Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Manvel Britton was charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the fatal shooting of Eddy Leonardo. The State appealed the trial court’s grant of Britton’s motion to suppress evidence from his cell phone records obtained pursuant to a search warrant (the “Warrant”) during the police investigation into that death. The trial court found that the affidavit for the Warrant (the “Affidavit”) contained a material misrepresentation which tainted the entire document, and, with that misrepresentation excluded, the Affidavit failed to establish the requisite probable cause to issue the Warrant. The trial court further found a “discrepancy” in the Affidavit that it determined affected the validity of the Warrant. The State argued on appeal that in reaching these conclusions, the trial court did not properly apply the law and failed to give proper deference to the magistrate judge who issued the Warrant. To this the Georgia Supreme Court agreed, reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "Georgia v. Britton" on Justia Law

Lorenzo Harris was indicted for malice murder and other offenses arising from the shooting of Larry Jones. The State appealed the trial court’s pretrial rulings, which were not reduced to writing, granting Harris’s motion in limine to exclude evidence of two prior incidents and his motion to suppress identification evidence. In the absence of a written order from the trial court regarding the appealed rulings, the Georgia Supreme Court directed the parties to brief the issue of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction. Upon review, the Court concluded it had jurisdiction over these appeals, vacated the trial court’s rulings, and remanded for further proceedings. View "Georgia v. Harris" on Justia Law

Bryan Jones was convicted of felony murder and other offenses in connection with a shooting that killed Dorian Drewery and injured Joshua Childs. Jones appealed, arguing: (1) the trial court erred in giving a jury instruction on other-acts evidence under OCGA § 24-4-404 (b) when no such evidence was admitted at trial; and (2) trial counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance in (a) agreeing to a stipulation that prejudiced Jones’s defense and (b) failing to request a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded the trial court’s error in giving the other-acts jury instruction was harmless: among other things, the court omitted that oral instruction from the written instructions sent back with the jury; it properly instructed that other acts could be considered only if it was more likely than not that Jones had committed them, and because there was no evidence of such other acts, the jury could not have made that finding; and in any event, the instruction had little relevance to the central question of whether Jones’s use of deadly force was justified under the circumstances. As for the ineffective-assistance claims, the Supreme Court found the record showed that trial counsel’s decision to agree to the stipulation was the product of a reasonable strategic effort to prevent the State from offering potentially “devastating” rebuttal evidence. Similarly, counsel’s decision not to request a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter was reasonable given Jones’s desire to present an “all or nothing” justification defense and the fact that the evidence supporting voluntary manslaughter was thin. So Jones failed to establish trial error or ineffective assistance, and the Supreme Court therefore affirmed his convictions and sentences. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Ryan O’Neal was convicted of malice murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and other related crimes in connection with the shooting death of Joseph Jackson. On appeal, O’Neal contended: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his murder conviction; (2) the trial court erred by instructing the jury on conspiracy and denying his request for an instruction on voluntary manslaughter; and (3) defense counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object to a comment made by the prosecutor during closing argument and failing to successfully defend against the State’s request for a conspiracy instruction. He also argued his trial was fundamentally unfair because of the number of errors made by the trial court. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "O'Neal v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Michael Williams was indicted on two counts of felony murder, burglary in the first degree, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The State filed notice of its intent to introduce evidence of other wrongs, crimes, or acts pursuant to OCGA § 24-4-404 (b) (“Rule 404 (b)”). The State specified that the other-acts evidence would be offered as evidence of Williams’s motive and intent in killing Sandra Fields and would include Williams’s January 2017 arrest for family violence battery against another woman, Sommer Sheffield. After a hearing, the trial court ruled that evidence of the 2017 battery was inadmissible, on the basis that the probative value of the evidence was substantially outweighed by undue prejudice. The State appealed that ruling, contending the trial court misapplied the applicable balancing test and abused its discretion in excluding evidence of Williams’s prior act of domestic violence. The Georgia Supreme Court concurred with the State, vacated the trial court’s ruling and remanded for the trial court to reconsider the matter under the proper framework. View "Georgia v. Williams" on Justia Law

Michael Perrault was convicted by jury of malice murder and simple battery, family violence of his wife, Amanda Perrault. On appeal, Perrault argued: (1) the evidence was not sufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred in refusing to transfer the case to a different venue; and (3) he was entitled to a new trial due to cumulative error. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Perrault v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Nicholas Bacon was convicted by jury of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the shooting death of his 64-year-old mother, Montez Bacon. On appeal, Bacon alleged that the trial court abused its discretion when it excluded the testimony of the defense’s expert witness and that he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Bacon v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Sasha McCalop was convicted of malice murder in connection with the stabbing death of Michael Martin, her boyfriend of three years. On appeal, McCalop contended: (1) the trial court erred in allowing the State’s expert to comment on McCalop’s state of mind; (2) the trial court erred in allowing the State’s expert to testify because he had never testified in Georgia before and was not familiar with Georgia law on battered person syndrome (“BPS”); (3) the trial court erred in allowing the State’s expert to testify that BPS had no scientific basis and that trial courts were wrong in providing jury instructions on BPS; (4) the State committed prosecutorial misconduct by arguing to the jury that BPS was not a recognized diagnosis or defense; and (5) the trial court erred in ruling that a defense witness “opened the door” to presenting evidence of McCalop’s bad character. Finding no error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "McCalop v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Following a joint trial with co-defendants Darnell Sillah and Andrew Murray, Tavaughn Saylor was convicted of malice murder for the 2012 shooting death of Paul Sampleton, Jr., as well as various other crimes. On appeal, Saylor arguedL (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for aggravated assault of Stevo Hrnjak and criminal damage to Hrnjak’s property; (2) the trial court erred by denying his motion to sever; (3) the trial court erred in striking several jurors; and (4) his conviction for a violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act merged. The Georgia Supreme Court found none of these claims had merit, and affirmed. View "Saylor v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Torres Boles appealed his convictions for felony murder and other charges in connection with the death of his three-year-old daughter, Andraia Boles. He argued on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence statements he made to “Ms. Middleton,” a protective services investigator and case manager with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services (“DFCS”) and to Renee Sylvester, a private-sector counselor hired by DFCS in connection with the agency’s investigation into placing Boles’s other daughter into foster care. Boles argued that the two DFCS investigators were acting as agents of law enforcement when they interviewed him and their failure to give him warnings under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), rendered his statements inadmissible. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded the evidence was sufficient to support Boles’s convictions, there was no error in the admission of Boles’s statement to Middleton, and any error in the admission of his statement to Sylvester was harmless, as such evidence was cumulative of other, properly admitted evidence. Accordingly, the convictions were affirmed. View "Boles v. Georgia" on Justia Law