Johnson v. State

I respectfully dissent from Divisions 1 and 3 of the majority opinion. Even if we were to agree that the trial court’s slip of the tongue in substituting “or” for “and,” standing alone, would not constitute reversible error, under the circumstances here multiple errors in the charge bore on Johnson’s sole defense, and call for a reversal.

Where a defendant relies upon only one defense, failure to instruct the jury as to the evidence supporting this defense with sufficient clarity and specificity for the jury to intelligently pass upon it constitutes reversible error. Walden v. State, 196 Ga.…