Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Matthew Pike appealed his conviction and sentence for malice murder and related crimes in connection with the death of Justin Klaffka. He challenged the denial of severance of his trial from that of his coindictees, the admission of certain evidence, and the legal sufficiency of the evidence of his guilt. The Georgia Supreme Court found no merit to these challenges and affirmed the conviction and sentence. View "Pike v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Jermaine Ware was convicted of malice murder and other offenses arising out of the shooting death of Rodney Mitchell, Jr. and the aggravated assault of two other individuals. The shooting took place following a prank committed on New Year’s Eve 2011. At the party, Ware and others were drinking. During the night, Ware fell asleep on the sofa and someone at the party painted his fingernails with nail polish and applied lip gloss to his lips. He was angry when he woke up to discover this prank. As the partygoers were leaving at about 8:30 a.m. on January 1, 2011, Ware continued to complain about the prank and asked Mitchell if he was the one who painted his nails, but Mitchell denied it. Mitchell borrowed a semi-automatic pistol from another partygoer, walked into the road, and shot into the air several times to celebrate the New Year. As Mitchell was turning to give the gun back to his friend, Ware stepped out of a car that was parked near the house where the party had taken place, aimed a revolver in Mitchell’s direction, and shot him. The Georgia Supreme Court rejected Ware’s argument that the trial court erred in failing to rebuke the prosecutor for statements made during the closing argument. The Supreme Court agreed, however, that the trial court committed a sentencing error, though it did not require the sentence to be vacated. View "Ware v. Georgia" on Justia Law

William Burke appealed his convictions for felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, charges stemming from the death of Andrew Daly. He argued that the trial court improperly limited the jury’s consideration of voluntary manslaughter to a lesser offense of only malice murder, both in its oral instructions and on the verdict form, so that the jury had no option to consider the lesser offense in relation to the felony murder charge. Finding that the trial court committed no plain error in this regard because the evidence did not support a finding of voluntary manslaughter, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Burke v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Jonathan Johnson and Joshua Lee appealed their convictions for malice murder in connection with the shooting death of Robert Cannon. Johnson also appealed his conviction for possession of marijuana, and Lee appealed his conviction for family violence battery in connection with the beating of his wife, Kimberly Walker Lee. Both appellants contended the trial court erred in denying their claim of racial discrimination in jury selection under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). Lee also disputed the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions, the trial court’s denial of two motions for mistrial, and three instructions the court gave the jury. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the convictions. View "Johnson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

After a bench trial, Appellant Anthony Prothro was found guilty of malice murder and other crimes associated with the 2013 violent death of his grandfather, Alvin Driver. On direct appeal, Prothro claimed he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. After review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court disagreed and affirmed the conviction. View "Prothro v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The Georgia Supreme Court normally issues summary denials of habeas applications by unpublished order. However, “there appears to be significant misunderstanding of the process by which this Court renders these decisions and the import of our decisions, both among repeat litigants in state habeas proceedings and among the federal courts that sometimes see the same cases - particularly death penalty cases - later in federal habeas corpus proceedings brought under 28 USC 2254.” The Court did not discuss any question of federal habeas law as presented in Wilson v. Warden, 834 F3d 1227 (11th Cir. 2016) (en banc), cert. granted sub nom. Wilson v. Sellers, 137 SCt 1203 (U.S. Feb. 27, 2017) (No. 16- 6855). However, issues presented by “Wilson” appeared to depend in part on presumptions about the Georgia Court’s summary denials of habeas applications, “and those presumptions should be founded on reality rather than supposition, inference, or misinformation.” The Court therefore took the opportunity of this case to explain. View "Redmon v. Johnson" on Justia Law

A jury found Randall Jones guilty of bringing stolen property into the State of Georgia and theft by conversion of the same property. The Court of Appeals rejected Jones’ claim that the two verdicts were mutually exclusive. Because the verdicts for theft by conversion and theft by bringing stolen property into the state were indeed mutually exclusive here, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded reversal of both verdicts was required. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Donnie Forte of murder and kidnapping (amongst other crimes). He appealed, arguing the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain his convictions. Furthermore, Forte argued the trial court erred in instructing the jury on malice murder. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Forte’s convictions. View "Forte v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Following the denial of his motion for new trial, as amended, Herman Smith appealed his convictions for felony murder while in the commission of aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and carrying a weapon without a license, all in connection with the 2012 fatal shooting of Cardarius Steagall and an assault of Chaserah Horton. Smith argued on appeal that the trial court erred by refusing to grant a mistrial, and erred in two of its evidentiary rulings. Finding the challenges to be without merit, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Smith v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Frank Bozzie was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2013 death of Richard Morgan. Bozzie appealed, arguing the evidence was insufficient to support his malice murder conviction, the trial court made numerous evidentiary errors, he should have been granted a new trial due to alleged juror misconduct, he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel, and the trial court erred in refusing to secure his attendance for the motion for new trial hearing. Because none of these claims had merit, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Bozzie’s convictions. View "Bozzie v. Georgia" on Justia Law