Elliott v. State
Elliott v. State
Opinion of the Court
The police found Cheryl P. Elliott in actual possession of marijuana while she was an inmate at the Pickens County jail and found methamphetamine in her jail cell. Elliott was indicted for possession of methamphetamine, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and as a recidivist. During the trial of a co-defendant, Elliott was called as a witness and refused to testify, invoking her privilege against self-incrimination. The State asked the court to order Elliott to testify under OCGA § 24-9-28. The court granted Elliott use and derivative use immunity and ordered her to testify, which she did. Thereafter, the State reindicted Elliott. In the second indictment, the State set forth the same possession of methamphetamine and recidivist counts contained in the original indictment, but upgraded the misdemeanor marijuana possession charge to the felony offense of possession of marijuana by an inmate. OCGA § 42-4-13. Elliott was convicted of the charges and appeals.
1. Elliott contends that the court erred in denying her motion to dismiss the second indictment because the state failed to show that it used only evidence derived from sources independent of her immunized testimony to obtain the reindictment. Upon the court’s order that a person shall not be excused from testifying on the basis of her privilege against self-incrimination, “no testimony or other evidence required under the order or any information directly or indirectly derived from such testimony or evidence may be used against the person in any proceedings or prosecution for a crime or offense concerning which he testified or produced evidence under court order.” OCGA § 24-9-28 (a). In the instant case, the only difference between
2. Elliott argues that the court erred in denying her motion to dismiss the indictment because the State violated OCGA § 24-9-28 by failing to file a transcript of her immunized testimony before the reindictment. This argument is without merit because that Code section contains no requirement that the transcript be filed prior to reindictment. OCGA § 24-9-28 (a) provides, “any testimony given by a person pursuant to [an order under this Code section] shall be transcribed and filed for permanent record in the office of the clerk of the court.” The State fully complied with this Code section by transcribing Elliott’s immunized testimony and filing that transcript nearly two months before trial. The court committed no error.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.