From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Ryan v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
Sep 15, 1988
373 S.E.2d 262 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988)

Opinion

77048.

DECIDED SEPTEMBER 15, 1988.

Burglary. Clayton Superior Court. Before Judge Ison.

James W. Studdard, for appellant.

Robert E. Keller, District Attorney, Clifford A. Sticher, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.


Steven Dennis Ryan was found guilty of burglary and he appeals.

In his sole enumeration of error appellant contends the trial court erred by allowing the State to cross-examine a defense witness, William Christopher Giddens, regarding his jail service without laying a proper foundation for this impeachment evidence. The record reveals that after questioning the defense witness about having painted the victim's home in late August, appellant's counsel noted that the victim had testified that he (the victim) had not seen the witness after September until New Year's Day. Appellant's counsel then asked the witness whether he had "a particular reason to go somewhere" during that period, to which he replied negatively. On cross-examination, the assistant district attorney specifically referred to the question asked by appellant's attorney and then elicited information that during the period of time in issue, the defense witness had spent two months in the Fayette County Jail, six weeks in the Gwinnett County Jail, and one week in the Forest Park Jail.

"A review of the transcript reveals that defense counsel opened the door to this line of questioning during his cross-examination of the witness. The prosec[u]tion merely followed up on the issues injected by [appellant]. Since defendant first opened the door to this line of questioning, he cannot now complain. [Cits.]" Smith v. State, 258 Ga. 181, 182 (1) ( 366 S.E.2d 763) (1988). Thus, the trial court did not err by overruling appellant's foundation objection and admitting this evidence.

Judgment affirmed. Deen, P. J., and Carley, J., concur.

DECIDED SEPTEMBER 15, 1988.


Summaries of

Ryan v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia
Sep 15, 1988
373 S.E.2d 262 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988)
Case details for

Ryan v. State

Case Details

Full title:RYAN v. THE STATE

Court:Court of Appeals of Georgia

Date published: Sep 15, 1988

Citations

373 S.E.2d 262 (Ga. Ct. App. 1988)
373 S.E.2d 262

Citing Cases

Bennett v. State

We agree with the trial court that Bennett had opened the door to this line of questioning and cannot now…