Justia Georgia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Appellant Kalvin Suggs challenged his 2017 convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Tony Harrison. Appellant contended: (1) the evidence presented at his trial was legally insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion regarding voir dire, thereby forcing him to question all the prospective jurors together, rejecting his challenge to an allegedly racially discriminatory peremptory strike; denying his motion in limine to exclude evidence derived from a surreptitious audio recording of a conversation, and admitting 21 crime scene and autopsy photographs; and (3) the court did not follow the proper procedure when receiving a communication from the jury and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's convictions. View "Suggs v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Hakim Lofton was convicted by jury of malice murder and possession of a firearm, in connection with the 2013 shooting death of Jason Walker. On appeal, Lofton challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him, and contended the trial court erred in admitting cell-site location information that was obtained without a warrant, in failing to instruct the jury regarding the corroboration required for accomplice testimony, in allowing certain exhibits to go out with the jury, and in rejecting his claim that there was racial discrimination in jury selection. Lofton also contended he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Lofton's convictions. View "Lofton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Alfredo Allen was convicted of malice murder and other related crimes in connection with the 2015 stabbing death of Erin McKinney and the aggravated battery of Candice McKinney. On appeal, he challenged the sufficiency of the evidence relating to both murder charges. Finding the evidence sufficient and no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Allen v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Deshaun Middlebrooks appealed his convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with the 2017 shooting death of Quintavious Barber and the aggravated assault of Keundre Chappell. On appeal, Middlebrooks contended the trial court erred in denying his motion to exclude evidence of gang activity, and that he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Because Middlebrooks’ conviction for the aggravated assault of Barber should have merged into the malice murder conviction, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated the conviction and sentence for that count. Otherwise, the convictions were affirmed. View "Middlebrooks v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2007, Matthew Jackson was convicted of 28 counts of armed robbery and other crimes. During his trial, motion for new trial proceeding, and direct appeal, in which the Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions, Jackson was represented by lawyers from the Paulding County Public Defender’s Office. In 2016, represented by a lawyer in private practice, Jackson filed a petition for habeas corpus claiming that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance in three ways, and that his appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance because that lawyer had a conflict of interest that prevented him from raising ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims in Jackson’s amended motion for new trial. The habeas court denied relief as to Jackson’s ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims, but granted relief and set aside Jackson’s convictions on the ground that his appellate counsel had an actual conflict of interest. Warden Phillip Hall appealed that portion of the habeas court’s judgment granting relief on the conflict of interest claim. In a cross-appeal, Jackson contended the habeas court erred by denying relief as to his ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims. The Georgia Supreme Court found Jackson's appellate counsel had an actual conflict of interest that significantly and adversely affected his performance, so the Court affirmed the grant of habeas relief. However, the Court vacated the part of the habeas court’s judgment setting aside Jackson’s convictions, because the proper remedy under these circumstances was to grant Jackson a new opportunity to pursue a motion for new trial and direct appeal with conflict-free counsel, not a new trial. In Jackson’s cross-appeal, the Court vacated the portion of the habeas court’s judgment denying relief as to the ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims, because such claims should have been evaluated and raised in a new motion for new trial by conflict-free counsel and decided in the first instance by the trial court. View "Hall v. Jackson" on Justia Law

Johnathon Kirkland appealed his convictions for malice murder and related offenses, contending the trial court erred by failing to suppress an identification of him made by means of a photo lineup. Specifically, Kirkland contended the photo-lineup procedure was unduly suggestive. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Kirkland's convictions. View "Kirkland v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Willie Kitchens was convicted by jury of two counts of malice murder, arson, attempted rape and other crimes in connection with the 2011 stabbing deaths of Corey Kemp and Melanie Troupe. In his sole claim of error, Appellant contended the trial court court erred in allowing a witness to offer hearsay testimony that Appellant was responsible for the crimes. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Kitchens v. Georgia" on Justia Law

After Travis Jordan brought an abrupt end to his murder trial by pleading guilty to felony murder, he moved to withdraw his plea prior to sentencing. The trial court denied Jordan’s motion, concluding that Jordan did not have a right to withdraw his guilty plea because he was charged with a capital crime and that, even if he had such a right, he had waived it. Jordan appealed, arguing among other things, that he had an absolute right to withdraw his guilty plea and that he did not knowingly waive his right. To this, the Georgia Supreme Court found Jordan was correct, and so it reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "Jordan v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Aquillous Rayon Henderson tried by jury and convicted of malice murder and other offenses in connection with the 2016 shooting death of Timothy Hill. His amended motion for new trial was denied, and he appealed, arguing the trial court erred in: (1) denying his motion to suppress his custodial statement; and (2) excluding of Henderson’s testimony that Hill said he had been in prison. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Henderson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Ronald and Christy Cannon sued Oconee County, Georgia after a vehicle chase initiated by an Oconee County sheriff’s deputy ended in their daughter’s death. The trial court granted the County’s motion for summary judgment, holding that: (1) the Sheriff of Oconee County in his official capacity, not the County, was liable for the deputy’s actions; and (2) the Cannons could not substitute the Oconee County Sheriff in his official capacity as the defendant in place of Oconee County because the statute of limitations had expired and the relation-back doctrine embodied in OCGA 9-11-15 (c) did not apply. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s determination as to the proper defendant but reversed its ruling that relation-back did not apply. The Georgia Supreme Court held that the application of the relation-back doctrine depended on whether the proper defendant knew or should have known that the action would have been brought against him but for the plaintiff’s mistake, not on what the plaintiff knew or should have known and not on whether the plaintiff’s mistake was legal or factual. The Supreme Court vacated the decision of the Court of Appeals and remanded with direction for the trial court for application of the proper standard. View "Oconee County v. Cannon et al." on Justia Law