Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Nathan Mims was convicted by jury for murder and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime for stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Naty Ortiz-Ramos, to death. His sole enumeration of error was that the evidence presented at his trial was insufficient to sustain his convictions because the evidence showed that he could not control himself and thus was not responsible for the killing. The Georgia Supreme Court found the jury was not required to believe his explanation of Ortiz-Ramos’s killing; the evidence was sufficient to convict him, so his convictions were affirmed. View "Mims v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Dekito Champ was convicted of malice murder and a firearm offense in connection with the shooting death of his former girlfriend, Jana Watson. Appellant’s sole claim on appeal was that the trial court erred by violating his Georgia constitutional right to be present at numerous bench conferences that occurred during jury selection. After review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded the evidence presented at Appellant’s trial was sufficient to support his convictions, so that part of the trial court’s judgment was affirmed. However, because Appellant’s right-to-be-present claim was raised for the first time on appeal, there was no opportunity for the State to develop the record, and there were no findings or rulings by the trial court as to that claim, particularly as to whether Appellant acquiesced to his absences from the bench conferences. The Supreme Court therefore vacated the trial court’s judgment in part and remanded the case for the trial court to hold a hearing and rule in the first instance on Appellant’s constitutional claim. View "Champ v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Kelvin Hurston and his co-defendant Dextreion Shealey were convicted of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the gang-related shooting death of Daven Tucker. Appellant contended the trial court violated his constitutional right to be present during his trial and that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to request a ruling on his motion to sever his trial from Shealey’s, failing to request a ruling on his motion to suppress evidence derived from a search warrant, failing to request a jury instruction on accomplice corroboration, and failing to request a proper limiting instruction on other-act evidence. Finding no merit to any of these claims, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's convictions. View "Hurston v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Jerry Carston was convicted of malice murder and related firearm and gang crimes after he shot and killed Quinton Williams, who had left Appellant’s gang. On appeal, Appellant argued the trial court erred by supposedly preventing his counsel from questioning one of the State’s witnesses about pending felony charges and by admitting into evidence a video recording of a gang beating of Williams that did not involve Appellant. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded Appellant did not show the trial court imposed any unreasonable limitation on questioning the State’s witness and that the video was properly admitted. Accordingly, Appellant's convictions were affirmed. View "Carston v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Eric Smith was convicted of the felony murder of Eric Hernandez, the aggravated assaults of Juan Vargas and Manuel Hernandez, and a firearm offense. He appealed, contending the trial court erred in limiting his cross-examination of members of the Hernandez family; in not allowing him to cross-examine a police detective about whether Hernandez was a member of a gang; and in ruling against his claim that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective. Concluding that the trial court did not err with regard to the two evidentiary rulings and that Smith failed to preserve the claim of ineffective assistance, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Smith v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Hakim Lofton was convicted by jury of malice murder and possession of a firearm, in connection with the 2013 shooting death of Jason Walker. On appeal, Lofton challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him, and contended the trial court erred in admitting cell-site location information that was obtained without a warrant, in failing to instruct the jury regarding the corroboration required for accomplice testimony, in allowing certain exhibits to go out with the jury, and in rejecting his claim that there was racial discrimination in jury selection. Lofton also contended he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Lofton's convictions. View "Lofton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Kalvin Suggs challenged his 2017 convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Tony Harrison. Appellant contended: (1) the evidence presented at his trial was legally insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion regarding voir dire, thereby forcing him to question all the prospective jurors together, rejecting his challenge to an allegedly racially discriminatory peremptory strike; denying his motion in limine to exclude evidence derived from a surreptitious audio recording of a conversation, and admitting 21 crime scene and autopsy photographs; and (3) the court did not follow the proper procedure when receiving a communication from the jury and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's convictions. View "Suggs v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Deshaun Middlebrooks appealed his convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2017 shooting death of Quintavious Barber and the aggravated assault of Keundre Chappell. On appeal, Middlebrooks contended the trial court erred in denying his motion to exclude evidence of gang activity, and that he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Because Middlebrooks’ conviction for the aggravated assault of Barber should have merged into the malice murder conviction, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated the conviction and sentence for that count. Otherwise, the convictions were affirmed. View "Middlebrooks v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Alfredo Allen was convicted of malice murder and other related crimes in connection with the 2015 stabbing death of Erin McKinney and the aggravated battery of Candice McKinney. On appeal, he challenged the sufficiency of the evidence relating to both murder charges. Finding the evidence sufficient and no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Allen v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Johnathon Kirkland appealed his convictions for malice murder and related offenses, contending the trial court erred by failing to suppress an identification of him made by means of a photo lineup. Specifically, Kirkland contended the photo-lineup procedure was unduly suggestive. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Kirkland's convictions. View "Kirkland v. Georgia" on Justia Law