Boyt v. State

In Boyt v. State 286 Ga. App. 460, 465 (2) (649 SE2d 589) (2007) the Court held that a nearly identical charge was overly complex and "impossible to understand." "When jurors hear words which they do not understand, they discount or ignore those words." And, as the Court noted in Boyt, this type of charge is flawed in that no instruction on this point is necessary. After all, "a jury may consider all the words it hears as substantive evidence, unless the trial court tells it to disregard those words or unless the trial court at the moment the words are uttered cautions the jury that the testimony is admitted only for a limited purpose." Id. at 466-467 (3) Thus, the error was harmless. See id. at 468 (3).