Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Melissa Norris was convicted by jury of malice murder and a related firearm offense in connection with the shooting death of her father, Charles. Norris and her father had a strained relationship based on Norris’s refusal to follow her parents’ rules. In late 1995, Norris, then fifteen years old, told a friend she had been arguing with her father. Sometime after the call, Norris took a gun from her brother's room, walked down stairs to where her father was sitting, pointed a gun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Norris called her friend again, wherein she admitted to shooting her father. The pair did not call for help or notify law enforcement; instead, they met up and walked down the street to the friend's aunt’s house for dinner. The aunt noticed that the girls were acting “giggly” and whispering back and forth throughout dinner. After providing numerous conflicting stories to law enforcement, including telling officers that her brother had shot the victim and that she was not at home when the shooting occurred, Norris eventually admitted that she shot her father in the back of the head. She testified at trial she did not know whether the gun was loaded, and that she was "just being stupid, horsing around" when the gun went off. On appeal of her conviction, Norris argued the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on mistake of fact. Finding no such error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed her conviction. View "Norris v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Rodney Hamilton was convicted by jury of felony murder predicated on aggravated battery, in connection with the death of his three-year-old adopted daughter. On appeal, Hamilton argued the evidence submitted against him at trial was insufficient, and the trial court erred in admitting certain expert testimony of the child's brain injury. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed conviction. View "Hamilton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Seth Joseph Brian Rouzan challenged his 2013 convictions for malice murder and another crime in connection with the shooting death of Joseph Williams, Jr. Appellant claimed: (1) the trial court applied the wrong legal test in admitting other-acts evidence; (2) committed plain error in failing to instruct the jury that an accomplice’s testimony was not sufficient to establish a fact unless corroborated; and (3) abused its discretion in denying his request to continue the hearing on his motion for new trial based on his motion-for-new-trial counsel’s admitted failure to prepare for the hearing. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded the trial court erred in applying an obsolete legal standard to allow the State to introduce the other-acts evidence. Accordingly, the trial court’s judgment was vacated and the matter remanded for the trial court to apply the correct test under the current Evidence Code and to exercise its discretion on whether other-acts evidence should have been admitted. View "Rouzan v. Georgia" on Justia Law

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