Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Appellant Kenneth Lee Inman was convicted for murdering Philip Tedder, kidnapping Tedder and James Niebaum, and related crimes. He appealed his convictions and the trial court’s denial of his motion for new trial. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Inman v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Terry Hagan pled guilty to the malice murder of his wife and the attempted murder of her lover. He was sentenced to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole for the murder and 30 concurrent years for the attempted murder. Appellant appealed the trial court’s order denying his motion for an out-of-time appeal. Because his claims were meritless or could not be resolved based the trial court record, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Hagan v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Jason Pierce was indicted in 1999 on charges of malice murder (two counts), felony murder (four counts), aggravated assault (three counts) and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was ultimately sentenced to two terms of life without parole on the malice murder convictions and consecutive terms of years on his remaining convictions. Appellant appealed the trial court’s denial of his plea in bar based on double jeopardy. Finding no error in the denial of his motion, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Pierce v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Robert Lee Reeves, Jr., was sentenced to life after a jury found him guilty of felony murder predicated upon aggravated assault. Appellant argued the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial brought on two grounds: (1) insufficiency of the evidence; and (2) that evidence of a prior attempted rape for which he was previously convicted was improperly admitted as a similar transaction. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Reeves v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Bruce and Latosha Rose were married in 2003. They had one child who was born in 2007. The couple lived in Gwinnett County and the child attended school there until 2012 when the couple separated. Wife moved to Henry County and took the child with her. Shortly thereafter, she filed for divorce. A temporary order was entered giving her primary physical custody and stipulating that the child would attend school in wife's school district. The parties were given joint legal custody and directed to confer with one another on all matters pertaining to the well-being of the child. A final hearing was held later that year at which husband sought primary physical custody. Husband expressed his concern for the child's education in Henry County; took issue with the quality of the meals wife gave to the child (wife fed the child fast and processed, pre-packaged food, "far too often"); that wife was unable to spend time with the child weekdays (her work schedule required the child to attend an after school program) whereas he works from home several days a week; and that the child behaved better in his presence than in the presence of wife since moving to Henry County. The trial court did not make findings of facts and conclusions of law and awarded primary physical custody to husband. Wife sought discretionary review by the Supreme Court. Finding no reversible error or abuse of the trial court's discretion, the Supreme Court affirmed that court's decision. View "Rose v. Rose" on Justia Law

On remand, the trial court granted summary judgment to the Georgia Revenue Commissioner on Southern LNG, Inc.'s request for the writ of mandamus, on the ground that Southern had an adequate alternative remedy in the form of tax appeals brought under OCGA 48-5-311. The court said that Southern could raise, and had raised, its statutory claim that it was a public utility required to return its property to the Commissioner rather than to Chatham County in appeals of the county’s tax assessments to the county board of equalization and then to the Chatham County Superior Court. Upon second review of this case, the Supreme Court concluded the trial court's analysis was incomplete: "the Chatham County tax appeals, as currently constituted, appear not to provide Southern with an adequate alternative to mandamus. . . . The parties have not briefed [their] issues here or below; the trial court did not address them; and this Court should not try to resolve them in the first instance." Accordingly, the Court vacated the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the Commissioner and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Southern LNG, Inc. v. MacGinnitie" on Justia Law

Appellant Tony Lamar Thompson appealed his convictions for felony murder and related crimes regarding the death of Reynaldo Jackson. On appeal, he cited several alleged errors at trial, and challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him. Finding no reversible error, however, the Supreme Court affirmed the convictions. View "Thompson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Cornelius Moore was tried by jury and convicted of murder and several other crimes, all in connection with the killing of Jezreel Hammond. Moore appealed, arguing that the trial court erred with respect to the admission of certain evidence at trial. The Supreme Court found no reversible error with respect to the evidence admitted at trial, but concluded, however, that the trial court did err when it convicted Moore of three distinct counts of unlawful possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The Court therefore vacated the conviction and sentence as to one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and otherwise affirmed the Moore’s conviction and sentence. View "Moore v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Brandon Johnson was indicted with his uncle, Charles Ellery, on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during commission of a crime. After a joint jury trial, appellant was found guilty of all charges for which he was indicted and sentenced to life in prison. His motion for new trial was denied, and he appealed, asserting that the trial court erred by failing to grant his motion for mistrial made after the State introduced evidence of a similar transaction against Ellery. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Johnson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Dexter Jones was convicted of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Kenny Johnson. He appealed the trial court's denial of his motion for new trial. Appellant contended that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to emphasize certain testimony from the State's crime scene investigator in support of a claim of self-defense. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed appellant's conviction. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law