State v. Otto Orr
State v. Otto Orr
Opinion
Following his conviction for family violence battery and cruelty to children in the third degree, Otto Orr filed a motion for a new trial, asserting, inter alia, that the trial court erred when it failed to declare a mistrial after the State impermissibly commented on Orr's pre-arrest silence. The trial court granted Orr's motion, finding that the exclusionary rule articulated by the Supreme Court of Georgia in
Mallory v. State
,
1
The Supreme Court of Georgia granted the State's petition for certiorari and subsequently held that the exclusionary rule set forth in
Mallory
"was abrogated by the new Evidence Code."
State v. Orr
,
In accordance with the Supreme Court's direction, we vacate the order of the trial court and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion and the opinion of our Supreme Court in
Orr II
. Specifically, the trial court should determine: (1) whether evidence of Orr's failure to come forward in this case was admissible under Georgia's current rules of evidence,
*513
Orr II
,
Judgment vacated and case remanded with direction.
McFadden, P. J., and Coomer, J., concur.
Under that rule, the State was strictly prohibited from commenting on either a defendant's pre-arrest silence or the defendant's failure to come forward to police voluntarily.
Mallory
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.