Stone v. State

Smith, Justice,

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. While I fully agree that the trial court’s ruling restricting appellant’s right of cross-examination was erroneous, I cannot agree that the error was harmless. In Georgia, “[t]he right of a thorough and sifting cross-examination shall belong to every party as to the witnesses called against him.” OCGA § 24-9-64 (Code Ann. § 38-1705). The right of cross-examination in Georgia is broader than that provided for by the Federal Rules, and encompasses any subject relevant to an issue in the case. As a result of our ruling in this case, a criminal defendant in Stone’s position is faced with a Hobson’s choice: he must either agree to make the hostile witness his own and be bound by his answers, or forgo cross-examination entirely on the disputed topics. This, it seems to me, is no choice at all. To allow this case to stand on the ground of harmless error merely encourages similar erroneous rulings by trial courts and, inevitably, compromises our cross-examination rule in Georgia. I therefore dissent.