Powell v. Allen, 52929
| Decision Date | 25 October 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 52929,No. 1,52929,1 |
| Citation | 140 Ga.App. 186,230 S.E.2d 343 |
| Parties | Nolan POWELL v. T. M. ALLEN, Judge |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
L. Paul Cobb, Jr., Atlanta, for appellant.
Richard Bell, Dist. Atty., George N. Guest, Asst. Dist. Atty., Decatur, for appellee.
This is a contempt case. Appellant was called as a witness in a criminal trial in the DeKalb Superior Court. Asserting grounds of self-incrimination he declined to answer certain questions propounded by the district attorney. Thereupon, the district attorney requested the trial court to grant the witness immunity under the Witness Immunity Statute. (Ga.L.1975, 727, 729). (Code Ann. § 38-1715). This request for immunity was granted and the trial judge then ordered appellant to answer the various questions. Appellant again refused to answer in the face of the order of immunity. Thereupon he was adjudged in contempt and sentenced. In its order holding the appellant in contempt the trial court also enjoined the State of Georgia 'from prosecution of any criminal case to which Nolan Powell (appellant) may testify, wherein, he may be otherwise charged with the commission of crime.'
The questions asked the appellant all concerned his dealing with the criminal defendant then on trial and with reference to the subject matter of the various thefts alleged in the multi-count indictment against the defendant. It was shown that all of appellant's transactions with the accused took place in Forsyth County outside the jurisdiction of the DeKalb Superior Court.
With reference to the injunctive feature of the order enumerated as error the Supreme Court in an order transferring this case held that 'Since there is no exception to the ruling invoking equitable relief, the jurisdiction of the case is in the Court of Appeals.' Held:
1. A. person may decline to answer self-incriminating questions based on his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination until it is shown that he has been granted an immunity that is as extensive in scope as the privilege it replaces. Stevens v. Marks, 383 U.S. 234, 86 S.Ct. 788, 15 L.Ed.2d 724. The Georgia Witness Immunity Statute appears initially to authorize complete immunity. But in fact this is negated by the statute's qualifying clause that the witness '. . . shall not be required to produce evidence that can be used in any other courts, including Federal courts . . .' This statutory language shows that the immunity granted to a witness is limited only to evidentiary matter that could be used against the witness within the jurisdiction of the court granting the immunity.
The grant of immunity is not effective in any other jurisdiction. In this respect, it is obvious that the Georgia Witness Immunity Statute is defective and of no use if any other court in this or any other state or any ...
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Brooks v. State
...the very evidence that the state attempted to force the appellant to give under the guise of a grant of immunity." Powell v. Allen, 140 Ga.App. 186, 230 S.E.2d 343 (1976). Our statute provides in part: ". . . no testimony or other evidence required under the order or any information directl......
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Corson v. Hames
...granting immunity. The court is the agent of the state speaking and acting on its behalf. In the recently published case Powell v. Allen, 140 Ga.App. 186, 230 S.E.2d 343 this court held that under the Witness Immunity Act of 1975, § 38-1715, a superior court's ability to grant immunity exte......