Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
Middleton v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia sent a marijuana search case back to a Camden County trial court, ruling the judge never made clear whether an officer's years-old deputization as a sheriff's deputy covered this arrest.
Wood v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Bobby Wood Jr.'s felony murder conviction for shooting Aaron Skinner, ruling that any errors at trial were harmless because the evidence against his self-defense claim was strong.
CALDWELL, WARDEN v. EDENFIELD; And Vice Versa
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a habeas court ruling that had thrown out David Edenfield's death sentence for the murder of six-year-old Christopher Barrios, finding that new evidence about Edenfield's intellectual functioning would not have changed the jury's sentencing decision.
WELCH v. PAPPAS RESTAURANTS, INC. (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia clarified that whether a crime on a business's property was reasonably foreseeable depends on the totality of the circumstances, not just proof of an identical past crime, and is usually a jury question.
Leonard v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Joshua Leonard's malice murder conviction, ruling that a shooting victim's statements identifying his attackers, made in the months and hours before he died, were properly admitted as dying declarations.
Basulto v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Gwinnett County man's murder convictions for running down pedestrians with his truck, ruling the trial judge did not have to remove a juror who belatedly disclosed old arrests.
Blocker v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder and gang convictions in a shooting sparked by a stolen-money dispute, rejecting arguments about the evidence, a hearsay ruling, and his lawyer's trial strategy.
EFFICIENCY LODGE, INC. v. NEASON
The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a ruling requiring an extended-stay motel to use court eviction proceedings against long-term residents, holding that lower courts used the wrong legal test to decide whether the residents were tenants or hotel guests.
Greene v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Douglas County man's malice murder conviction for strangling Sheila Bryant, rejecting challenges to his statements, autopsy photos, prior-acts evidence, and jury instructions, over a three-justice dissent.
In RE: DECEMBER 6, 2022 GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT (Three Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the dismissal of three lawsuits challenging the 2022 U.S. Senate runoff election, ruling that the voters who sued never named or served any defendant, leaving the courts with no one to order relief against.
Johnson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County father's felony murder conviction in the death of his six-month-old daughter, rejecting challenges to the evidence, autopsy photos, cross-examination limits, and a missing jury instruction on accident.
King v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claims that the trial judge should have granted a new trial and that his lawyer failed him by not challenging testimony about drug and alcohol use and intoxication.
Leonard v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Joshua Leonard's murder conviction for a 2010 Columbus shooting, ruling that the victim's statements identifying his shooters, made after he woke from a coma and again on the day he died, were properly admitted as dying declarations.
MUSE v. THE STATE (Three Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the murder and gang convictions of three men involved in a shootout at an Atlanta gas station, rejecting challenges to the evidence, jury procedures, and severance of their joint trial.
Perryman-Henderson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting claims that his lawyer botched cross-examination of the medical examiner and that the trial judge improperly commented on that testimony.
Pugh v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia threw out a Gwinnett County man's guilty plea to malice murder, ruling that prosecutors never showed the plea was made knowingly and voluntarily after he repeatedly said police had threatened his family.
Rountree v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Houston County man's malice murder conviction, ruling he never properly objected to the absence of voluntary manslaughter and mutual combat jury instructions and that no such instructions were required anyway.
State v. Brinkley
The Supreme Court of Georgia sent a murder case back to a Fulton County trial judge after finding she applied the wrong legal test in blocking evidence that the defendant said he fled police because he did not want to return to prison.
Burley v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Calhoun County inmate's felony murder conviction, ruling that although the trial judge gave flawed jury instructions on aggravated assault and felony murder, the mistake did not change the outcome given the overwhelming evidence of intent to kill.
Copeland v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Matthew Copeland's felony murder conviction for shooting Carlos Glenn, finding the jury could reject his self-defense claim and that his lawyer's error over evidence rules did not change the trial's outcome.