Georgia CommonsSupreme Court of Georgia
Court opinions
Opinions of the Supreme Court of Georgia filed from 2020-01-13 through 2026-10-14: 1,778 opinions. Each opinion has its full text and a plain-language summary. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
What this collection holds, and what it leaves out
- Opinions come from CourtListener and, for decisions it has not yet published, from the Supreme Court of Georgia's own website (62 opinions at present). When CourtListener publishes one of those decisions, its record replaces the court-sourced one and the old address redirects to it.
- The court's website index was last compared on 2026-10-18: every decision it listed through 2026-10-14 is here.
- Records whose text is shorter than 200 characters are not included.
- Each decision is counted once: where two records hold one decision (CourtListener's slip opinion and its Georgia Reports copy, or a court-website record and CourtListener's), the better copy is kept and the other record's id redirects to it (118 so far).
- The filing date is the decision date the court printed in the opinion for 63 opinions (every court-website record, and CourtListener records whose date disagreed with the caption); every other date is CourtListener's. For 1 court-website records whose PDF prints no date, the date is the day the court posted it.
- Spanish translations of the summaries exist for 1,778 of the 1,778 opinions with summaries (`lang=es`); the text of an opinion, and every quote from it, stays in English.
Roberts v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Melvin Roberts's murder conviction, ruling that some evidence of a robbery he committed nine days earlier was properly admitted because it directly tied him to the murder weapon, and any remaining error was harmless.
Winslow v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's convictions for possessing child pornography found on his laptop, ruling his consent to a Walmart search extended to a forensic exam conducted 14 months later, but sent the case back because two counts should have been merged for sentencing.
Clark v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Murray County man's felony murder conviction, rejecting his claim that his lawyer and the trial judge mishandled a report that a juror had silently communicated with the victim's family.
Crum v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a person can legally buy life insurance on his own life intending to sell it later to someone with no financial stake in his life, as long as no third party was involved when the policy was first taken out.
Drennon v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Carlos Drennon's murder and criminal street gang convictions tied to a robbery crew's revenge killing, but sent the case back to the trial court to investigate whether Drennon was wrongly excluded from bench conferences during jury selection.
In the Matter of William D. Thompson, Jr
The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted an amended petition from an attorney seeking reciprocal discipline for trust account mismanagement in Florida, imposing a one-year suspension retroactive to January 2020.
Moten v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a Coffee County man's murder appeal ruling because the trial court wrongly refused to let him amend his motion for new trial to raise a claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective.
Polke v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder conviction of a Tattnall County woman who shot her former girlfriend, rejecting arguments about insufficient evidence, the trial court's discretion to grant a new trial, and improper venue.
Reese v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a Laurens County man's felony murder conviction because the trial judge refused to update a jury instruction on self-defense after this court had just warned that the old wording could confuse jurors, and the confusion in fact occurred.
SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS v. HENRY COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia held that the Georgia Constitution requires every plaintiff to show a real injury before suing, but ruled that a private citizen can meet that requirement simply by showing her local government broke the law.
Simmons v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Troy Simmons's felony murder conviction in a gang-related methamphetamine dispute killing, rejecting claims about jury instructions and ineffective defense counsel.
State v. Powell
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a trial judge's decision to suppress part of a 15-year-old girl's statements to police, agreeing that under the totality of the circumstances she did not knowingly and voluntarily continue speaking with a detective after being misled about who could invoke her right to a lawyer.
State v. Randall
The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a trial court order that had thrown out evidence of a DUI defendant's blood test refusal, finding the constitutional ruling was unnecessary once the State agreed the evidence would only be used to explain why no test results existed.
Willis v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Stephen Willis's convictions in a Fulton County murder, robbery, and carjacking case, finding the circumstantial cell-phone and eyewitness evidence enough to convict and rejecting his ineffective-assistance claims.
Barber v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Rashad Barber's murder conviction from a 2014 Atlanta gang shooting, ruling that an accomplice's testimony against him was sufficiently backed up by other evidence, including pawn shop video and phone records.
Beamon v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Vernon Beamon's murder convictions for a 2016 DeKalb County double killing, finding the circumstantial evidence tying him to the crimes was strong enough for the jury to convict, and ruled his two firearm convictions did not have to merge.
Brookins v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder convictions and death sentences of a Baldwin County man who killed his wife and stepdaughter, rejecting claims about jury care, expert testimony, and prosecutorial arguments.
In the Matter of Edward Hine, Jr
The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted attorney Edward Hine, Jr.'s request to permanently give up his law license after he admitted mishandling client and trust funds, an outcome equivalent to disbarment.
In the Matter of Franklin David McCrea
The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Franklin David McCrea after finding he abandoned two clients and repeatedly ignored disciplinary proceedings against him.
In the Matter of Karen Lynn Pass
The Supreme Court of Georgia issued a public reprimand with conditions to attorney Karen Lynn Pass for mishandling client trust funds and failing to properly supervise a nonlawyer employee who stole client money.
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