Brown v. State

In Brown v. State, 250 Ga. 862 (302 S.E.2d 347) (1983), our Supreme Court considered the admissibility of post-autopsy photographs, and the following rule was set forth: A photograph which depicts the victim after autopsy incisions are made or after the state of the body is changed by authorities or the pathologist will not be admissible unless necessary to show some material fact which becomes apparent only because of the autopsy. A photograph which shows mutilation of a victim resulting from the crime against him may, however gruesome, have relevance to the trial of his alleged assailant. The necessary further mutilation of a body at autopsy has no such relevance and may cause confusion, if not prejudice, in the minds of jurors. Id. at 867 (5).