Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Delaljujuan Jones was tried by jury and convicted of murder and other crimes in connection with a shooting that killed Stanley Hill and wounded three others. Jones appealed, contending: (1) the evidence presented at his trial was insufficient to sustain three of his convictions; (2) the trial court erred when it denied his request to charge the jury on the defense of justification; and (3) that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel failed to present evidence that Hill and others at the scene of the shooting were members of a gang. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Jones' convictions. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Demarco Butler and Antonio Avery were tried jointly by jury and convicted of murder and other crimes in connection with a shooting incident that killed Jordan Collins and wounded his brother, Chad. Butler appealed, contending the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions, and that the trial court erred when it admitted expert testimony about gang activity and about Butler’s participation in a gang. In his separate appeal, Avery contended the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions, and that the trial court erred when it admitted a certain part of a recorded police interview. Finding no error in any of these enumerations, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's judgments in both cases. View "Butler v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Kevin Harrison was convicted by jury of murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of his wife, Heather Harrison. In the months leading up to the shooting, Heather had confided in multiple friends and family members that she was unhappy in her marriage; that Harrison was jealous, possessive, and controlling; and that she intended to move out of the couple’s home and seek a divorce. During that time, Harrison, who was aware of Heather’s intentions, contacted many of these same people to ask for advice on how to prevent Heather from leaving him. These witnesses described Harrison as being “broken-hearted” and “in a panic” about the prospect of Heather’s leaving; one witness testified that Harrison would call or text him for advice up to 30 times a day. Several witnesses testified that, on February 27, Heather planned to tell Harrison she was ending the relationship. In the early morning hours between February 27 and February 28, a concerned friend who spoke to Heather on the phone, arrived at the Harrison home to find police had cordoned off the Harrison home; Heather died at the hospital. On appeal, Harrison contended the State failed to carry its burden to disprove that the shooting was accidental, and that the trial court erred in refusing to give a requested jury instruction and in admitting certain other-acts evidence. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Harrison's convictions. View "Harrison v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Robert Gialenios was convicted by jury in 2019 of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony arising out of the shooting death of Bryan Overseth, the husband of Gialenios’ mistress. His amended motion for new trial was denied, and he appealed, asserting seven enumerations of error. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Gialenios' convictions. View "Gialenios v. Georgia" on Justia Law

At the center of this appeal was a dispute between the Polo Golf and Country Club Homeowners’ Association (the “HOA”) and Forsyth County over the validity of Section 4.2.2 of Forsyth County’s Addendum to the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual, an ordinance that made HOAs “responsible for maintenance of all drainage easements and all stormwater facilities within the entire development.” The HOA argued that Section 4.2.2 was unconstitutional and otherwise invalid, and that individual lot owners were responsible for maintaining stormwater infrastructure on their lots. Variants of this case were litigated and appealed multiple times before the Georgia Supreme Court and other Georgia courts, including a 2019 appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. On remand from the Supreme Court's "Polo Golf II" decision, the trial court evaluated and rejected the HOA’s remaining claims that Section 4.2.2 was invalid because it required the HOA to trespass on the private property of homeowners, constituted involuntary servitude under the United States and Georgia Constitutions, and exceeded the scope of the ordinance that authorized Forsyth County to promulgate the Addendum. The trial court thus denied the HOA’s motion for summary judgment and granted the defendants’ cross-motion for summary judgment. The HOA appealed. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Polo Golf & County Club Homeowners Assn., Inc. v. Cunard et al." on Justia Law

Nathan Mims was convicted by jury for murder and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime for stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Naty Ortiz-Ramos, to death. His sole enumeration of error was that the evidence presented at his trial was insufficient to sustain his convictions because the evidence showed that he could not control himself and thus was not responsible for the killing. The Georgia Supreme Court found the jury was not required to believe his explanation of Ortiz-Ramos’s killing; the evidence was sufficient to convict him, so his convictions were affirmed. View "Mims v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Kelvin Hurston and his co-defendant Dextreion Shealey were convicted of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the gang-related shooting death of Daven Tucker. Appellant contended the trial court violated his constitutional right to be present during his trial and that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to request a ruling on his motion to sever his trial from Shealey’s, failing to request a ruling on his motion to suppress evidence derived from a search warrant, failing to request a jury instruction on accomplice corroboration, and failing to request a proper limiting instruction on other-act evidence. Finding no merit to any of these claims, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's convictions. View "Hurston v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Dekito Champ was convicted of malice murder and a firearm offense in connection with the shooting death of his former girlfriend, Jana Watson. Appellant’s sole claim on appeal was that the trial court erred by violating his Georgia constitutional right to be present at numerous bench conferences that occurred during jury selection. After review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded the evidence presented at Appellant’s trial was sufficient to support his convictions, so that part of the trial court’s judgment was affirmed. However, because Appellant’s right-to-be-present claim was raised for the first time on appeal, there was no opportunity for the State to develop the record, and there were no findings or rulings by the trial court as to that claim, particularly as to whether Appellant acquiesced to his absences from the bench conferences. The Supreme Court therefore vacated the trial court’s judgment in part and remanded the case for the trial court to hold a hearing and rule in the first instance on Appellant’s constitutional claim. View "Champ v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Eric Smith was convicted of the felony murder of Eric Hernandez, the aggravated assaults of Juan Vargas and Manuel Hernandez, and a firearm offense. He appealed, contending the trial court erred in limiting his cross-examination of members of the Hernandez family; in not allowing him to cross-examine a police detective about whether Hernandez was a member of a gang; and in ruling against his claim that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective. Concluding that the trial court did not err with regard to the two evidentiary rulings and that Smith failed to preserve the claim of ineffective assistance, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Smith v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Jerry Carston was convicted of malice murder and related firearm and gang crimes after he shot and killed Quinton Williams, who had left Appellant’s gang. On appeal, Appellant argued the trial court erred by supposedly preventing his counsel from questioning one of the State’s witnesses about pending felony charges and by admitting into evidence a video recording of a gang beating of Williams that did not involve Appellant. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court concluded Appellant did not show the trial court imposed any unreasonable limitation on questioning the State’s witness and that the video was properly admitted. Accordingly, Appellant's convictions were affirmed. View "Carston v. Georgia" on Justia Law