Goodwin v. State

Warren Goodwin was found guilty in a bench trial before the City Court of Atlanta of misdemeanor obstruction of a police officer in violation of OCGA § 16-10-24. He claims on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, and that the trial judge erred by refusing to rule on his motion for the court to reconstruct a transcript of the trial from recollection pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-41 g.

1. The bench trial was not reported, so Goodwin prepared a proposed reconstructed transcript of the trial from his recollection pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-41 g and asked the solicitor to agree to it. When the solicitor refused, Goodwin filed a motion on September 22, 2000, in the trial court with a proposed transcript attached asking that the trial judge enter an order pursuant to § 5-6-41 g certifying a transcript from the judge’s recollection of the trial or certifying that his proposed transcript was correct. The record further shows that, after filing the September 22 motion, Goodwin filed a notice of appeal on December 1, 2000, directing the trial clerk to transmit the reconstructed transcript while stating that a reconstructed transcript “will be filed for inclusion in the record on appeal.” On the day he filed the notice of appeal, Goodwin sent a second proposed reconstructed transcript to the solicitor. On December 7, 2000, the clerk sent Goodwin a notice stating that no reconstructed transcript had been received for inclusion in the record on appeal, and on December 13, 2000, the solicitor informed Goodwin that he would not agree to the second proposed transcript. Thereafter, the record was transmitted to this Court without any reconstructed transcript prepared pursuant to § 5-6-41 g.