Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Appellant Jelani Asim Anthony was convicted of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. On appeal, Anthony contended the trial court erred by: (1) refusing to suppress an identification obtained as the result of an allegedly flawed lineup; and (2) failing to grant his motion for new trial after new evidence relating to an alternate suspect was revealed. Furthermore, Anthony claimed his trial counsel and post-trial counsel were ineffective. Finding no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Anthony v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Davoris Hodges was found guilty by jury of two counts of felony murder, armed robbery, and two counts of aggravated assault related to the shooting death of Khristal Wright, a Johnson County deputy sheriff. He was found not guilty of malice murder. Finding only an error in the trial court’s calculation of Appellant’s sentence, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated his sentence and remanded for resentencing. The Court affirmed in all other respects. View "Hodges v. Georgia" on Justia Law

A jury found appellant Eric Thompson guilty of two counts of malice murder in connection with the deaths of Andre Geddis and Melody Keller. On appeal, Thompson contended the trial court erred by admitting certain evidence, including character evidence and hearsay evidence, and denying his motion for continuance. Thompson also challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the guilty verdicts and alleged his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to a portion of the State’s closing argument. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed that some of the challenged character evidence was improperly admitted and that the admission was not harmless. Therefore, the Court reversed and remanded for a new trial. View "Thompson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Lisa Lebis was convicted by jury of murder and other crimes related to the shooting death of a police officer. On appeal, she argued the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict with regard to a number of counts against her and that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in the case. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part - affirming Lebis’s convictions of two of the misdemeanor obstruction counts and all of the counts regarding possession of firearms and dangerous weapons; but reversing her conviction of felony murder and of the other two misdemeanor obstructions. View "Lebis v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Marlon Jones appealed his convictions stemming from the death of his daughter Jania Parker-Jones. Appellant argued on appeal the evidence was insufficient to convict, his trial counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance, and the trial court abused its discretion by failing to grant a mistrial. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed on the merits but vacated in part to correct a sentencing error. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Temon Williams was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the October 2012 stabbing death of Shawn Doughty. Williams appealed, asserting insufficiency of the evidence, erroneous admission of expert testimony, erroneous admission of evidence seized during a search of his residence, and ineffectiveness of his trial counsel for various reasons. Although the Georgia Supreme Court found no error regarding Williams’s contentions, the Court vacated in part due to a sentencing error. View "Williams v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Ahmad Brown challenged his convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Deonta Moore. Appellant contended on appeal that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel at trial and that the trial court improperly commented on the evidence. The Georgia Supreme Court rejected these contentions and affirm Appellant’s convictions, but vacated the trial court’s judgment in part and remanded for the correction of a sentencing error. View "Brown v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2015, appellees Brenton Jefferson, his brother Santez Jefferson, Demarcus Cawthorne, Jamal Arnold, and Lee Davis were charged with, among other things, attempted murder, aggravated battery, kidnapping, and violations of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. In connection with the State’s efforts to build a case against Appellees, the State gave notice of its intention to introduce into evidence at trial four certified copies of convictions relating to various gang members pursuant to OCGA 16-15-9. Santez filed a “Motion in Limine to Declare OCGA 16-15-9 Unconstitutional and to Bar the Introduction of Third Party Convictions,” arguing that the statute on its face violated the Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution. The remaining Appellees adopted the motion at a 2016 hearing on the matter. Thereafter, the trial court entered an order finding that the admission of the third party convictions and the prior conviction of Cawthorne in the Appellees’ trial would violate their Sixth Amendment rights to confront the witnesses against them. The trial court granted appellees’ motion to declare the statute unconstitutional, and excluded the use of any of the third party convictions. The State appealed. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded the trial court correctly determined that OCGA 16-15-9 was unconstitutional on its face to the extent that it authorized the admission of the convictions of non-testifying non-parties as evidence of a criminal street gang. View "Georgia v. Jefferson" on Justia Law

Georgia appealed a habeas court’s order granting relief to appellee Thomas Addaquay on the ground that his plea counsel was constitutionally ineffective in incorrectly advising him of the immigration consequences of his plea of guilty. In 2012, Addaquay pled guilty to criminal damage to property in the second degree for conduct that occurred in 2002 and was sentenced as for a misdemeanor to 11 months and 29 days on probation. At that time, Addaquay was a “green card” holder and lawful permanent resident of the United States. Addaquay did not claim that the deportation consequences of his plea were unclear or uncertain, but instead claimed that he was clearly deportable based on his plea of guilty to criminal damage to property in the second degree and that plea counsel performed deficiently in telling him that he would not be deported. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded this claim of ineffective assistance of counsel was without merit: the decisive issue was whether Addaquay committed the crime within five years of his “date of admission” to this country. Addaquay failed to show that he was deportable under the removal statute, 8 USC 1227. View "Georgia v. Addaquay" on Justia Law

Defendants Elgerie Mary Cash and Jennifer Michelle Weathington were tried jointly before a jury in October 2013 and found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the fatal shooting of Lennis Jones. Each woman was sentenced to life in prison for malice murder and a consecutive term of five years in prison for the firearm possession. Claiming that Jones accidentally shot himself, Cash and Weathington each filed a motion for new trial, which motions were subsequently amended. Following a joint hearing on the motions in 2014, the superior court entered separate orders granting each defendant a new trial, and then approximately a week later issued a joint amended order granting new trials to the defendants and vacating their convictions and sentences. The superior court did so after finding that the defendantsreceived ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and based upon the general grounds, i.e., that the verdicts were contrary to the principles of justice and equity and decidedly and strongly against the weight of the evidence. The State appealed the grants of new trials to defendants, and the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. Upon return of the remittiturs, Weathington filed her “Double Jeopardy Plea in Bar,” claiming that the evidence at trial was insufficient, and consequently, the State could not again put her in jeopardy for the same offenses; Cash adopted her daughter’s motion as her own. The superior court sustained the motion, finding defendants had not waived their rights to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence of their guilt of the crimes charged under Jackson v. Virginia, and that the evidence was insufficient under such standard; it expressly directed that a judgment of acquittal be entered as to both defendants on all counts of the charging indictment. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed and remanded: “[e]ven if the evidence did not conclusively establish which of the women actually shot Jones, there was evidence of a common criminal intent, including the women’s presence, companionship, and conduct before and immediately after the fatal shooting. Consequently, the evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find both Cash and Weathington guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes of which they were convicted.” View "Georgia v. Cash" on Justia Law