Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
WEST v. WITTENSTEIN
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that presidential electors for independent candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz had to personally file nomination petitions, and because none did, both candidates were properly kept off Georgia's 2024 ballot.
Brock v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Paulding County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claims that the evidence was insufficient, that prosecutors misstated self-defense law, and that jurors were improperly summoned using an outdated list.
CATOOSA COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY v. HENRY
The Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed the Catoosa County Republican Party's appeal over blocked primary candidates, ruling the party waited too long and failed to push for a quick decision before the election already happened.
Gallegos-Munoz v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia clarified that a 1989 rule requiring judges to first find prior sexual-abuse accusations 'probably false' before letting a jury hear about them no longer applies under the state's 2013 Evidence Code.
Gonzalez v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder conviction of a Forsyth County man, ruling police were allowed to ask him about a knife's location before Miranda warnings and could take DNA swabs and photos after his arrest.
In THE MATTER OF CORY D. RAINES (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Cory D. Raines after he defaulted in two disciplinary cases accusing him of mishandling client settlement funds, including money owed to two minor siblings and a medical clinic.
Jones v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Christopher Lane Jones's convictions for murdering his roommates Steven Ward and Kristian Bell and concealing their deaths, rejecting his claims of insufficient evidence and ineffective counsel.
Melancon v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia threw out a father's second-degree murder conviction, ruling that telling his girlfriend not to report earlier signs of abuse to state child welfare investigators was not enough to legally count as causing his daughter's death two months later at the mother's hands.
Pyne v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Jacob Pyne's murder conviction in the shooting death of Gerard Foster, rejecting claims that his trial lawyer was ineffective and that the prosecutor's closing argument improperly shifted the burden of proof.
Yntema v. Smith
The Supreme Court of Georgia declined to review a Court of Appeals ruling about a divorce case gag order, leaving in place questions about whether a nonparty who never agreed to the order can still be bound by its speech restrictions.
Gonzalez v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Forsyth County man's murder conviction, ruling that police could ask where a knife was before giving Miranda warnings and that swabbing his hands and photographing him did not violate his rights.
CARDINAL HEALTH INC. v. JOSEPH POPPELL (And Vice Versa)
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a jury verdict clearing prescription drug distributors of liability in a lawsuit brought by family members of opioid addicts, rejecting claims of juror misconduct and a flawed jury instruction.
In the Matter of L. Elizabeth Lane
The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a Georgia attorney's request to permanently surrender her law license after she repeatedly failed to move a client's habeas corpus case forward and hid her declining health from him.
In the Matter of Nevada Michael Tuggle
The Supreme Court of Georgia ordered attorney Nevada Michael Tuggle disbarred after finding he neglected two vulnerable clients, ignored court judgments against him, and made only token, self-serving restitution offers.
NORTH AMERICAN SENIOR BENEFITS, LLC v. WIMMER
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a non-recruitment clause in an employment contract does not need to spell out a specific geographic area to be enforceable, so long as its scope is reasonable under the circumstances.
Pope v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Bibb County trial court's rejection of a man's motion to withdraw his guilty plea to malice murder, finding the motion was filed nearly two years too late.
State v. Harris
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a superior court wrongly sent a teenager's murder case back to juvenile court, holding that a timely first indictment kept the case in superior court even after a later reindictment added new charges.
VEST MONROE, LLC v. DOE
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied class certification to patients whose health records were leaked by a fired employee, because their claims were not sufficiently typical of the lead plaintiff's claims.
Wyatt v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, ruling that testimony about his knife attack on his ex-wife hours before the killing was properly admitted to counter his insanity defense.
Bowman v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Polk County man's murder conviction for killing his ex-fiancee, rejecting claims that his trial lawyer was ineffective and finding any error in admitting evidence of his past violence against a former wife was harmless.