Lyons v. State

The trial court's error in allowing a police officer to testify regarding a pre-trial identification of the defendant was harmless since it was cumulative of properly admitted identification testimony.

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This case appears before us for the second time. In Lyons v. State , 258 Ga. App. 9 572 SE2d 632 2002 Lyons I , we reversed Claude Lyons’s conviction for two counts of selling cocaine and one count each of trafficking in cocaine and using a communication facility in committing a crime. On retrial, a jury found Lyons guilty of two counts of sale of cocaine.1 Lyons filed and then withdrew a motion for new trial; he appeals from the judgment of conviction and sentence entered on the guilty verdict. Finding no error, we affirm. 1. Lyons complains that the trial court erred in allowing the jury to read transcripts of the audiotaped transactions between Lyons and a confidential informant, contending that the State failed to authenticate the transcripts or present testimony that they were true and accurate and that the trial court did not give cautionary instructions as to their use. But Lyons failed to raise these objections at trial. While he objected to the first set of transcripts as hearsay and contended they would confuse the jury, he did not object on the basis that the State had failed to lay a foundation for the transcripts or that they had not been authenticated. “A trial objection on a specific ground waives appellate review of other grounds. Cits.” Zachery v. State , 238 Ga. App. 191, 192 2 517 SE2d 71 1999. See also Acliese v. State , 274 Ga. 19, 20 2 549 SE2d 78 2001 issue waived by failure to object.

Although Lyons claims the trial court failed to give special instructions to the jury regarding the transcripts, he did not request such instructions. As Lyons acknowledges, the trial court is not obligated to give cautionary instructions regarding the limited purpose of a transcript in the absence of a request to charge or an objection to the failure to charge. Duren v. State , 177 Ga. App. 421, 423 2 339 SE2d 394 1986. This enumeration of error is without merit.

Lyons v. State

The trial court's error in allowing a police officer to testify regarding a pre-trial identification of the defendant was harmless since it was cumulative of properly admitted identification testimony.

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