Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Joseph Jackson appealed his malice murder conviction for the 2018 stabbing death of Claudine Hargrove. Jackson argued: (1) the trial court erred in failing to take curative action after the prosecutor commented on his post-arrest silence by questioning him about why he waited until trial to assert that he acted in self-defense; (2) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move for a mistrial after this questioning; and (3) the cumulative harm from these errors warranted a new trial. Given the overwhelming evidence of guilt, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded any error by the trial court in failing to take some corrective action was harmless, trial counsel was not deficient in failing to move for a mistrial because such a motion would have been futile, and there were not multiple errors to assess cumulatively. Therefore, judgment of conviction was affirmed. View "Jackson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Norris Owens was convicted by jury of felony murder based on possession of a firearm by a first-offender probationer and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Randolph Williamson. On appeal, Owens argued the trial court erred by not merging the count for felony murder based on unlawful possession of a firearm by a first-offender probationer into the voluntary manslaughter verdict. Seeing no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Owens v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Steven Whittaker was convicted of malice murder and related crimes in connection with the 2018 stabbing death of LeBron Hankins. On appeal, Whittaker contended: (1) the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions for malice and felony murder; (2) the trial court committed plain error by failing to instruct the jury that Whittaker had no duty to retreat; (3) trial counsel gave constitutionally ineffective assistance in a number of ways; and (4) the trial court erred by failing to enter an order vacating the sentence for felony murder. The Georgia Supreme Court found, after review of the trial court record, the evidence was sufficient to support his malice-murder conviction, and his sufficiency challenge as to his felony-murder conviction was moot because he was not sentenced on that count. The Court also found the trial court did not err by failing to instruct the jury that Whittaker had no duty to retreat because retreat was not placed at issue. Whittaker’s counsel did not perform deficiently in any of the ways Whittaker asserts. And although the felony-murder count should have been vacated by operation of law, there was no sentencing error to correct because the error would have no actual effect on Whittaker’s sentence. So the Supreme Court affirmed Whittaker’s convictions and sentence. View "Whittaker v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Tony Locklear was convicted by jury of the malice murder of William Long, concealing a death, and related charges. On appeal, Locklear challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. He also argued that the trial court erred by: (1) failing to suppress statements made during his custodial interview; (2) denying his motion to suppress certain physical evidence; (3) providing a confusing verdict form to the jury; and (4) refusing to grant a mistrial after the prosecutor made improper comments during closing arguments. Because the evidence was clearly sufficient to support Locklear’s convictions and because the trial court committed no reversible error with respect to Locklear’s other enumerations of error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Locklear v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Jerrontae Morris was convicted of malice murder and related crimes in connection with the November 2015 shooting of a vehicle occupied by Anthony Lundy and Demeco Person, which fatally wounded Lundy. On appeal, Appellant contended the evidence was insufficient as a matter of constitutional due process to sustain his conviction for malice murder because the State failed to prove that Appellant proximately caused the victim’s death and did not prove that Appellant either conspired with his co-defendants to commit the crime or was a party to the crime. Appellant also contends that the evidence was insufficient as a matter of Georgia statutory law to sustain his conviction for malice murder because the trial evidence was circumstantial and the State failed to exclude every reasonable hypothesis other than his guilt. The Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible errors and affirmed the convictions. View "Morris v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Quentin Jackson was convicted of malice murder and related charges in connection with the shooting death of Darian Brewster. On appeal, Jackson argued: (1) the evidence was insufficient; (2) his trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance in several respects; and (3) the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on accomplice corroboration. The Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible errors and affirmed the convictions. View "Jackson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

After a joint trial, Demetre Mason and Frankland Henderson were convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2014 shooting deaths of Sonia Williams and Shaniqua Camacho. On appeal, Mason contended the evidence was not sufficient to support his convictions for malice murder, and that the trial court should have held a hearing to determine whether evidence that, a month before the murders, Mason stole a handgun that was used in the shootings was admissible under Rule 403. In a separate appeal, Henderson raised six claims: (1) the admission at trial of Mason’s out-of-court statement to police violated Henderson’s rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment; (2) the trial court should have given an instruction limiting how the jury could consider Mason’s out-of-court statement; (3) the testimony of one witness for the prosecution, who he claimed was an accomplice, was insufficiently corroborated; (4) the trial court should have excluded as hearsay testimony about statements from an associate of Henderson and Mason, because there was insufficient evidence to show that the statements were made in furtherance of a conspiracy so as to fall within a hearsay exception; (5) the trial court abused its discretion in denying Henderson’s motion to sever his case; and (6) the trial court abused its discretion in admitting photos of Henderson making gang signs without proper authentication.The Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible errors in either case and affirmed the convictions. View "Henderson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Larry Reese was convicted by jury of the 2015 malice murder of Claynesia Ringer, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony based on shooting Ringer, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Reese argued on appeal: (1) the trial court plainly erred by failing to instruct the jury on justification, no duty to retreat, and the State’s burden to disprove affirmative defenses; (2) the trial court plainly erred by not giving an accomplice corroboration charge; and (3) Reese received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel. Seeing no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Reese v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Tomarkus Young was convicted by jury of felony murder and other charges in connection with the 2018 shooting death of Richard Anderson. On appeal, Young argued the evidence was constitutionally insufficient to support his convictions; that the trial court erred in denying his motion to strike a potential juror; that he received ineffective assistance of counsel; and that cumulative errors require the grant of a new trial. Finding these assertions lacked merit, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Young v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Perry Lee Hatcher, Jr., was convicted by jury of felony murder and cruelty to children in the third degree in connection with the shooting death of his wife, Dashea Hatcher, in the presence of their son, M. H. Hatcher contended his attorney was ineffective for failing to object to the qualifications of the State’s expert witness and to rebut the expert’s opinion concerning fibers found on the murder weapon. Because Hatcher failed to carry his burden of showing ineffective assistance of counsel, The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s order denying his motion for a new trial. View "Hatcher v. Georgia" on Justia Law