Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Keilan Orr was convicted by jury of felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the shooting death of Lamario Majors. On appeal, Orr argued the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions, and that the trial court erred by failing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter. After review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible error and affirmed Orr’s convictions. View "Orr v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Stacey Sims appealed the dismissal of his out-of-time motion to withdraw a guilty plea. Sims was indicted on a 36-count grand jury indictment that included numerous charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Sims pled to six counts of malice murder, four counts of aggravated assault, four counts of armed robbery, and three counts of burglary in exchange for the State’s withdrawing its notice of intent to seek the death penalty. The trial court imposed six concurrent life sentences for the murder charges, plus 200 years for the aggravated assaults, armed robberies, and burglaries. Sims did not timely appeal the judgment of conviction entered upon his guilty plea. In May 2017, Sims filed a pro se motion for an out-of-time appeal, alleging that plea counsel was ineffective for failing to discuss and investigate whether Sims’ custodial statement was voluntarily made and that his plea was not freely and voluntarily given. Sims did not allege, however, that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel in connection with his failure to bring a timely appeal or a timely motion to withdraw his guilty plea. In February 2020, Sims again filed an out-of-time motion to withdraw his guilty plea, alleging generally that he was denied an opportunity to withdraw his plea. Sims appealed the trial court’s dismissal order, alleging, for the first time, that plea counsel’s ineffectiveness and post-plea abandonment resulted in his failure to timely file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Sims further claimed that, under Collier v. Georgia, 834 SE2d 769 (2019), he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing. Finding no error in the trial court’s dismissal order, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Sims v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Charles Cook was tried by jury and convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2012 shooting death of Salanto Winfrey. On appeal, Cook contended the trial court erred when it precluded him from presenting evidence of Winfrey’s prior violent acts toward third parties. Seeing no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Cook v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The Georgia Supreme Court granted pro se petitioner Jason Mobuary’s petition for certiorari review. In 2003, petitioner pled guilty to enticing a child for indecent purposes. In 2018, he moved the trial court for an out-of-time appeal and motion for appointment of counsel. The trial court denied both motions in late 2019. Mobuary filed a notice of appeal of the trial court’s rulings. He mailed his notice of appeal on May 12, 2020; the trial court received the notice of appeal on May 22, 2020, and stamped it “filed” and docketed it on May 26, 2020. On June 16, 2020, in its Case No. A20A1922, the Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction on the basis that, “[b]ecause Mobuary’s notice of appeal was filed 167 days after the order he seeks to appeal, it is untimely[.]” The record showed, however, that Mobuary initiated the appellate process in the time allowed, by filing on January 8, 2020, a request for an extension of time from the Supreme Court in which to file an application for a discretionary appeal. The Supreme Court granted an extension through February 10, 2020, and Mobuary filed a discretionary application by the extended deadline. Because the application involved a non-murder criminal offense, and did not appeal to raise any issues that would otherwise invoke the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, the case was transferred to the Court of Appeals, docketed as Case No. A20D0344. The Court of Appeals determined Mobuary’s case could proceed via direct appeal, and on May 8, 2020, granted Mobuary’s application of discretionary appeal. The May 2020 order was entered when certain filing requirements were tolled by the Chief Justice in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In sum, the conclusion that Mobuary’s notice of appeal was untimely was made in error, and the judgment was reversed. View "Mobuary v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The Georgia Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case to decide whether the Court of Appeals erred in holding that a video recording presumed to have no discernible audio, which depicted a now-deceased confidential informant (“CI”) purchasing a small bag of suspected methamphetamine from appellant David Gilmore (a fact neither party disputed on appeal), contained testimonial statements prohibited by the Confrontation Clause. The Supreme Court concluded the video recording depicted the CI’s nonverbal conduct but did not depict any nonverbal statements. As a result, admission of the video recording was not barred by the Confrontation Clause. The Court reversed the Court of Appeal’s decision which reached a contrary conclusion. View "Georgia v. Gilmore" on Justia Law

Appellant Hezekiah Walker was convicted of felony murder and other offenses in connection with the May 2018 shooting death of Samuel Davis, IV. On appeal, Walker contended: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and to overcome his justification defense; (2) the prosecutor’s closing argument violated his right to a fair trial; (3) the trial court erred by excluding certain photographs of the victim offered by the defense while allowing the State to offer a different photograph of the victim; and (4) trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in various respects. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Walker v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Brandon Townsend was convicted of two counts of malice murder in connection with the deaths of Krystal Spainhour and Judy Potts. He appealed, arguing only that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by not requesting a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter as a lesser offense. Because Appellant did not show his trial counsel performed deficiently, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Townsend v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Nathaniel Vivian appealed his convictions for felony murder and related crimes in connection with the 2014 shooting death of Daniel Zeitz. Vivian contended on appeal that the trial court erred in failing to advise him of his right to represent himself at trial, and claimed he received ineffective assistance of counsel based on his trial counsel’s failure to: (1) object to the introduction of his and his co- defendant’s cell phones as exhibits at trial; (2) object to an alleged non-unanimous verdict on the charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; (3) challenge the grand and petit jury composition; and (4) request a jury instruction on mere association. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded there was no merit to these arguments, but because the trial court erred in sentencing Vivian on two separate counts of felony murder, those convictions were vacated and the case remanded to the trial court for resentencing. View "Vivian v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Holly Harvey entered a negotiated guilty plea to two counts of malice murder for the killing of her grandparents, Carl and Sarah Collier. While serving consecutive life sentences, Harvey sought to challenge that plea through a motion for an out-of-time appeal, which was denied. Harvey appealed the denial of that motion, arguing her plea counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance in advising her of her appellate rights and that she was entitled to withdraw her guilty plea due to that ineffectiveness. Because the Georgia Supreme Court did not concur with Harvey’s claim that trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance fails, it affirmed her conviction. View "Harvey v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Lamontez Hinton was convicted of malice murder and other crimes related to the 2014 shooting death of Kilon Williams and the armed robbery of Williams’s friend Nicholas Gibson. Appellant contended the evidence presented at his trial was legally insufficient to support his convictions, and that the trial court should have granted him a new trial under the “thirteenth juror” standard. The Georgia Supreme Court found those contentions had no merit, so the Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions except for his conviction for the aggravated assault of Gibson, which was vacate because it should have merged into Appellant’s conviction for the armed robbery of Gibson. View "Hinton v. Georgia" on Justia Law