Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
Moss v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's murder conviction in the shooting death of his girlfriend, rejecting claims that jury instructions were flawed, a mistrial should have been granted, and his trial lawyer was ineffective.
PILATO v. STATE OF GEORGIA (Three Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia threw out a ruling that struck down a state law limiting Atlanta school district boundaries, finding the families and city who sued the State had not shown an actual legal dispute with the State itself.
Profet v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, finding the circumstantial evidence tying him to the robbery and killing of a woman he had been dating was legally sufficient and that none of his trial errors claims held up.
Smg Construction Services, LLC v. Cook
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a contractor who admitted he knew an upper-floor ledge had no guardrail had actual knowledge of that hazard, even if he misjudged exactly where its edge was.
Smith v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a trial court order that denied Danyel Smith's bid for a new trial over his infant son's death, ruling the trial judge used the wrong legal analysis in weighing new expert testimony.
State v. SIMS
The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a Hall County judge's order that limited which Instagram messages prosecutors could use as gang evidence against a murder defendant, because the court could not tell whether the judge relied on relevance rules or the standard for excluding unfairly prejudicial evidence.
Taylor v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Micah Blake Taylor's murder conviction, ruling that even if search warrants for his Facebook and cell phone records lacked probable cause, any error was harmless because other evidence of his guilt was overwhelming.
Woschula v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Barrow County man's murder conviction for killing a family friend, rejecting arguments about jury instructions, prior-incident evidence, and statements he made to police while under the influence of drugs.
Jones v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia sent Robin Jones's decades-old guilty plea case back to a Cochran County-area superior court, ruling the lower court wrongly relied on old case law instead of a new state statute governing out-of-time appeals.
BAILEY v. MCINTOSH COUNTY (Three Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that McIntosh County residents could pursue a referendum to repeal a Sapelo Island zoning ordinance under the state's home rule provision, reversing a superior court order that had blocked the vote.
BOSTIC v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the felony murder and armed robbery convictions of Jerel Bostic and Timothy Wright in the shooting death of Jamichael Walker outside a Georgia game room, rejecting challenges to the evidence and trial rulings.
Crawford v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Carl Crawford's murder conviction for shooting his roommate's ex-girlfriend, finding that several disputed pieces of testimony either were properly admitted or did not affect the trial's outcome.
EVANS v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder, armed robbery, and gang convictions of two Gwinnett County teenagers involved in a robbery-turned-killing, but ordered one sentence for Khalil Miller vacated because two counts should have merged.
Evans v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Gordon Evans's murder conviction for ordering the killing of a fellow gang member over an unpaid debt, but ruled two related sentences should have merged into the murder sentence.
Green v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Richmond County teenager's felony murder conviction, ruling that his own statements before and after the shooting counted as direct evidence, so a stricter test for purely circumstantial cases did not apply.
Hill v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fannin County teenager's murder conviction, ruling that his confession to police was properly obtained and that a gruesome autopsy photo and a tweaked jury instruction did not require a new trial.
Lewis v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Dwight Lewis's malice murder conviction for the shooting death of Keosha Tinch, rejecting his claims that the identification evidence was too weak and that the judge should have instructed jurors on a lesser charge.
Robinson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County teenager's felony murder and aggravated assault convictions, ruling that the evidence was sufficient and that his trial lawyer's possible mistakes did not change the trial's outcome.
STATE OF GEORGIA v. DOVETEL COMMUNICATION, LLC
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that broadband providers could sue the state over changes to their public right-of-way contracts, but held that those contracts had no fixed end date and so could be ended by either side at will.
ULTRA GROUP OF COMPANIES, INC. v. PRINCE AND PRINCE, LLC
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a company operating coin machines in a Georgia store timely appealed a lottery arbitration ruling, because only the final award, not an earlier interim ruling, could be appealed under lottery agency rules.