Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In April 2015, appellant Douglas Goodson was convicted of felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony related to the 2012 shooting death of his cousin Rodney Worley. Goodson appealed, asserting that the evidence was insufficient to convict and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Goodson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Marquavis Benton was convicted of murder and related offenses arising out of the 2014 shooting death of Brian Whitfield. On appeal, Benton argued the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for malice murder and armed robbery and that the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter. Finding no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Benton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellee John Johnson was tried by jury and found guilty for the shooting death of Brandon Scott. However, the trial court granted Johnson's motion for a new trial. At issue in this appeal is whether the trial court should have given an unrequested jury instruction on accomplice corroboration. The State argued a new trial should not have been granted because an instruction on accomplice corroboration was not clearly required where a witness other than the accomplice introduces an accomplice’s statement implicating a defendant’s guilt. In response, Johnson argued a new trial was warranted because the testimony of his alleged accomplice was the only evidence establishing Johnson’s participation in the crime, and, thus, the trial court plainly erred in failing to instruct the jury that accomplice testimony required corroboration. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed the trial court should have instructed the jury on accomplice corroboration and affirmed the grant of a new trial. View "Georgia v. Johnson" on Justia Law

In 2011, Terrance Beasley was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in connection with the 1998 shooting death of Rodriquez Hamm. Beasley appealed the denial of his amended motion for new trial, arguing: (1) his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object when the prosecutor allegedly violated Mallory v. State, 409 SE2d 839 (1991), by commenting on his silence; (2) the trial court erred when it instructed the jury on the defense of habitation or, alternatively, that his counsel was ineffective for failing to maintain his objection to the defense of habitation instruction after the charge was given; and (3) his counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the trial court’s alleged closure of the courtroom, thus violating his constitutional right to a public trial. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Beasley's conviction. View "Beasley v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Willie Winters III appealed his conviction for felony murder in connection with the 1987 shooting death of Stephen Jones. Winters argued: (1) the evidence was insufficient to convict him of felony murder and the trial court erred by (2) admitting a witness’s post-hypnotic statement and (3) failing to admit a section of a GBI report as a public record under OCGA 24-8-803 (8) (C). Winters also argued he received constitutionally ineffective assistance by (4) relying on an alleged unwritten stipulation to admit a section of the GBI report and (5) failing to move for either a mistrial or a continuance when it became clear the report would not be admitted. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Winters' conviction. View "Winters v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Andrea Elliott was prosecuted for DUI. When Elliott was arrested, she refused to submit to a breath test. Georgia statutes allowed the State to use her refusal against her in her criminal trial, and the State has sought to do that. The United States Supreme Court held that the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution did not bar the State from using such a refusal, in part because the Fifth Amendment gave Elliott no right to refuse to act in the first place. But the Georgia Supreme Court had held previously that the protection against compelled self-incrimination provided by Article I, Section I, Paragraph XVI of the Georgia Constitution did afford the right to refuse such a test. So Elliott argued to on appeal of her conviction that Paragraph XVI gave her the protection that the Fifth Amendment did not, and thus rendered invalid the portions of the statutes allowing her refusal to be admitted against her. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed; OCGA 40-5-67.1 (b) and 40-6-392 (d) were ruled unconstitutional to the extent that they allowed a defendant’s refusal to submit to a breath test to be admitted into evidence at a criminal trial. The Court thus reversed the trial court’s denial of Elliott’s motion to suppress. View "Elliott v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Varocus Grant appealed his convictions for malice murder and firearm possession during the commission of a felony in relation to the 2011 shooting death of Travis Shivers. Grant argued he was denied a fair trial because the jury array was selected in a manner inconsistent with the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U. S. Constitution and Georgia statutory law, that the trial court erred by denying a motion in limine to exclude an incriminating statement by Grant, that the trial court erred by admitting testimony about fingerprint evidence, and that his trial counsel was ineffective for numerous reasons. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Grant v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Jimmy Riley was convicted for the 1986 murder of Pauline McCoy, in addition for burglary and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony. He appealed the trial court's denial of his motion for a new trial, arguing the trial court should have allowed certain expert testimony and that the trial court erroneously found that the “person unknown” exception tolled the statute of limitation on his non-murder charges under OCGA 17-3-2 (2). Because the Georgia Supreme Court determined the trial court did not abuse its discretion in disallowing expert testimony, it affirmed Riley’s murder conviction. However, the Court vacated the trial court’s judgment with respect to Riley’s convictions for burglary and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony and remanded the case for the trial court to consider, under the facts of this case, when the State had sufficient information to establish actual knowledge of Riley as the “person committing th[ose] crime[s],” thus ending the tolling of the statute of limitation. View "Riley v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Tito Ivey appealed his convictions for felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the 2015 shooting of Franklin Jones. On appeal, Ivey challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions and raises four claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Taking each challenge under consideration, the Georgia Supreme Court found no merit to Ivey’s claims and affirmed his convictions. View "Ivey v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The State appealed a trial court’s judgment of conviction and sentence imposed on Tina Marie Hanna after her plea of guilty to felony murder and related crimes, contending that the sentence was illegal and void because the trial court improperly sentenced Hanna on the basis of the “rule of lenity.” The Georgia Supreme Court determined the rule of lenity was not implicated in this case, because the trial court erred in sentencing Hanna for an offense which was not charged and to which she did not plead guilty. The Court therefore vacated the trial court’s judgment and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings and resentencing. View "Georgia v. Hanna" on Justia Law