Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

After Stephan Owens was convicted of felony murder and other crimes related to the shooting death of Richard Osadebe Egoegonwa, he was granted a new trial on the felony murder charge. The State appealed, and Owens cross-appealed. Because the Georgia Supreme Court found the trial court erred in granting a new trial on the ground that the verdicts as rendered were repugnant, that portion of the order granting the new trial was reversed. In Owens’s cross-appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed except to correct a sentencing error. View "Georgia v. Owens" on Justia Law

Appellant Thomas Tiraboschi was convicted of malice murder in connection with the strangulation death of his cellmate, Chris Lowery, at the Augusta State Medical Prison. Appellant’s only claim on appeal was that the trial court erred by admitting evidence under OCGA 24-4-404 (b) relating to his prior convictions. The Georgia Supreme Court determined any error in admitting this evidence was harmless, so it affirmed. View "Tiraboschi v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Santiago Williams appealed his convictions for the murders of Andrew Coleman and Martial “Montrell” Washington. His sole contention on appeal was that he was entitled to a new trial because the State’s key witness’s post-trial testimony amounts to newly discovered evidence. The Georgia Supreme Court disagreed and affirmed. View "Williams v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The version of the apportionment statute at issue in this appeal, OCGA 51-12-33, was enacted as part of the Tort Reform Act of 2005. Subsection (b) required damages to be apportioned “among the persons who are liable according to the percentages of fault of each person.” Subsection (b) had a critical textual difference from subsection (a): although subsection (a) applied “[w]here an action is brought against one or more persons,” subsection (b) applied only “[w]here an action is brought against more than one person . . . .” Although the Georgia Supreme Court previously decided at least one case in which the provisions of subsection (b) were applied in single-defendant cases, the Court expressly left open the question of whether such an application was proper. In this case, the Court of Appeals answered that open question by determining that the apportionment by percentage of fault directed by subsection (b) did not apply in single-defendant cases. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on the question of whether subsection (b) applied in single-defendant cases and also on the question of whether an expenses-of-litigation award under OCGA 13-6-11 was subject to apportionment. Although the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals on the latter question and held that such expenses were not categorically excluded from apportionment, the Court concluded the Court of Appeals was correct on the scope of application of the apportionment directed by subsection (b): it applied only in cases “brought against more than one person,” not in single-defendant lawsuits like this one. Thus, the Supreme Court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings regarding the trial court’s apportionment of the expenses-of-litigation award. View "Alston & Bird, LLP v. Hatcher Management Holdings, LLC" on Justia Law

Appellant Re’Dayon Hughes challenged his 2019 convictions for felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Dre’Landon Brown. Appellant contended: (1) the trial court erred by admitting evidence that he vandalized Marjorie Reed’s car; (2) his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to question Appellant about alleged prior difficulties with Dre’Landon and for failing to object to the admission of other prior difficulties evidence; (3) the cumulative prejudice of these errors requires a new trial; and (4) that the trial court erroneously considered Appellant’s failure to retreat in denying his pretrial motion for immunity. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Hughes v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Rodney Young was convicted by jury for the murder of Gary Jones. The jury declined in its guilt/innocence phase verdict to find him “mentally retarded.” At the conclusion of the sentencing phase, the jury found multiple statutory aggravating circumstances and sentenced Young to death for the murder. Appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court was automatic. Young raised a number of arguments to challenge his conviction, but finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence. View "Young v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2005, Kelvin Gilliam was jointly tried with Frederick Terrell and Michael Stinchcomb on an indictment charging them with one count of murder, one count of felony murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault, and related firearms charges. The jury found only Terrell guilty of murder, among other charges, but found Gilliam and Stinchcomb guilty of multiple counts of aggravated assault. The trial court sentenced Gilliam to serve a total of ten years in prison, and Gilliam timely filed a motion for new trial. For unapparent reasons, that motion languished for years, until Gilliam filed an amended motion for new trial in May 2019, adopting all of the grounds set out in Terrell’s amended motion for new trial. The trial court denied Terrell’s and Gilliam’s motions, and both defendants filed a timely notice of appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. Because the Supreme Court determined it did not have jurisdiction over Gilliam’s appeal, it transferred this case to the Court of Appeals for further proceedings. View "Gilliam v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Demetrius Heade was convicted by jury of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Michael Harvey. On appeal, Appellant contended: (1) the trial court erred in ruling that evidence of Appellant’s prior acts was admissible; (2) trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by conceding the admissibility of one of the acts; and (3) these multiple errors cumulatively prejudiced Appellant. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible error on these grounds, but did find two sentencing errors with regard to his convictions for felony murder and aggravated assault. Convictions were affirmed, but the sentence vacated and the case remanded for correction of sentence. View "Heade v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Walter Terry Moon, Jr., was convicted by jury of murder and other offenses in connection with the shooting deaths of Emily Pickles and Michael Biancosino. Moon challenged the sufficiency of the evidence, contending among other things, that the trial court erred by: (1) denying his motions to suppress evidence and to sever a count of the indictment, by admitting evidence that he committed a prior crime, and (2) removing a holdout juror during deliberation without sufficient cause. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed the trial court abused its discretion in removing the holdout juror, and because the error was presumed harmful, Moon’s convictions were reversed. The Court addressed certain issues likely to recur upon retrial, and remanded for a new trial. View "Moon v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Frank Huffman was convicted by jury of felony murder in connection with the shooting death of James Tanner Conrad (“Tanner”). On appeal, Huffman claimed the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statements to law enforcement officers by finding that he freely and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights. After review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court found no reversible error and affirmed. View "Huffman v. Georgia" on Justia Law