Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

A jury found Dantazias Raines guilty of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2011 killing of Brandy Guined, as well as three counts of misdemeanor obstruction of a police officer. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus 40 years to serve consecutively. His amended motion for new trial was denied, and he appealed, asserting insufficiency of the evidence with respect to venue, corroboration of accomplice testimony, and the misdemeanor obstruction charges. He also argued the trial court erred in failing to charge on accomplice corroboration; that the jury improperly considered materials not admitted into evidence; and that his sentence of life without parole was void as a matter of law. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court found the evidence sufficient except with respect to venue on the obstruction charges, and found no plain error with respect to the jury instruction or the consideration of evidence by the jury. Therefore, the Court affirmed in part and reversed in part, vacated Raines’ sentence in part, and remanded this case to the trial court for resentencing in light of the Court’s subsequent decision in Veal v. Georgia, 784 SE2d 403 (2016). View "Raines v. Georgia" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Demetrius Willis of three counts of malice murder and numerous related offenses. After finding beyond a reasonable doubt multiple statutory aggravating circumstances, the jury recommended death sentences for the murder convictions, and the trial court entered judgment accordingly. Willis’s motion for a new trial was denied, and he appealed his convictions and sentences. The Georgia Supreme Court determined the verdicts for aggravated assault of the three murder victims merged into the corresponding malice murder verdicts. Therefore, Willis’s convictions and sentences for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon of three victims had to be vacated. The Court affirmed all of Willis’s remaining convictions and sentences, including his death sentences for the murders. View "Willis v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Jerome Foster was convicted by jury of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, and related crimes in connection with the robbery, beating, and strangling death of Kenneth Scott, Jr. In his sole enumeration on appeal, Foster argued that, because the statements of an accomplice linking him to the crimes were not sufficiently corroborated, the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the convictions. View "Foster v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Selena Rivera was found guilty by jury of malice murder and other offenses in connection with the beating death of three-year-old Nevaeh Pinckney. Pickney was Rivera’s grandchild. On appeal, Rivera contended the evidence at trial was insufficient to support the verdict. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction, and affirmed Rivera’s conviction. View "Rivera v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Following appellant Harold Bishop’s third trial for the 1996 murder of his wife, Sherry, he was convicted of felony murder. On appeal, he argued the trial court erred in admitting certain statements made by the victim under the necessity exception to the rule against hearsay contained in our old Evidence Code. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Bishop’s conviction. View "Bishop v. Georgia" on Justia Law

A habeas petitioner who has completely served her misdemeanor sentence “must demonstrate that [s]he is suffering adverse collateral consequences flowing from [her] conviction. Seble Abebe appealed the denial of her petition for a writ of habeas corpus after she was convicted of DUI. She was sentenced to 12 months’ probation. She was denied relief because she failed to show adverse collateral consequences. The Georgia Supreme Court determined the superior court correctly determined Abebe was not entitled to relief. View "Abebe v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Martez Johnson appealed his convictions for crimes related to the 2015 shooting death of Cortez Ingram and the aggravated assault of Torin Waters. Appellant argued the evidence was legally insufficient to support the verdicts and that the trial court erred when it did not grant his motion for pretrial immunity. Finding no reversible error after review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Johnson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Patrick Hinton was found guilty of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the May 2013 shooting death of Henry Reeves. On appeal, Hinton argued his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to renew a request for a voluntary manslaughter jury instruction, and that the trial court erred by failing to merge two of his sentences. Finding no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Hinton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Rico Jones was found guilty of felony murder, five counts of cruelty to children in the second degree, and one count of possession of marijuana in connection with the drowning death of Camyria Arnold. Jones was babysitting the child, disciplining her for wetting the bed. After the children got out of the bath, Jones told Camyria to lie down for a nap. Jones then fell asleep for “five to ten minutes” before waking up to a sibling’s crying. When he woke up, Jones said, he noticed Camyria walking strangely, as though she were dizzy or drunk, and she looked drowsy. As Jones explained it, he thought Camyria might have swallowed some medicine, so he put his finger down her throat and she threw up a little bit of water and red fluid. Jones said that he then held Camyria under a cold shower for one or two seconds to try to wake her up. He said that Camyria seemed more alert for a few minutes, but then began acting drowsy again, so he rushed her to the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital, Camyria was unresponsive, barely breathing, and had a core body temperature of 91 degrees, indicating that her body was shutting down and she was “about half dead.” Her eyes were fixed and dilated, suggesting significant brain injury. On appeal, Jones contended the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions and that the trial judge erred by expressing an opinion about the evidence in violation of OCGA 17- 8-57. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed the evidence was insufficient to support Jones’s convictions for cruelty to children in the second degree by smoking marijuana in the children’s presence, and reversed the convictions for those three counts. The evidence was legally sufficient to support the jury’s guilty verdicts on the remaining counts, however, and the Court found no violation of OCGA 17-8-57. Jones’s remaining convictions were therefore affirmed. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Pro se appellant Jeffrey McGee has appeared five times before the Georgia Supreme Court with respect to issues arising out of his criminal conviction for the 1999 shooting death of a police officer and related crimes. McGee entered a negotiated guilty Alford plea to murder, aggravated battery upon a police officer, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. In exchange, the State withdrew its intent to seek the death penalty. At the plea hearing, McGee stipulated to the statutory aggravating circumstance that the victim was engaged in the performance of his official duties at the time he was murdered, and McGee affirmatively indicated that he understood this would allow the court to impose a sentence of life without parole. The trial court sentenced McGee to life without parole for the guilty plea to murder, twenty years to serve concurrent with the life sentence for the guilty plea to aggravated battery, and five years to serve concurrent to the previous two sentences for the guilty plea to possession of a firearm. No timely direct appeal was pursued. McGee sought habeas corpus relief, which was denied. Pertinent to this appeal, McGee claimed he received ineffective assistance of counsel with regard to sentencing and sought resentencing. The Supreme Court determined McGee could not demonstrate the required prejudice for establishing constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel, and therefore, he could not prevail on an assertion that the trial court erred in denying an out-of-time appeal. View "McGee v. Georgia" on Justia Law