Murphy v. State

I concur fully with the majority’s opinion. I write separately because the “harmless error” analysis in Division 1 of the majority opinion is incomplete. Such analysis turns on the omission to charge in relation to “the trial record as a whole.” Bridges v. State, 268 Ga. 700, 703 (492 SE2d 877) (1997). Further, the “highly probable” standard used to evaluate the error in Division 1 is the wrong standard for the evaluation of error that has constitutional dimension. Here, the verdict was demanded as a matter of law, thus, there is no reasonable possibility that the error could have contributed…