New Evidence Code Module

"The new Evidence Code created a "new evidence world" in this State." The State v. Orr, S18G0994 at *17 (citing State v. Orr,  Davis v. State, 299 Ga. 180, 192 (2016)).

"The new code, which was modeled in large part on the Federal Rules of Evidence, is far more extensive and comprehensive than the statutes it replaced, and the General Assembly directed that 'courts are to look to the substantive law of evidence in Georgia [pre-2013]' . . . only when not displaced by the new code'  that took effect on January 1, 2013." The State v. Orr, S18G0994 at *17 (citing State v. Almanza, 304 Ga. 553, 556 (2018) (in turn quoting the preamble to the new code, Ga. L. 2011, p. 100, and OCGA 24-1-2(e) ("Except as modified by statute, the common law as expounded by Georgia courts shall continue to be applied to the admission and exclusion of evidence and to procedures at trial."))).

"Where rules in the new Evidence Code are materially identical to the Federal Rules of Evidence, we look to federal appellate law, and in particular the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit, to interpret them, instead of following our own precedent issued under the old Evidence Code." The State v. Orr, S18G0994 at *17; See also State v. Almanza, 304 Ga. 553, 556 (2018).