State v. Kenney

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the trial court’s decision to exclude out‑of‑court statements made by Sharrie Dixon to Aisha Brown under OCGA § 24‑8‑807, finding the statements lacked the exceptional guarantees of trustworthiness required for the residual hearsay exception. The Court held that the State had affirmatively waived any argument that the statements could be admitted under the present‑sense‑impression or excited‑utterance exceptions, and that the trial court’s reliance on former‑code necessity cases was harmless.