Cowart v. State
Cowart v. State
Opinion of the Court
Mike Cowart was convicted of criminal attempt to commit statutory rape, and his conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. Cowart v. State, 136 Ga. App. 528 (221 SE2d 649) (1975). We granted certiorari to consider a burden-shifting charge by the trial judge on the appellant’s affirmative defense of abandonment of the effort to commit the crime. Code Ann. § 26-1003 (Ga. L.
hi State v. Moore, 237 Ga. 269 (1976), this court held that it was not error to give a similar charge on the affirmative defense of coercion, but that such a burden-shifting charge would not be approved in cases tried after the final date of that decision.
Judgment affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would adopt the opinion of the Court of Appeals in Moore v. State, 137 Ga. App. 735 (224 SE2d 856) (1976).
I am authorized to state that Justice Ingram joins in this dissent.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.