Palmer v. State

The defendant's special demurrers to his indictment on 24 counts of sexual exploitation of children were untimely filed after he pled not guilty to the charges.

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A grand jury indicted Stacy Palmer for twenty-four counts of sexual exploitation of children on January 25, 2006. Palmer was arraigned on February 16, 2006, and entered a plea of not guilty. On February 27, 2006, Palmer filed general and special demurrers to the indictment. The trial court issued an order denying the general demurrers, but dismissed the special demurrers as untimely. We granted Palmer’s application for interlocutory review to determine whether the trial court properly dismissed Palmer’s special demurrers. Finding no error, we affirm the trial court’s order. It is well-established that a special demurrer, which objects to the form of the indictment, must be made prior to pleading not guilty to the indictment: A general demurrer, in which a defendant contends that the charging instrument fails altogether to charge him with a crime, may be raised at any time. . . . A special demurrer, on the other hand, objects to the form of the indictment or seeks more information and must be raised before pleading to the indictment or it is waived.1 The Georgia Supreme Court addressed this issue as recently as March 2005, holding that the defendant’s “failure to file his special demurrer seeking additional information before pleading not guilty to the indictment constitutes a waiver of his right to be tried on a perfect indictment.”2 These cases reaffirmed the Supreme Court’s long-standing principle.3

Palmer argues that the trial court erred in dismissing his special demurrers because OCGA § 17-7-110, which became effective on May 14, 2003, provides that all pretrial motions, including demurrers and special pleas, “shall be filed within ten days after the date of arraignment, unless the time for filing is extended by the court.” He urges us to disregard Supreme Court precedent and hold that OCGA § 17-7-110 mandates that all demurrers, general and special, may be filed up to ten days after the date of arraignment. We decline to adopt this argument.

Palmer v. State

The defendant's special demurrers to his indictment on 24 counts of sexual exploitation of children were untimely filed after he pled not guilty to the charges.

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