Griffin v. State

Terry Griffin was convicted of murder for shooting her boyfriend, Wesley Hudson, in the apartment they shared. At trial her lawyer initially pursued a self-defense theory but, after Griffin decided not to testify, shifted focus to arguing for the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, without discussing that change with Griffin. On appeal, Griffin argued that her lawyer's shift amounted to unilaterally abandoning her claim of innocence, violating her Sixth Amendment right to control the objective of her defense under the U.S. Supreme Court case McCoy v. Louisiana. The Supreme Court of Georgia assumed, without deciding, that her lawyer's actions were like a concession of guilt under McCoy, but held that Griffin still had to show she made a clear, unwavering objection to that concession, as the defendant did in McCoy. Because Griffin never made such an objection, her claim failed, and her conviction was affirmed.

Even assuming trial counsel effectively conceded guilt by shifting from self-defense to voluntary manslaughter, a defendant claiming a Sixth Amendment violation under McCoy v. Louisiana must show she made an intransigent and unambiguous objection to that concession, and because Griffin made no such objection, her claim fails.

The decision clarifies that Georgia criminal defendants cannot win a new trial simply by showing their lawyer changed defense strategy without consulting them; they must show they clearly and repeatedly objected to any concession of guilt, a high bar that limits this type of appeal.

Affirmed

1. The court explained that under McCoy v. Louisiana, a U.S. Supreme Court case, a defendant has the Sixth Amendment right to insist that her lawyer not concede her guilt, and violating that right is a structural error requiring automatic reversal rather than proof of harm.
2. The court noted that in McCoy itself, the defendant repeatedly and clearly objected to his lawyer's concession of guilt, both before and during trial, in private conversations with counsel and in open court.
3. The court assumed, without deciding, that Griffin's lawyer effectively conceded her guilt by shifting the defense from self-defense to voluntary manslaughter after Griffin chose not to testify.
4. Even with that assumption, the court held Griffin still had to show she made an intransigent and unambiguous objection to the concession, similar to the McCoy defendant's repeated protests.
5. The court found that Griffin's evidence, her not-guilty plea, her lawyer's earlier self-defense arguments, and her new lawyer's testimony that the strategy shift was never discussed with her, did not amount to the kind of clear, repeated objection required.
6. Because Griffin failed to show such an objection, the court concluded her Sixth Amendment claim under McCoy failed without needing to decide exactly how much objection would be enough in other cases.

• murder conviction
• Sixth Amendment
• McCoy v. Louisiana
• defense strategy
• voluntary manslaughter