Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Jeffrey McGee appealed the denial of his motion in arrest of judgment, which McGee filed nearly fifteen years after having pled guilty to malice murder, aggravated battery, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the shooting death of police officer Robbie Bishop. McGee claimed his original plea agreement was invalid based on the trial court having originally sentenced him for both malice murder and aggravated battery. The Georgia Supreme Court determined McGee’s motion was untimely, whether considered as a motion to withdraw his guilty plea or as a motion in arrest of judgment. Both sorts of motions must be filed within the same term of court at which the guilty plea or judgment being challenged was entered. View "McGee v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Otis Ricks was indicted along with three other men for murder, armed robbery, criminal street gang activity, and related crimes in connection with the 2012 shooting death of Vanessa Thrasher at a lounge in Atlanta. The State notified Ricks it intended to seek the death penalty for Ricks and at least one of his co-defendants, Demario Carman. The defendants’ cases were severed for trial, although some of Ricks’s and Carman’s pretrial proceedings were conducted jointly. During the pretrial proceedings, Carman filed a motion asking the trial court to issue an order declaring Fulton County’s method of selecting trial jurors to be in violation of the Georgia Supreme Court’s Jury Composition Rule and directing that his jury be selected in a manner not violating the Rule. The trial court applied to the Supreme Court for review, asking whether it erred in denying Rick’s claim that the list from which the jurors were summoned was produced in a manner that violated the Jury Composition Rule. The Supreme Court concluded the trial court indeed did so err, and reversed and remanded for jury selection in a manner that complies with the Rule. View "Ricks v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2011, following an apparent series of family disputes, Dorsey “Doss” Wallace filed a complaint for accounting and damages against his brothers Gary and Phillip Wallace, alleging that they had deprived Doss of his lawful interests as a shareholder of the family business, Wallace Electric Company. The parties offered competing about which agreement, if any, governed the ownership of stock in Wallace Electric, and about what the terms of those agreements would require. The trial court ultimately concluded in a bench trial that Doss should be paid $54,200 for his stock. But because the court correctly admitted that its order did not reach the factual or legal conclusions required to resolve this case, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated the order and remanded for proper consideration of, and conclusions regarding, the legal questions at issue in this case. View "Wallace v. Wallace" on Justia Law

Appellant Travis Rabon was tried and convicted of numerous offenses in connection with the 2008 murder of Keira Avant and the rape of a second victim. Rabon appealed, claiming three instances of trial court error: (1) for denying his request for money for investigators; (2) for denying his request for experts; and (3) denying his request for a continuance. Finding no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Rabon’s convictions. View "Rabon v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2009, Nicholas Johnson was indicted for shooting Tremaine Cobb in a Waffle House parking lot. A jury found Johnson guilty of felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault, and Johnson appealed, arguing there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions for felony murder and aggravated assault, that the trial court erred by refusing to sever Johnson’s trial from a co-defendant’s trial, and that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the jury’s request to view, during deliberations, surveillance video of the shooting that was admitted as evidence and shown during the trial. Finding no merit in these enumerated errors, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Johnson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The Georgia Supreme Court issued the following three questions to the parties with respect to their appeal of a child support order: (1) Did the trial court err in applying a deviation from the presumptive amount of child support for extraordinary educational expenses without complying with OCGA 19-6-15 (c) (2) (E)?; (2) Did the trial court err in ordering that child support would continue until the child reached the age of 20?; and (3) Did the trial court err in adjusting Mother’s gross income for a preexisting child support order under OCGA 19-6-15 (f) (5) (B)? The Supreme Court concluded, after review of the specific facts in the trial court record, the trial court erred in all three aspects: (1) the trial court erred in applying a deviation from the presumptive amount of child support for extraordinary educational expenses without complying with the statute; (2) the trial court omitted any requirement that the parties’ son be enrolled in and attending secondary school to extend support beyond the age of majority, therefore not complying with the plain language of the statute; and (3) no such preexisting child support order satisfying the time qualifications of the statute existed, therefore the trial court’s modification of a non-existent order was simply a nullity and had to be vacated. View "Heintz v. Heintz" on Justia Law

The Georgia Supreme Court granted Wife’s application for discretionary appeal in this matter to consider whether the child custody award should be vacated for the failure of the trial court to incorporate a permanent parenting plan. After review, the Supreme Court concluded the final judgment and decree had to be vacated in part and the case remanded on this ground. The Court also vacated the award of attorney fees for the court, upon remand, to make the necessary findings of fact for the award of attorney fees to Husband. View "Williams v. Williams" on Justia Law

The Georgia Supreme Court granted a discretionary appeal in this case to decide whether the trial court, after interviewing the parties’ two children in chambers without the parties or counsel present, erred in relying on information from those interviews in making a final custody determination and entering the divorce decree, erred in denying the parties and counsel access to the court reporter’s transcript of the interviews, and erred in sealing the transcript. After review, the Court concluded the trial court improperly relied on information that was not available to the parties or counsel and improperly sealed the transcript of the court’s in-chambers interviews without complying with the procedures for sealing court records set forth in the Uniform Superior Court Rules. The Court therefore reversed the trial court’s sealing order, vacated the final custody order and divorce decree, and remanded for further proceedings. View "Altman v. Altman" on Justia Law

Following the partial denial of his motion for new trial, Nicholas Wilson appealed his convictions and sentences for malice murder and other crimes in connection with the November, 2009 robbery of Cassandra James and her fatal stabbing in December, 2009. His sole challenge on appeal was that the trial court erroneously excluded an out-of-court declaration regarding certain evidence in the case. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Wilson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Robert Smith was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, and other offenses in connection with the shooting death of his friend, Raymond Brewer, Jr. On appeal, Smith contends that the trial court committed plain error in its jury instruction on witness credibility and that the trial court erred in its jury instruction on self-defense. Finding only that the trial court erred in merging possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony with malice murder, the Supreme Court affirmed Smith’s conviction, vacated the sentence, and remanded for resentencing. View "Smith v. Georgia" on Justia Law