E.2d 609 (1986); Ballard v. State, 252 Ga. 53, 55(3), 311 S.E.2d 453 (1984). Moreover, the mandate of Brady is not violated when the Glenn v. State, supra 534(2), 340 S.E.2d 609. In the instant case, the trial court offered to allow the State's witnesses to be recalled for further cross-examination in light of the report, and also offered appellant a continuance in order to interview the physician who had examined the child. This offer was declined. There being no "manifest necessity" for a mistrial so as to keep the existing proceedings fundamentally fair, the trial court did not err in denying appellant's motion. Haynes v. State, 245 Ga. 817, 268 S.E.2d 325 (1980).
2. Over appellant's hearsay objection, an investigating officer was permitted to testify as to a statement by one victim to the effect that she saw appellant molest the other victim. Clearly, the officer's testimony as to what one of the victims said she saw appellant do to the other victim is hearsay and is inadmissible. OCGA § 24-3-1. Contrary to the State's contentions, this testimony would not be admissible as original evidence under OCGA § 24-3-2, since the officer's conduct and motives were not at issue. Black v. State, 190 Ga.App. 137(1), 378 S.E.2d 342 (1989). Likewise, this testimony would not be admissible under OCGA § 24-3-16, the Child Hearsay Statute. By...
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...rule "only ... such statements as are made by the actual victim of the event being related." (Emphasis supplied.) Assad v. State, 195 Ga.App. 692, 693, 394 S.E.2d 617 (1990); Riddle v. State, 208 Ga.App. 8, 11(2), 430 S.E.2d 153 (1993) ("That statute provides an exception to the hearsay rul......
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...is cumulative of the victim's properly admitted testimony under oath as given by her at the preliminary hearing. Assad v. State, 195 Ga.App. 692, 693(2), 394 S.E.2d 617. Accord Smith v. State, 266 Ga. 827, 830(4), 831, 470 S.E.2d 674, 3. Defendant enumerates the general grounds, arguing tha......
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