Georgia CommonsFortson v. State
Filed February 15, 2022 · Docket S21A1038 · 869 S.E.2d 432
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Demetruis Fortson's felony murder conviction, finding that circumstantial cell phone evidence and testimony about a distinctive dreadlocks hairstyle were enough for the jury to convict him despite no direct evidence placing him at either crime scene, over a dissent.
In plain language
Nicholas Hagood was shot to death and his car and phone stolen shortly after another man, Rayshon Smith, was robbed at gunpoint nearby, with items from that robbery later found near Hagood's body. A Fulton County jury convicted Demetruis Fortson of felony murder, hijacking, and a firearms count, relying entirely on circumstantial evidence: cell phone records showing his co-defendants' phones moving near his home and the crime scenes, and testimony that only Fortson, among the group, wore a dreadlocks hairstyle matching a description of one of the robbers. Fortson appealed, arguing the evidence was too weak and too indirect to prove he was a party to the crimes, and that the trial judge should have granted a new trial or a directed verdict. The Supreme Court of Georgia disagreed, holding that the jury was allowed to draw reasonable inferences from the phone records and hairstyle evidence connecting Fortson to the crimes, and it affirmed his convictions. One Justice dissented, arguing the evidence was too weak to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.
What the court decided
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Why it matters
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Outcome
Affirmed
How the court got there
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