Plain error standard applies to evidence but not closing arguments.

- Georgia has adopted the plain error standard with respect to rulings on evidence; however, this rule does not apply to a prosecutor's closing statements, which are not evidence, and are reviewed under prior case law providing for waiver of issues that were not objected to at trial. Gates v. State, 298 Ga. 324, 781 S.E.2d 772 (2016).

Under a plain error review, since the defendant failed to object at trial, the trial court did not abuse the court's discretion by allowing various autopsy photographs to be admitted into evidence at trial because the photos were not particularly gory or gruesome and were relevant to show the nature and location of the victim's injuries, which corroborated the account of the shooting given by the eyewitnesses who saw the defendant. Benton v. State, 301 Ga. 100, 799 S.E.2d 743 (2017).

In a malice murder case, pretermitting whether the trial court erred in admitting a statement that the victim had made to the victim's wife before the shooting, any error in the admission of the statement was harmless as the evidence of the defendant's guilt was overwhelming, and it was highly probable that the admission of the victim's hearsay statement did not contribute to the verdict because, prior to the shooting, the defendant had the victim's name stored as "the dead man" in the defendant's cell phone; the defendant told an employee at the tire shop where the victim worked to tell the victim that the defendant was going to kill the victim; and, after the shooting, the defendant told officers that the defendant shot the victim. Perez v. State, 303 Ga. 188, 811 S.E.2d 331 (2018).

Admission of evidence of fighting at school.

- Pretermitting whether the second defendant showed that the admission of the evidence of the second defendant's no contest plea to disrupting a public school and affray was obviously erroneous, the second defendant did not even allege that the outcome of the trial was likely affected by its admission, especially considering that other, independent evidence was presented that the second defendant was involved in fighting at the second defendant's public school. Anthony v. State, 303 Ga. 399, 811 S.E.2d 399 (2018).

Admission of no contest plea not plain error.

- After the defendant was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol to the extent that the defendant was less safe to drive (DUI), the defendant could not show error, much less plain error, in the admission of evidence pertaining to the administrative license suspension (ALS) stipulation because the stipulation entered in the ALS hearing that the defendant would plead guilty to DUI in exchange for the return of the defendant's driver's license was relevant to, though certainly not dispositive of, the charge that the defendant was driving under the influence of alcohol, and its probative value was not substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. Adams v. State, 344 Ga. App. 159, 809 S.E.2d 87 (2017).

Decision to use prior convictions improper.

- In a child molestation case, the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for new trial because it was an abuse of discretion to allow the prosecution to question the victim's mother listing the defendant's prior arrests for four offenses after the mother had already testified that the mother was aware of the defendant's prior arrests and that the arrets did not change the mother's opinion of the defendant's character; further, the admission of specific instances of conduct was not harmless as the victim's description of the defendant's improper conduct varied over time, and the appellate court could not say that the defendant's prior arrests did not enter into the jury's evaluation of the defendant's testimony and credibility. Gaskin v. State, 334 Ga. App. 758, 780 S.E.2d 426 (2015).

When the defendant was convicted of three counts of computer or electronic pornography and child exploitation, the trial court did not plainly err in admitting a retired police officer's testimony during the trial about the retired officer's investigation of an alleged similar transaction in 2008 because it was undisputed that the relevant videos and photographs from the 2008 investigation were destroyed when the hard drive used in that investigation crashed; there was no evidence that the state intentionally destroyed the videos and photographs in bad faith; and the admission of the retired officer's identification testimony did not affect the outcome of the trial as the evidence of the defendant's guilt was overwhelming. Patch v. State, 337 Ga. App. 233, 786 S.E.2d 882 (2016).

Informing jury that witnesses were held in contempt for failing to testify not plain error.

- Trial court did not plainly err by informing the jury that two witnesses were held in contempt for refusing to testify on behalf of the state because, even if the trial court's remarks did give rise to some suggestion that the witnesses would point to the defendant as the perpetrator in the shooting of the victim, that suggestion was not at odds with the defense at trial as the defendant did not point to another perpetrator but claimed that the victim was accidentally shot while tussling with the defendant. Wallace v. State, 303 Ga. 34, 810 S.E.2d 93 (2018).

Substance of the evidence apparent from the context.

- Although a drug distribution defendant failed to make an offer of proof as to the evidence regarding a detective's credibility that was excluded, the court found that the substance of the evidence was sufficiently apparent from the attorneys' discussion to preserve the defendant's argument for appellate review as permitted under O.C.G.A. § 24-1-103(a)(2). Williams v. State, 332 Ga. App. 546, 774 S.E.2d 126 (2015).

Comment by trial court not plain error.

