Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Raekwon Roseboro was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2015 shooting death of Willie Deandre Jackson and the aggravated assault of Kendrick Ellison. On appeal, Roseboro argued he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed conviction. View "Roseboro v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Irwin Dresbach appealed his convictions for felony murder and other crimes in connection with the 2014 shooting death of Jennifer Gatewood. Dresbach argued on appeal that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to explain adequately the strength of the evidence against him, causing Dresbach to proceed to trial instead of accepting the State’s plea offer. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed, finding that Dresbach failed to establish a reasonable probability that he would have accepted the State’s plea offer but for trial counsel’s alleged deficiency. View "Dresbach v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Amy McGarity was convicted by jury of murder and other crimes in connection with the kidnapping and strangulation death of Kayla Weil. McGarity contended that the trial court erred in denying her motion for a new trial, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction for murder and that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of her bad character. Because neither of these claims had merit, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "McGarity v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Gary Holland was charged with first-degree vehicular homicide predicated on a hit- and-run. Holland moved to bar his prosecution for that offense. The trial court granted his motion, declaring OCGA 40-6-393(b) unconstitutional under the equal protection and due process clauses of the federal and state constitutions. The State appealed the trial court’s order. The finding that the trial court erred in finding the statute unconstitutional, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed. View "Georgia v. Holland" on Justia Law

Tracy Jones, who pleaded guilty to murder and other offenses, filed a motion for out-of-time appeal, claiming that her plea counsel abandoned her after sentencing and that her right to appeal was thereby frustrated. The trial court denied Jones’s motion on the basis that she did not allege that her failure to file a timely appeal was due to ineffective assistance of counsel. But the Georgia Supreme Court concluded, after review of the trial court record, that she did sufficiently state such an allegation in her pro se motion, so the Court vacated and remanded for a hearing as to whether counsel’s ineffectiveness in fact frustrated her right to appeal. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Todd Goff was convicted of malice murder for killing his girlfriend, Tiffany Salter. The trial court granted Goff a new trial on the basis that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by: (1) advising Goff not to testify; (2) failing to move for a mistrial after the jury heard that Goff was on probation; and (3) failing to introduce Goff’s booking photos. The State appealed. Because the trial court erred in finding that Goff’s trial counsel performed deficiently in any of these respects, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed. View "Georgia v. Goff" on Justia Law

Eric Simmons was convicted by jury for murder and the possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Simmons argued the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred by not granting his motion for a mistrial following “emotional outbursts” from the victim’s family and friends. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Simmons' convictions and sentence. View "Simmons v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Vivian Corley was conned by jury of murder, aggravated assault, and the unlawful possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the fatal shooting of Lorraine Manuel. Corley appealed, claiming that the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions, that she previously had been acquitted of murder with malice aforethought and could not be retried for that crime, that the trial court erred when it excluded certain evidence, and that the prosecuting attorney made improper comments to the jury. Upon review of the record and briefs, the Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible error related to these claims. The Court did note, however, that the trial court erred when it failed to merge the aggravated assault into the murder. The Court therefore vacated the conviction and sentence for aggravated assault, but otherwise affirmed. View "Corley v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Rosano Bundel appealed his convictions for malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the 2011 shooting death of George Tabetando. Bundel argued that the weight of the evidence did not support his convictions and that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial without conducting a hearing. Finding the evidence entered into the trial court record sufficient to support Bundel's conviction, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. Furthermore, the Court determined Bundel's second claim was also without merit because a trial court is required to hold a hearing on a motion for new trial only when one is requested, and Bundel did not do so. View "Bundel v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Marcus Moore pled guilty to, and was convicted of murder. He moved for an out-of-time appeal. The trial court later sua sponte dismissed Moore’s notice of appeal from the order denying his motion for an out-of-time appeal, based on its determinations that the judgment was not then appealable and that the questions presented had become moot. Moore filed a timely notice of appeal of the dismissal order. Because trial courts are not authorized to dismiss appeals for the reasons given in the dismissal order, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed that order. And because the record reflected that the trial court failed to conduct a factual inquiry into the allegations in Moore’s motion for an out-of- time appeal, as required under the circumstances, the Supreme Court vacated the order denying his motion for an out-of-time appeal and remanded to the trial court for consideration of the merits of the motion. View "Moore v. Georgia" on Justia Law