Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Bryant Willerson was convicted of murder in connection with the 2011 beating death of William McClain. On appeal, Willerson contended the evidence presented at his trial was insufficient to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime of which he was convicted. He also argued his trial counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance for failing to properly impeach a witness. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Willerson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Nathaniel Baker was convicted by jury of felony murder and other offenses in connection with crimes committed against Craigory Burch, Jr., Jasmine Hendricks, and C.B., a minor child. On appeal, Baker argued the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred by allowing the State to present evidence of criminal gang activity. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Baker v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Quintavious Walker was convicted of the murder of Jaquille Thomas and Angelique Bowman. In his one issue raised on appeal, he contended the trial court erred by admitting into evidence at his trial incriminating statements that he made after he allegedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent during a custodial interview with the police. The Georgia Supreme Court found Appellant’s purported invocations were not unambiguous and unequivocal and not clearly erroneous. Therefore, the trial court did not commit plain error by admitting the statements. View "Walker v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Dion Sims appealed after a jury convicted him of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2001 shooting death of Alan Watson. On appeal, Sims argued: (1) the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction; (2) the State failed to prove venue; and (3) his trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance by failing to file a plea in bar with respect to two counts of the indictment. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court determined Sims’ contentions lacked merit and affirmed his convictions. View "Sims v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2013, Alexander Woods III was convicted by jury of five counts of malice murder and given five consecutive life sentences in connection with the 2004 shooting deaths of four members of the Resendez family and their housekeeper. Woods’ motion for new trial was denied, and he appealed, raising nine alleged instances of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. After review of the record, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated the trial court’s order denying Woods’ motion for new trial, and remanded the case for the trial court to rule in the first instance on the question of deficiency of trial counsel and related evidentiary issues. View "Woods v. Georgia" on Justia Law

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