Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Jermario Solomon was tried by jury and convicted of murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the fatal shooting of Curtis Pinkney. Solomon appealed, contending that the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain his convictions, that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied his motion for severance, and that the trial court erred when it charged the jury. After review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible error, and affirmed Solomon's conviction. View "Solomon v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Skyy Raven Marie Mims was convicted of malice murder and other crimes related to the stabbing death of Dahyabhai Chaudhari during an armed robbery and of theft by bringing a stolen vehicle into the state. Following an earlier remand by the Georgia Supreme Court, Mims appealed, arguing the evidence was insufficient to sustain her theft conviction, her trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance, and her due process rights were violated when the trial court denied her request to be present at the motion for new trial hearing on remand in order to support her ineffectiveness claims. The Supreme Court reversed Mims’s theft conviction because trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move to sever this count from the murder-related offenses. All of the remaining ineffectiveness claims against trial counsel failed, and because these claims fail for reasons independent of her absence at the hearing, her due process rights were not violated. View "Mims v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Trevis Worthen was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Tanieshia Evans. On appeal, he argued the trial court improperly purported to merge his felony murder counts into his malice murder conviction, when they actually were vacated by operation of law. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded this was true, but the error was harmless. Furthermore, Worthen argued the State failed to prove venue for most of the crimes. That, the Supreme Court concluded, was not true – particularly because the Court decided to overrule Division 3 of Jones v. Georgia, 537 SE2d 80 (2000), and to restore the authority of juries to make reasonable inferences regarding whether a location shown to be in a county is close enough to a crime scene to find that the crime was committed in the same county. View "Worthen v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Juan Cortez Mondragon was tried by jury and convicted of the murder of Carlos Perez and an aggravated assault upon Heriberto Soto. Mondragon appealed, claiming that the trial court erred when it admitted evidence of Perez’s good character and when it excluded evidence of Perez’s blood alcohol content at the time he was killed. The Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible error and affirmed. View "Mondragon v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The case arose from the trial court’s dismissal of a child custody modification action, filed by Christopher Plummer (Father), on the ground that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to consider the matter, because neither Father, nor Elia Plummer (Mother), nor the child was living in Georgia at the time of the court’s dismissal. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling, and the Georgia Supreme Court granted Father’s petition for certiorari on whether the trial court properly dismiss the custody modification action for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to OCGA 19-9-62(a)(2). After review of the statute and the trial court record, the Supreme Court concluded the trial court erred in dismissing the action on this ground, and therefore reversed. View "Plummer v. Plummer" on Justia Law

In August 2014, Nicholas Hart was charged by the City of Sandy Springs with two counts of misdemeanor disorderly conduct under Section 38-54 of the city’s municipal code. Hart filed a demand for jury trial with the Sandy Springs Municipal Court, which Judge Joseph Burford denied. In September 2014, following a bench trial, Judge Burford found Hart guilty and sentenced him to six months of probation on each count to run consecutively, a $1,000 fine on each count, and 30 days in jail to be served on 15 consecutive weekends. Hart appealed by filing a petition for certiorari in superior court, but that petition was dismissed because Hart failed to properly serve appellees and to file the record. Hart later filed a habeas petition against Judge Burford, Mayor Rusty Paul, and other Sandy Springs officials, alleging Judge Burford had improperly denied him his right to a jury trial and that his appellate counsel had provided ineffective assistance. The habeas court denied relief, and Hart filed this appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. The Supreme Court found Hard failed to demonstrate on record any adverse collateral consequence from his misdemeanor conviction, and dismissed his appeal as moot. View "Hart v. Burford" on Justia Law

Anthony Lewis was tried by jury and convicted of murder and the unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with the 2010 shooting of Brandon Jones. Lewis appealed, claiming that the State violated his right to due process when it failed to disclose allegedly exculpatory evidence that it obtained while investigating a separate murder. The Georgia Supreme Court found no reasonable probability that the allegedly exculpatory evidence at issue would have affected the verdicts reached at Lewis’s trial, and therefore affirmed Lewis' conviction. View "Lewis v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Nyheim Gartrell was tried by jury and found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the death of James Edwards. He appealed, arguing the evidence was insufficient to support the verdicts. Finding the evidence sufficient, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Gartrell v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Archie Bennett was convicted of felony murder, arson, and concealing a death in connection with the shooting death of his ex-wife, Shirley Bennett. Appellant argued on appeal: (1) the trial court erred when it granted the State’s motion to exclude evidence of drugs found in Shirley’s system during her autopsy; and (2) his right to be present at trial was violated because the trial transcript does not show that he was present on at least three occasions. The Georgia Supreme Court found no merit to either contention and affirmed. View "Bennett v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Bobby Gray was convicted by jury for murder and related crimes. He appealed, arguing the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, the verdict was contrary to and against the weight of the evidence, and that the trial court and defense counsel made certain evidentiary errors. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed his convictions. View "Gray v. Georgia" on Justia Law