Edwards v. State
| Decision Date | 05 November 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 42617,42617 |
| Citation | 255 Ga. 149,335 S.E.2d 869 |
| Parties | EDWARDS v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Robert B. Adams, Little & Adams, P.C., Dalton, for Anthony Randall edwards.
Stephen A. Williams, Dist. Atty., Kermit McManus, Asst. Dist. Atty., Dalton, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for the State.
Appellant Anthony Edwards and a friend had a fight with the victim and another. Appellant stabbed the victim, who subsequently died. Appellant does not deny stabbing the victim but insists that the stabbing occurred during a period in which he experienced a memory loss due to his being struck on the head with a rock by the victim. No rock was found. However, there was testimony that appellant did strike his head on the pavement while fighting with the victim. A doctor who treated appellant found no evidence of neurological damage. Appellant was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He appeals. 1
1. In his first enumeration of error appellant complains that the court did not give his requested charge on good character. The court charged the jury that evidence of the good character of the defendant could raise a doubt in their minds as to his guilt. The court also charged that good character is a substantive fact to be considered like any other fact tending to establish innocence. However, good character does not give a license to commit a crime and if evidence of it does not generate a doubt, it will not authorize acquittal. This charge was accurate. Keller v. State, 245 Ga. 522, 265 S.E.2d 813 (1980); Favors v. State, 228 Ga. 196, 184 S.E.2d 568 (1971). The charge requested by appellant is very similar but includes language indicating that evidence of good character may create such doubt even in the face of apparently conclusive evidence that it could lead jurors to believe the other evidence false or witnesses mistaken.
There is no error in a court's refusal to give a charge exactly as requested if the charge as given substantially covers the principle at issue. Hill v. State, 250 Ga. 277, 295 S.E.2d 518 (1982); Kelly v. State, 241 Ga. 190, 243 S.E.2d 857 (1978). Beyond this, however, the requested charge here is arguably incorrect in that it implies that evidence of good character is a substantive defense. While evidence of good character is a substantive fact, which should be considered by the jury along with other facts tending to bear on the question of guilt or innocence, evidence of good character is not a substantive defense. Keller v. State, 245 Ga. 522, 265 S.E.2d 813 (1980); Spear v. State, 230 Ga. 74, 195 S.E.2d 397 (1973).
2. Appellant contends that the court erred in allowing the state to read to a witness in the presence of the jury a statement which he had given to police during their investigation. The witness, Jesse Hampton, was a witness to the stabbing of the victim. Appellant insists that this was done to bolster Hampton's testimony with a prior consistent statement and that it constituted impermissible hearsay. Acknowledging the exception for admission of prior consistent statements where there is an attack on the witness's testimony as recently fabricated in the hope of gain or leniency from the state, Lowe v. State, 253 Ga. 308, 319 S.E.2d 834 (1984), appellant contends that no such attack was made on the witness's testimony here.
We need not deal with the state's argument that the prior consistent statement of this witness was properly admitted under the exception for a charge of recent fabrication. In Cuzzort v. State, 254 Ga. 745, 334 S.E.2d 661 (1985), this court recently held that the admissibility of out of court statements is governed by Gibbons v. State, 248 Ga. 858, 286 S.E.2d 717 (1982). Cuzzort stands for the proposition that where the...
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...oath, and subject to cross-examination, the prior consistent out-of-court statement of the witness is admissible." Edwards v. State, 255 Ga. 149, 151, 335 S.E.2d 869 (1985); Cuzzort v. State, 254 Ga. 745, 334 S.E.2d 661 11. Parker claims the trial court erroneously admitted an audio tape of......
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...of [his police report as a] prior consistent statement under Cuzzort[ v. State, 254 Ga. 745, 334 S.E.2d 661 ]." Edwards v. State, 255 Ga. 149, 150(2), 151, 335 S.E.2d 869. Furthermore, the admission of this police report does not mandate the giving of a jury instruction on impeachment. "Her......
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