- Trial court's statements regarding the location of the shooting did not improperly express the court's opinion about whether venue and the shooting had been proven and the defendant did not show plain error because the trial court framed the court's statement in terms of allegations and never mentioned the venue for the charge; and the defendant did not show that the court's statement orienting the prospective jurors to the case had any effect on the outcome of the defendant's trial as the state presented evidence that the victim was shot, including the surveillance recording showing the shooting and expert testimony from a medical examiner; and the prosecutor elicited undisputed testimony from several witnesses that the crimes occurred in Fulton County. Thompson v. State, Ga. , 816 S.E.2d 646 (2018).

Admission of prior criminal activity to show involvement in criminal street gang.

- Trial court did not commit plain error by permitting the state to introduce evidence that the third defendant had been involved in prior criminal activity, including battery, theft of a vehicle, and disorderly conduct, for the limited purpose of showing the third defendant's involvement in a criminal street gang. Anthony v. State, 303 Ga. 399, 811 S.E.2d 399 (2018).

Failure to play entire recording of police interview not plain error.

- Defendant did not show that the trial court plainly erred by not allowing the defendant to play the entire recording of a witness's police interview because the trial court allowed the defendant to play an additional segment of the recording to show that the witness's prior statements to the police might have been affected by medication; and the defendant did not identify any other specific statements in the portions of the recording that the state played for the jury which needed to be explained by playing the rest of the witness's interview. Thompson v. State, Ga. , 816 S.E.2d 646 (2018).

Admitting evidence of witness's compensation not plain error.

- In a products liability case, the prejudicial effect of admitting evidence of a car manufacturer's CEO's compensation did not so dramatically outweigh its probative value that it required reversal of the jury verdict; the actions of the CEO in allegedly interfering with a government recall of the vehicle made the CEO's credibility and bias relevant. Chrysler Group, LLC v. Walden, 303 Ga. 358, 812 S.E.2d 244 (2018).

Exclusion of evidence of victim's gang membership not plain error.

- Trial court did not commit plain error by excluding evidence that the first victim was a member of a street gang because any such affiliation was irrelevant and had no connection to the shooting; and the defendant provided nothing to indicate that the motivation for the shooting, or anything related to the shooting for that matter, was related to street gang activity. Walton v. State, 303 Ga. 11, 810 S.E.2d 134 (2018).

Exclusion of alleged false accusation of child molestation.

- In the defendant's trial for child molestation arising out of viewing a pornographic video with the defendant's four-year-old daughter, the trial court did not err in refusing to allow the defendant to cross-examine the child's mother pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 24-6-608 regarding her own accusations of molestation against her stepfather, who had been acquitted, because the charges were not shown to be false. Further, any error was harmless. Douglas v. State, 340 Ga. App. 168, 796 S.E.2d 893 (2017).

Harmless error when cumulative evidence admitted.

- Trial court did not abuse the court's discretion by admitting evidence from a witness that the defendant had put a hit out on the witness because the evidence was cumulative of other evidence and, thus, any error in the admission of the evidence was harmless. Anglin v. State, 302 Ga. 333, 806 S.E.2d 573 (2017).

Exclusion of forensic toxicologist evidence.

- In a malice murder case, the trial court did not commit plain error in excluding evidence from the forensic toxicologist regarding the drugs found in the victim's system because, given that the defendant offered no evidence to support the defendant's theory that the victim, the defendant's wife, died because drugs in the victim's system made the victim more susceptible to asphyxiation, the defendant could not show that there was a reasonable probability that, if the proffered testimony about drugs in the victim's system had been admitted, the outcome of the trial would have been more favorable to the defendant. Williams v. State, 302 Ga. 147, 805 S.E.2d 873 (2017).

Testimony regarding defendant's failure to contact police.

- In the defendant's murder and rape trial, admission of testimony about the defendant's failure to contact police after the victim's death despite the defendant admittedly having sex with the victim, arguing with the victim, and pushing the victim the night of the victim's death was not plain error because the defendant failed to point to clear controlling authority that admission of the testimony was a clear and obvious legal error. Simmons v. State, 299 Ga. 370, 788 S.E.2d 494 (2016).

Admission of detective's comment that "defendant was going to prison" was harmless error.

- Even assuming that the detective's comment that the detective thought the defendant was going to prison should have been redacted from the video recording of the defendant's interview by the police, its admission was harmless because, considering the strength of the properly admitted evidence of the defendant's guilt and the context of a police interview in which the defendant claimed that the defendant had nothing to do with the victim's death, the jury was highly unlikely to have been swayed by the detective's passing comment; and the jury could not have believed that the defendant had already been tried and convicted based on a statement made during a police interview played for the jury during the defendant's trial. Tanner v. State, 303 Ga. 203, 811 S.E.2d 316 (2018).

