Nalls v. Georgia

Sean Nalls and Montrella Baskin appealed their convictions for malice murder and other charges stemming from an incident in which William Hughes was killed while attempting to buy drugs. Nalls argued: (1) the trial court erred by failing to limit a jury instruction on justification as applying only to Baskin; and (2) the instruction was an improper comment on the evidence in violation of OCGA 17-8-57. Baskin argued the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that it was not permitted to find him guilty of murder as a party to a crime if it found that his participation was limited to being an accessory after the fact, resulting in mutually exclusive convictions for murder and hindering the apprehension of a criminal that all must be vacated as void. The Georgia Supreme Court found that because any error in failing to limit the jury instruction on justification to Baskin did not affect the outcome of the trial and because the instruction did not violate the version of OCGA 17-8-57 in effect at the time of trial, it affirmed Nalls’ convictions. And because the Court overruled case law that held that murder and hindering convictions were always mutually exclusive, and because the other precedent cited by Baskin did not require the jury instruction he said should have been given, the Court found no reversible error on the arguments he raised. View "Nalls v. Georgia" on Justia Law