Tiller v. State
Tiller v. State
Opinion of the Court
The Court of Appeals has requested an answer to the following certified question: “Where a defendant in a criminal ease does not complain of the giving or the failure to give an instruction to the jury prior to the jury verdict or in his motion for new trial, does this court have jurisdiction to consider the question? See Section 17 of the Appellate Practice Act of 1965, as amended (Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1072, 1078); Calhoun v. State, 211 Ga. 112; Harris v. State, 114 Ga. 436 (3); Hennon v. State, 62 Ga. App. 484, 486; Cason v. State, 60 Ga. App. 626 (4); Code Ann. § 6-702.”
The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are charged with the duty of correcting errors of law (Const. 1945, Art. VI, Sec. II, Par. IV; Code Ann. § 2-3704; Art. VI, Sec. II, Par. VIII; Code Ann. § 2-3708) and as succinctly stated in Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1072, 1078, “the appellate courts shall consider and review erroneous charges where there has been a substantial error in the charge which was harmful as a matter of law, regardless of whether objection was made hereunder or not.” This section has been in the Appellate Practice Act since its adoption in 1965 (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 31; Ga. L. 1966, pp. 493, 498; Code Ann. § 70-207); and jurisdiction of the question in such a case is acquired by an enumeration of error under the Appellate Practice Act of 1965 (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 20; Ga. L. 1966, pp. 493, 494; Code Ann. § 6-702), when such error is not included in a motion for new trial. Gunter v. State, 223 Ga. 290, 293 (154 SE2d 608); Williams v. State, 223 Ga. 773, 775 (158 SE2d 373); Pippins v. State, 224 Ga. 462 (162 SE2d 338).
However, if such error is included in a motion for new trial, the ruling on the motion for new trial will become the law of the case unless on appeal the ruling on the motion for
Therefore, if such error is included in the motion for new trial, jurisdiction of the question for decision by the appellate court is acquired in either of two ways: First, by specifically appealing from the ruling on the motion for new trial in the notice of appeal and presenting such error in the charge in an enumeration of error, or, second, by filing the notice of appeal from other appealable judgments and enumerating as error the ruling on the motion for new trial.
This ruling is consistent with Hill v. Willis, 224 Ga. 263, 268 (4) (161 SE2d 281) and Bryan v. State, 224 Ga. 389, 390 (1) (162 SE2d 349), where the rulings on the motions for new trial were neither appealed from nor enumerated as error. Foskey v. Kirkland, 221 Ga. 773 (2) (147 SE2d 310). The answer to the question is in the affirmative.
Certified question answered.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which holds that an appellant may file a notice of appeal from an appealable judgment other than the overruling of his motion for a new trial and enumerate as error the ruling on the motion for a new trial occurring subsequent to the entry of the judgment appealed from. This ruling seems to be directly in conflict with the full bench decision of this court in the case of Graham v. Haley, 224 Ga. 498, 500 (4) (162 SE2d 346), which was decided by this court only at the last term. Under the Appellate Practice Act, where an appeal is taken from a final judgment or from any other judgment from which an appeal is authorized under the Act, “all judgments, rulings or orders rendered in the case which are raised on appeal
Furthermore, in the case of Hill v. Willis, 224 Ga. 263, 268, supra, this court said: “It is well settled that a judgment is the law of the case until set aside or reversed. The defendants insist that the Act of 1966 (Ga. L. 1966, p. 493), amending the Appellate Practice Act of 1965 (Code Ann. § 6-702) requires this court, in the absence of a proper constitutional attack, to abide by the terms of such Act and consider enumerations of error, allegedly occurring during the trial of a case although subsequently upheld by the trial court in overruling a motion for new trial. The question is not whether this court will consider the enumerations of error. This the court will do. The question is whether the enumerations of error, under such circumstances, show reversible error. This they cannot do for the law of the case has been established by the judgment denying the motion for new trial unappealed from. Accordingly, where a motion for new trial is filed and ruled upon by the trial court, whether right or wrong, it establishes the law of the case until
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Tiller v. the State
- Cited By
- 61 cases
- Status
- Published