Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Dora Treadaway was convicted of felony murder in connection with the death of her husband Claude “Randy” Treadaway. On appeal, Treadaway argued: (1) the trial court’s order denying her motion for new trial should have been vacated and remanded for additional factual findings; (2) the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Treadaway committed any unlawful act that proximately caused Randy’s death; (3) the trial court’s jury instructions on causation were erroneous; and (4) that trial counsel was ineffective in relying on cross-examination of the State’s medical expert rather than calling a defense expert witness and in failing to request the proper charge on causation. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Treadaway's convictions. View "Treadaway v. Georgia" on Justia Law

At a 2004 trial, a jury found Appellant Mario Stinchcomb guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the shooting death of Jakesha Young. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Stinchcomb’s convictions on direct appeal. In 2018, Stinchcomb filed an extraordinary motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence, which the trial court denied without the benefit of an evidentiary hearing. The Supreme Court thereafter granted Stinchcomb’s application for discretionary appeal to consider whether the trial court erred by failing to hold an evidentiary hearing before ruling on his motion. The Supreme Court concluded the trial court did err, and, accordingly, the Court vacated the order denying Stinchcomb’s motion and remanded this case for an evidentiary hearing. View "Stinchcomb v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Cedric Newton, Jr. was tried by jury and convicted of murder and other crimes in connection with the 2010 fatal shooting of Udondra Hargrove. On appeal, Newton claimed the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence of two out-of-court identifications. He also contended he was denied the effective assistance of counsel at trial. Finding no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Newton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Timmy Thompson was found guilty by jury of murder in connection with the death of his wife, Peggy Thompson. Peggy’s cause of death was determined to be blunt-force injuries to her head in conjunction with asphyxia, and her death was ruled a homicide. She had injuries to her head, face, scalp, neck, upper chest area, and arms consistent with blunt-force trauma and strangulation, but not consistent with a fall. Peggy’s injuries were determined to have been caused between one and four hours before her death. Oral and rectal buccal swabs collected from Peggy at the scene tested positive for male DNA matching Thompson. He appealed, arguing the trial court erred by: (1) by allowing improper testimony regarding other alleged acts of violence committed by Thompson against his stepdaughter, stepson, and daughter to be admitted at trial; and (2) by not applying the rule of sequestration to these other-acts witnesses. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed judgment. View "Thompson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Dextreion Shealey and his co-defendant Kelvin Hurston were found guilty of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the 2016 gang-related shooting death of Daven Tucker. Appellant’s only contention on appeal of his conviction was that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding from evidence statements that his co-indictee Charles Lovelace made during Lovelace’s guilty plea hearing. Seeing no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Shealey v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Kristine Heath was convicted by jury of homicide by vehicle in the first degree based on reckless driving; homicide by vehicle in the second degree; five counts of serious injury by vehicle; and failure to stop at a stop sign. The Court of Appeals reversed Heath’s convictions, except for the stop sign conviction, after concluding that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to demur to the fatally defective felony counts in the indictment. The Georgia Supreme Court granted the State’s petition for certiorari to consider whether trial counsel's failure to file a general demurrer resulted in prejudice under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). The Supreme Court determined Heath demonstrated prejudice under Strickland, thus affirming the Court of Appeals' reversal of the trial court's denial of Heath's motion for a new trial as to the vehicular homicide and serious-injury-by-vehicle convictions. View "Georgia v. Heath" on Justia Law

Donnie Rowe, Jr. was accused of double murder during a prison escape. In the pending death penalty prosecution of Rowe, the trial court directed that all records of visits from Rowe’s defense team to various prisoners be placed under seal in the legal department of the Department of Corrections, rather than being maintained in the individual inmates’ files. The DOC argued that order was void because the trial court lacked the inherent authority or personal or subject matter jurisdiction to issue it and because, even if the trial court had the authority to do so, issuing it constituted an abuse of discretion. Additionally, the Georgia Supreme Court directed the parties to evaluate whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction in light of OCGA 5-7-1 limiting appeals by "the State of Georgia" in "criminal cases." The Court ultimately concluded it had jurisdiction over this appeal, and affirmed in part and reversed in part the trial court's order at issue. "While we conclude that the trial court had the authority to address the matter at issue here, we also conclude that the scope of the trial court’s order is nonetheless subject to review for an abuse of discretion. ... ordering the removal of the records from their usual place to the legal office was unnecessary, when the key issue was controlling the persons who were entitled to examine them. Instead, the trial court should have ... ordered the prison officials not to disclose any of the relevant visitation records to the prosecuting attorney or the prosecution team or to any person whose access to the records is not reasonably justified." View "Georgia v. Rowe" on Justia Law

Appellant James Hampton was tried with Dwayne Abney and convicted of three counts of malice murder and several other crimes in connection with the shooting deaths of Kiana Marshall, Isaiah Martin, and Alexis Kitchens. Marshall's former roommate, Diamond Butler, asked Appellant to help her move out of Marshall's home. Butler could not fit all of her belongings into Appellant's car; appellant asked Butler whether she wanted him to shoot up the house. Appellant told Butler he had "killed all three of them." Abney was arrested following a traffic stop; appellant was found and arrested the next day. On appeal, Appellant contended the trial court erred by admitting the hearsay testimony of a jailhouse informant and by excluding the testimony of Appellant’s proposed alibi witness. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Hampton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant, Warden Glen Johnson, challenged a habeas court’s order setting aside Larry Williams’ convictions for four counts of armed robbery, one count of terroristic threats, and one count of using a hoax device. In its order granting habeas relief, the court determined that Williams received ineffective assistance when his appellate counsel failed to allege ineffective assistance of trial counsel (1) during the plea bargaining process and (2) in failing to object to improper character evidence. The habeas court determined that because the evidence presented against Williams at trial was not strong, and the only witness identifying Williams was an officer who did not see Williams commit the robbery; the officer's testimony insinuated that Williams was a repeat offender and was harmful. The habeas court went on to find that had the issue been raised on appeal, there was a reasonable probability that Williams would have been granted a new trial, asserting that, under former OCGA 24-9-20 (b), bad character evidence was disallowed against a defendant unless the defendant testified, and Williams did not do so. For these reasons, the habeas court granted Williams’ petition for a writ of habeas corpus on the basis of both claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. Having reviewed the record, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded the habeas court erred. The Supreme Court concluded Williams could not show the outcome of the plea process would have been more favorable to him had he received different legal advice from his trial counsel. And contrary to the habeas court's conclusions, the Supreme Court determined Williams could not show as a threshold matter that his trial counsel performed deficiently by failing to object to the officer’s testimony on the basis that it included harmful character evidence or that such objection would have been sustained. The Supreme Court therefore reversed the habeas court's judgment. View "Johnson v. Williams" on Justia Law

Antione Hood 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 Candace McGriff. Hood appealed, contending that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to consult a certain expert on gunshot and gunpowder residue. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court disagreed and affirmed Hood's convictions. View "Hood v. Georgia" on Justia Law