O'Brien v. State
O'Brien v. State
Opinion of the Court
In this case, after all of the evidence had been introduced, the statement of the defendant had been made and the counsel for the plaintiff in error had argued for about six minutes, it was suggested to the court by the solicitor-general that he wished to call in rebuttal another witness, whom he had overlooked calling as a witness; whereupon the court asked counsel for the plaintiff in error to cease his argument to the jury at that point and allow the solicitor-general to introduce another witness. At that point the solicitor-general was permitted to introduce a witness for the State and allowed him to testify to another transaction of highway robbery committed by the defendant. There was no objection that said testimony was not admissable under the rules relating to “other crimes.” The sole contention seems to be that a new trial should be granted because the judge allowed the case to be reopened after the defendant’s, counsel had argued to the jury for six minutes. The plaintiff in error contends that this case is controlled by Hoskins v. State, 11 Ga. 92, where headnote- 3 reads as follows: “As a general rule, in a criminal case, the State will not be allowed to reopen the testimony, after the solicitor-general has stated to the court that the evidence is closed. If, however, this is inadvertently done, and application is immediately made to tender further proof, it may be received, provided, no motion has been made in behalf of the defendant, no evidence introduced, and his witnesses have been discharged in consequence of the declaration.”
1. Upon examination of decisions of our Supreme Court, we find that the same rule stated in the Hoskins case, supra, was also stated in the prior case of Judge v. State, 8 Ga. 173 (5). However, in Reid v. State, 23 Ga. 190, our Supreme Court held: “It
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.