Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Appellant George Edward Price was convicted of malice murder in connection with the shooting death of his estranged wife, Jackie Price. Appellant argued on appeal: (1) his statement to law enforcement should have been excluded at trial; (2) that the trial court failed to consider his motion for new trial on the “general grounds;” and (3) that trial counsel was ineffective. Finding no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Price v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Dallas Beck was convicted of felony murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime in connection with the shooting death of Corey Liverpool. On appeal, Beck contended: (1) the trial court erred by refusing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter; (2) Beck was denied a fair trial because jurors considered extrajudicial information during deliberations in reaching a verdict; and (3) that Beck was denied a fair trial because the trial court refused to admit certain evidence of specific instances of the victim’s violent conduct, reputation evidence of the victim, and evidence of the victim’s violence-themed tattoos. The Georgia Supreme Court determined that a changed Evidence Code, OCGA 24-6-606 (b), governed what was or was not admissible to sustain or impeach a verdict. Here, despite the Court's admonition in Davis v. Georgia, 787 SE2d 221 (2016), the parties did not brief or argue the meaning of Rule 606 (b) at the motion for new trial hearing, and the trial court did not apply it when addressing the jury-misconduct claim raised in Beck’s motion. Similarly, the parties did not address the new rule on appeal. "The difference between the old and new Evidence Code matters in this case." Juror C.C. offered some evidence from which the trial court could conclude that extraneous prejudicial information was brought to the jury’s attention when she testified that sentencing information did not come from other jurors and that it was “given to” them. The Court vacated the judgment, and remanded the matter for further proceedings. View "Beck v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Alandis Jackson appealed the denial of his motion for new trial following his convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with the death of Steven Lewis. On appeal, Jackson argued: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for burglary; (2) the trial court committed plain error when it charged the jury regarding circumstantial evidence, evidence of good character, and prior statements; (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel due to his trial attorney’s failure to object to such instructions; and (4) the false imprisonment count should have merged with his conviction for the aggravated assault of Titus Robinson. The Georgia Supreme Court determined each of these enumerations of error were meritless, and it affirmed the trial court’s denial of his motion for a new trial. View "Jackson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

During his 2007 trial, Derrick Cartwright raised an alibi defense to charges of murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Kevin Stafford. Cartwright was convicted and sentenced to serve life in prison plus five years. On direct appeal, he claimed among other things that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to challenge a police detective's testimony that Cartwright had not mentioned his alibi during his post-arrest police interview. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Cartwright’s convictions, rejecting his claim that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to introduce the testimony, finding Cartwright had not shown prejudice because at the motion for new trial hearing, he failed to call the detective as a witness or introduce a transcript of the detective’s preliminary hearing testimony. Cartwright then filed a petition for habeas corpus, alleging among other things that his appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to introduce evidence to prove trial counsel’s ineffectiveness in failing to impeach the detective. The habeas court denied the petition. The Supreme Court granted Cartwright’s application to appeal for consideration of whether the habeas court erred in ruling that Cartwright had not shown that his appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance. The Supreme Court concluded the habeas court’s ruling was erroneous, and therefore reversed the denial of habeas relief. View "Cartwirght v. Caldwell" on Justia Law

Dearies Favors appealed the denial of his motion for new trial after a jury found him guilty of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the October 2012 death of Demarcus Booker. Favors argued the trial court abused its discretion by admitting, over Favors’ objection, a photograph showing Booker after he had been shot because the photograph was unnecessarily graphic and because it did not accurately depict the crime scene. Additionally, Favors argued the trial court abused its discretion by denying Favors’ request to immediately issue a jury charge regarding sympathy when one of the State’s witnesses became emotional during his trial testimony. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Favors' convictions. View "Favors v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The Georgia Supreme Court granted interlocutory appeal in this case to address Joseph Park's challenge to the constitutionality of OCGA 42-1-14, which required among other things, that a person classified as a sexually dangerous predator, but who is no longer in State custody or on probation or parole, wear and pay for a GPS monitoring device that allows the State to monitor that individual’s location “for the remainder of his or her natural life.” The Court concluded OCGA § 42-1-14 (e), on its face, authorized a patently unreasonable search that ran afoul of the protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. As a result, subsection (e) of the statute was stricken as unconstitutional. View "Park v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Aaron Overton appealed his convictions related to the shooting death of Steve McQuire. Appellant alleged on appeal the trial court erred when it failed to give charges related to involuntary manslaughter. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Overton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2003, a jury found Willie Chambers guilty of armed robbery, four counts of kidnapping, five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for armed robbery; 20 years for each count of kidnapping, concurrent to each other but consecutive to the armed robbery sentence; 10 years for each count of aggravated assault, concurrent with all the other counts; and five years on probation for firearm possession, consecutive to all the other counts. The Georgia Supreme Court granted Chambers' application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal the denial of his petition for habeas relief to address: (1) whether the habeas court erred in concluding there was sufficient evidence of asportation (of the victim) to support the kidnapping charge; and (2) whether the aggravated assault charge merged into the armed robbery count. The Supreme Court determined the habeas court failed to recognize the merger of the latter counts, and set aside the conviction for aggravated assault. The Court remanded for resentencing, leaving intact the other convictions and sentences. View "Chambers v. Hall" on Justia Law

Brandon Pate was convicted in 2010 of statutory rape, aggravated assault, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 20 years for the statutory rape, a consecutive term of probation for 20 years for the aggravated assault, and a consecutive term of probation for five years for the possession of a knife. In 2013, Pate filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, challenging his sentence. The habeas court concluded that his sentence was unlawful in several respects and issued the writ. The Warden appealed. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded after review that Pate’s sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for statutory rape "does not meet even the threshold inference of gross disproportionality," and so, despite his young age, "his sentence for statutory rape must stand." View "Conley v. Pate" on Justia Law

In December 2017, the City of Atlanta enacted an ordinance to annex certain property that lies within the Fulton County Industrial District. Fulton County filed a lawsuit for declaratory and injunctive relief against the City and several of its officers, asserting that the annexation of property within the District was prohibited by a local constitutional amendment ratified in 1979. In response, the City argued that the 1979 amendment was never constitutionally adopted, that it was repealed in any event by the adoption of the Constitution of 1983, and that local laws purporting to continue the amendment are themselves unconstitutional. The trial court agreed, and it held, among other things, that the 1979 amendment was enacted in violation of the constitutional “single subject” rule. See Ga. Const. of 1976, Art. XII, Sec. I, Par. I. The County appealed, but finding no error in the trial court's judgment, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Fulton County v. City of Atlanta" on Justia Law