Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
Foots v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Keitran Foots's murder conviction for shooting Sharika Bowman, ruling that the jury was entitled to reject his claim that he acted in self-defense.
Fuller v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Spalding County woman's felony murder conviction for her role in her son's fatal shooting of a man in her hotel room, over a dissent that found the evidence too thin.
Gayle v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Chatham County man's felony murder conviction for kidnapping Melanie Steele, ruling the jury could reasonably decide a key witness was not an accomplice and therefore his testimony needed no separate corroboration.
Hart v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Clayton County mother's malice murder conviction for the beating death of her four-year-old daughter, rejecting claims of insufficient evidence, ineffective defense counsel, and trial court error, while also declining the state's request to send future non-death-penalty murder appeals to the Court of Appeals.
Lee v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Terrence Lee's convictions for felony murder and other crimes tied to five 2018 home invasions in Gwinnett County, rejecting his challenges to evidence rulings, jury instructions, and the decision not to split the charges into separate trials.
Padgett v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld John Padgett's malice murder conviction for strangling his former girlfriend, rejecting his claims that his trial lawyer's handling of DNA evidence, other-acts evidence, and an uncalled witness amounted to constitutionally ineffective assistance.
Quintanar v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Abraham Quintanar's felony murder convictions from a botched armed robbery, rejecting challenges to his police confession and trial rulings, but voided one duplicate conviction that should have merged with another.
The MEDICAL CENTER OF CENTRAL GEORGIA, INC. v. TURNER
The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a ruling that let a $7.2 million wrongful death damages award stand without applying the court's own legal test for whether Georgia's cap on medical malpractice damages violates the right to jury trial.
Wilson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed Andrew Wilson's murder conviction, ruling the trial court should not have let jurors hear about a 2011 armed robbery because it was too generic to prove motive or a common criminal scheme.
Boone v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Crisp County man's murder conviction for stabbing his friend to death alongside his girlfriend, rejecting arguments that his confession was uncorroborated and that his lawyer should have objected to the prosecutor's closing argument.
Clark v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Dereckson Clark's murder conviction, rejecting his claims about a jury instruction, an evidence ruling, and his lawyer's handling of a juror's bathroom breaks.
Coston v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder and armed robbery convictions in a fatal shooting during a drug sale, rejecting his challenges to the evidence, his lawyer's performance, and the trial court's evidentiary rulings.
DATES v. CITY OF ATLANTA
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the six-month deadline for notifying a city of a potential injury claim cannot be extended just because the injured person is a minor.
Douglas v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Dade County man's murder conviction for pushing his girlfriend out of a moving truck, rejecting his sufficiency and ineffective-assistance claims, but found a sentencing error that must be fixed.
Floyd v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder and armed robbery convictions, rejecting arguments that the evidence was too weak and that his trial lawyer and judge made critical errors.
James v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a wheelchair-bound Fulton County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claim that the shooting was self-defense and his objection to a witness invoking her right against self-incrimination.
Lewis v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Ware County man's murder conviction, ruling the jury could reasonably reject his claim that he shot an unarmed man in self-defense.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. ETERNAL VIGILANCE ACTION, INC. (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that most 2024 election rules adopted by the State Election Board were not properly authorized by state law, while also sharply limiting who can sue to challenge such rules in the first place.
Scott v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a prison inmate's felony murder conviction for stomping a fellow inmate to death, rejecting his self-defense claim and finding no reversible error in the trial or his lawyer's strategy.
State v. Mickel
The Supreme Court of Georgia declined to decide whether police had probable cause to arrest a murder suspect, ruling instead that the trial judge's suppression order lacked enough explanation to allow the appeal to be reviewed.