GA 17-7-28 - GA 17-7-28

General Consideration Section creates no right to discovery. - There is no general right to discovery in a criminal case, and nothing in O.C.G.A. §§ 17-7-23 and 17-7-28 creates one, or authorizes the defendant to go on a "fishing expedition" for evidence concededly beyond the scope of the real purpose of the commitment hearing. Pruitt v. State, 258 Ga. 583 , 373 S.E.2d 192 (1988), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1093, 110 S. Ct. 1170 , 107 L. Ed. 2 d 1072 (1990). This section was for the benefit of the state as well as the defendant; and while the duty there imposed upon a justice of the peace was clearly mandatory, it can have no reasonable relation to the legality of the commitment. Harris v. Norris, 188 Ga. 610 , 4 S.E.2d 840 (1939). Defendant's right to testify. - Trial court did not err by all...