Detective's testimony not plain error.

- Detective's answers to the defendant's questions regarding the surveillance recording of the shooting did not violate the ultimate issue rule, and the defendant could not show harm because evidence of the defendant's guilt was compelling; and the defendant could not show that the complained-of comments likely affected the outcome of the defendant's trial as, although it might have been improper for the detective to share the detective's subjective belief that the defendant was the shooter seen on the surveillance recording with the jury explicitly, that the detective believed the defendant was the shooter seen on the surveillance recording would have come as no surprise to the jury. Thompson v. State, Ga. , 816 S.E.2d 646 (2018).

Admission of other crimes, wrongs, or acts did not constitue plain error.

- In an armed robbery case, pretermitting whether admission of evidence of the defendant's prior armed robbery conviction amounted to clear or obvious error, the admission of that evidence did not constitute plain error that affected the defendant's substantial rights because the defendant testified and admitted that the defendant pled guilty to the prior charge; although the defendant claimed the defendant acted in self-defense, eyewitnesses testified that they saw no weapons on the victims, saw the defendant rifling the victims' pockets, and heard one of the victims pleading with the defendant not to kill the victim; and the evidence indicated that both victims were shot from behind, undermining the defendant's claim of self-defense. Nations v. State, 303 Ga. 221, 811 S.E.2d 292 (2018).

Harmless error in allowing state's demonstration.

- Even if the trial court abused the court's discretion in allowing the state's demonstration in which one of the prosecutors beat a punching bag at the direction of the detective 100 times (the number of blows the detective estimated the victim had received), any error was harmless as any effect the demonstration might have had on the jury would have been minimal compared to the effect of the properly-admitted evidence before the jury because the evidence of the defendant's guilt was overwhelming; the placement and extent of the victim's bruises were well-documented by the medical examiner's diagrams and multiple photographs; and the jury heard extensive medical and law enforcement testimony about the bruises. Williams v. State, 302 Ga. 147, 805 S.E.2d 873 (2017).

Admission of bribery evidence constituted harmless error.

- Improper admission of the testimony that the co-defendant's father attempted to influence the victim by bribing the victim into changing the victim's account of what took place was harmless because it was highly probable that the error did not contribute to the jury's verdict as, in addition to the victim's testimony, the state presented evidence that a witness overheard the defendant say that the defendant wanted to rob someone; party guests looked at a co-defendant's phone and saw text messages that referenced a plan to commit a robbery; the defendant was seen with the co-defendant at the party by multiple witnesses; the ATM machine photographed the co-defendant making withdrawals; and the defendant lied about the defendant's alibi. Belcher v. State, 344 Ga. App. 729, 812 S.E.2d 51 (2018).

Use of prior inconsistent statements did not constitute plain error.

- Defendant did not establish plain error because the recording of the witness's police interview was admitted to impeach the witness, not to bolster the detective; the defendant did not identify any admitted prior statements that were outside the scope of the witness's direct examination; the witness had some recollection of the relevant events; and, in light of the compelling evidence presented at trial, the defendant did not establish that the errors probably affected the outcome of the defendant's trial. Thompson v. State, Ga. , 816 S.E.2d 646 (2018).

Admission of photographs.

- Admission of one photograph of a murder victim in life with the victim's spouse and grandchildren, as well as 15 photographs of the victim after the victim's death from being hit and dragged by the defendant's truck, was not plain error. Bozzie v. State, 302 Ga. 704, 808 S.E.2d 671 (2017).

Waiver based on failure to object.

- Because the defendant's only objection to the messages on a social media website was that they were prejudicial and not probative, the defendant waived any objection that the messages were not properly authenticated; however, even if the defendant did not waive the authentication objection, the victim's mother properly authenticated the messages as the mother knew the defendant went by the name "Bucky Raw" because the mother had seen videos that the defendant had posted - and in which the defendant appeared - on another website using that alias; and the mother was able to discern the defendant's identity through the conversations the mother had with the defendant on the accounts that the mother and the mother's friend had set up. Cotton v. State, 297 Ga. 257, 773 S.E.2d 242 (2015).

Cited in Pyatt v. State, 298 Ga. 742, 784 S.E.2d 759 (2016); Anthony v. State, 298 Ga. 827, 785 S.E.2d 277 (2016); Jones v. State, 299 Ga. 40, 785 S.E.2d 886 (2016); Durden v. State, 299 Ga. 273, 787 S.E.2d 697 (2016); Amey v. State, 337 Ga. App. 480, 788 S.E.2d 80 (2016); Lupoe v. State, 300 Ga. 233, 794 S.E.2d 67 (2016); Latta v. State, 341 Ga. App. 696, 802 S.E.2d 264 (2017).