Strozier v

Clark, 206 Ga. App. 85, 424 S.E.2d 368 (1992). Other Substitution of indictment permissible. — If on a prosecution for the offense of rape, after a plea of not guilty had been entered on an indictment, and after the voir dire questions had been propounded to a panel of 12 jurors, but before any of the jurors had been sworn in chief, the solicitor general (now district attorney) stated to the court that the clerk had handed to the solicitor general the wrong indictment, and that the solicitor general wished to withdraw the one on which such plea had been entered and to substitute a different indictment in which a different female was named as the ‘‘alleged victim,’’ defendant’s motion for mistrial was properly overruled, and the case taken to trial 15-12-140 upon the substituted indictment. Fields v. State, 190 Ga. 642, 10 S.E.2d 33 (1940). Charge to jury allowed jury to fulfill jury’s responsibilities. — Defendant’s trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to request that the trial court give preliminary instructions regarding the presumption of innocence, reasonable doubt, or the burden of proof, because these doctrines were presented in the trial court’s charge at the close of evidence, as required by O.C.G.A. § 5-5-24(b), allowing the jury to fulfill the jury’s responsibilities under O.C.G.A. § 15-12-139. Decapite v. State, 312 Ga. App. 832, 720 S.E.2d 297 (2011). Pledge of Allegiance. — The United States of America did not prejudice a non-citizen defendant nor indicate that the jurors were pro-state; rather, a juror’s willingness to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, with its reinforcement of the concepts of ‘‘liberty and justice for all,’’ showed no bias, either for the state, or for one who was charged by the state with a crime, and, in fact, was more likely to remind a juror of his or her obligations in the pursuit of justice. Robles v. State, 277 Ga. 415, 589 S.E.2d 566 (2003).