Johnson v. State

Deen, Chief Judge..

1. For the better part of a century the appellate courts of this state have emphasized that evidence showing an accused has *795committed an offense wholly independent from the crime for which he is on trial is irrelevant, immaterial and prejudicial in that it places the defendant’s character in issue in an impermissible fashion. The rule is of course the subject of exceptions, one — indeed the one most frequently quoted — being where the evidence is admissible for the purpose of showing “motive, plan or scheme.” Coart v. State, 156 Ga. 536 (119 SE 723) (1923). What the…