Opinion

Brown v. State

  • 288 Ga. 364
  • 2010 Fulton County D. Rep. 3497
  • 703 S.E.2d 609
  • 2010 Ga. LEXIS 824
Court
Supreme Court of Georgia
Filed
Nov 1, 2010
Status
Published
Author
Nahmias
On the bench
Carley, Hunstein, Nahmias
Cited by
3 cases
Authority
More cited than 10.5%

The opinion

NAHMIAS, Justice,

concurring.

The Chief Justice’s concurring opinion urges the Court to overrule State v. Jackson, 287 Ga. 646 ( 697 SE2d 757 ) (2010), rehashing the arguments rejected by a majority of the Court just a few months ago. This request is entirely gratuitous, because as the concurrence acknowledges, this case does not involve the factual scenario at issue in Jackson and would be decided the same way regardless of Jackson . Moreover, it is simply wrong to say that Jackson “imported civil tort liability principles into Georgia criminal law” or created a “new basis for criminal liability in this State.” Concurring Op. at 371. To the contrary, proximate cause has been the causation standard applied throughout our criminal, homicide, and felony-murder case law for decades. See Maj. Op. at 365 (citing cases); Concurring Op. at 370-371 & n. 1-6 (citing cases); Jackson, 287 Ga. at 648 -652 & n. 1-2, 4 (citing numerous cases). It was the case that Jackson overruled which unaccountably departed from this otherwise consistent and long-standing Georgia law. The Court today properly declines the invitation to overrule Jackson , and it should do the same in future cases where the issue is actually relevant.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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