Miller v. State

376 S.E.2d 901, 189 Ga. App. 587, 1988 Ga. App. LEXIS 1475
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 22, 1988
Docket76630
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 376 S.E.2d 901 (Miller v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. State, 376 S.E.2d 901, 189 Ga. App. 587, 1988 Ga. App. LEXIS 1475 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

Carley, Judge.

Appellant was tried before a jury and convicted of child molestation and aggravated sodomy. Appellant appeals from the judgments of conviction and sentences entered by the trial court on the jury’s verdicts.

1. The trial court allowed appellant to examine the notes which a witness for the State had used to refresh his recollection while he was on the stand. The trial court refused, however, to allow appellant to examine any other notes which the witness may have reviewed prior to his being called to the stand. This ruling is enumerated as error.

In Baxter v. State, 254 Ga. 538, 548 (18) (331 SE2d 561) (1985), our Supreme Court held “that a defendant in a criminal case has the right, upon request, to examine a document used by a witness to refresh his recollection. [Cits.]” Appellant urges that this right extends to any and all materials which were reviewed by a witness in preparation for his testimony at the trial and is not limited to only those materials which were reviewed by a witness to refresh his recollection while actually on the stand. There is explicit authority for the proposition advanced by appellant. In Caviness v. State, 180 Ga. App. 792, 793 (3) (350 SE2d 813) (1986), this court held that “because we can discern no logical basis for distinguishing between notes used by a witness to refresh his or her recollection while actually on the witness stand and notes reviewed for that purpose immediately prior to trial, we hold that the trial court erred in refusing to allow the appellant’s counsel to examine the report in question in the present case.” (Emphasis supplied.) There is, however, also implicit authority for the contrary proposition. Our Supreme Court has indicated that where it “does not appear that the witness was using these notes during the trial to refresh his recollection. . . . Baxter is inapposite.” (Emphasis supplied.) Catchings v. State, 256 Ga. 241, 247 (9) (347 SE2d 572) (1986). Accordingly, resolution of the merits of appellant’s enumera[588]*588tion of error requires that we undertake a reconsideration of our explicit holding in Caviness in light of the implicit holding of the Supreme Court in Catchings.

As previously noted, the reason given in Caviness for its broad holding was an inability to discern a logical basis for distinguishing between the right to an examination of notes used to refresh the recollection of a witness for the State immediately prior to trial and the right to an examination of notes which were used for that purpose during the trial itself. Upon reconsideration, however, we find that a logical basis for making such a distinction does exist. The obvious rationale which underlies the holding in Baxter v. State, supra at 548 (18), is that the defendant in a criminal case is to be afforded the right to a thorough and sifting cross-examination concerning the credibility of the assertion by a witness for the State that certain materials had served the purpose of refreshing his recollection. See Williams v. State, 250 Ga. 664, 667 (300 SE2d 685) (1983) (Special concurrence of Weltner, J., and dissent of Hill, C. J., which were cited with approval in Baxter v. State, supra at 548 (18)). This right is preserved by affording the defendant in a criminal case the limited opportunity to examine only those specific materials upon which the witness for the State has based his assertion of a refreshed recollection. To extend that right to encompass any and all other materials which a witness for the State may have reviewed at some indefinite point in time prior to his actually being called to testify would not result in an extension of the right to a thorough and sifting cross-examination as to a relevant topic. The only relevant inquiry is the credibility of the witness’ assertion of a refreshed recollection as the basis for his testimony at trial, not the credibility of the witness’ trial testimony for which no such assertion of a refreshed recollection is advanced.

An extension of the right to encompass such materials as the witness may have reviewed out-of-court would result in an unwarranted and potentially unworkable extension of the permissible scope of discovery in criminal cases beyond its presently limited statutory bounds. Any and all materials which had been reviewed by a State’s witness in preparation for trial would be “discoverable” at trial by the defendant, notwithstanding the absence of any statutory authorization for such discovery. Every cross-examination of a witness for the State would become a potential “fishing” expedition, wherein the defendant could seek access to any and all materials which the witness may have seen prior to and in preparation for trial. Trial courts would be required to interrupt criminal trials to conduct a series of hearings to determine exactly what materials each witness for the State may or may not have reviewed in advance of the trial. It is undoubtedly for these reasons that the majority of jurisdictions allow only a limited rather than a broad right of access to materials which are available [589]*589for a witness’ review. “Although there is some authority to the contrary, it is generally held that opposing counsel is not entitled to examine a writing which the witness used to refresh his recollection prior to his examination, where he was able to testify from independent recollection after so refreshing his memory.” 98 CJS, Witnesses, § 362, p. 101. See also 81 AmJur2d, Witnesses, § 460, p. 469; Cleary, McCormick’s Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 9 (3d ed. 1984); Torcia, Wharton’s Criminal Evidence, § 388 (14th ed. 1986).

Accordingly, we construe the decision in Catchings as an implicit recognition by our Supreme Court that Georgia is among those states which follow the majority rule: The defendant in a criminal case is entitled to examine all materials which are used by a witness for the State to testify from recollection refreshed during the trial itself, but he is not entitled to examine any and all such documents as may have been reviewed by the witness prior to trial, without regard to whether ' the out-of-court review was conducted “immediately” prior to trial or at some earlier time. To the extent that Caviness v. State, supra, is in conflict with Catchings v. State, supra, as thus interpreted, it is hereby overruled. It necessarily follows that the trial court did not err . in not allowing appellant access to notes reviewed by the witness before he began his testimony.

2. The State called Dr. Michael Campion, a clinical psychologist, as an expert witness. During Dr. Campion’s direct examination, the. State asked if he had “developed] an opinion as to whether or not [the child] had been molested by [appellant]?” Appellant immediately objected on the ground that the question sought to elicit such opinion testimony from Dr. Campion as would oust “the jury of the ultimate determination of the facts of this case.” The jury was removed from the courtroom and an extensive colloquy between counsel and the trial court ensued. The trial court eventually concluded that it would allow the State to ask Dr. Campion two rephrased questions: Whether he was of the opinion that the child had been “sexually involved”; and, if it was his opinion that she had been, whether he had a further opinion regarding appellant’s connection therewith. In response to the trial court’s ruling, appellant stated that he “would object to the second question.” The jury returned and Dr.

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Related

Johnson v. State
383 S.E.2d 118 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1989)
Johnson v. State
378 S.E.2d 366 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1989)
Miller v. State
376 S.E.2d 901 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
376 S.E.2d 901, 189 Ga. App. 587, 1988 Ga. App. LEXIS 1475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-state-gactapp-1988.