Howard v. State

NAHMIAS, Justice,

specially concurring.

For the reasons given in my special concurrence in Collier v. State, 288 Ga. 756 (707 SE2d 102) (2011), also issued today, I believe that OCGA § 17-8-58 (b) mandates that appellate courts apply plain error review to enumerated errors regarding jury charges that were not objected to at trial as required by OCGA § 17-8-58 (a). I therefore do not agree that we should merely “assum[e]” that plain error review is appropriate, as the majority opinion does in Divisions 2, 3, and 6, see Maj. Op. at pages 743, 744, 746, thereby leaving the conflict in our case law on this issue unresolved. Accordingly, I do not join those portions of the majority opinion, although I join the remainder of the opinion and concur in the result.