Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
Dukes v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Damarcus Dukes' murder conviction and rejected his claims about hearsay testimony and excluded expert evidence, but ruled he was improperly sentenced twice for the same gun crime.
Felts v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld William Felts's murder, aggravated assault, and kidnapping convictions in the brutal killings of two teenagers, ruling the evidence let jurors find he was a full participant, not just a bystander to his co-defendant's crimes.
Griffin v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting claims that jurors improperly reviewed cell phone texts during deliberations and that his lawyer was ineffective for not blocking that review.
Jones v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Toombs County man's felony murder conviction for beating his girlfriend to death, ruling the evidence was sufficient and that her diary entries and evidence of a prior attack on an ex-girlfriend were properly admitted.
MOORE v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder convictions of Simeon Moore and Walter Milbourne for a Cobb County armed robbery that left one victim shot and dead and another wounded, rejecting challenges to the evidence, jury trial process, and legal representation.
Matthews v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Freeman Matthews's murder conviction in the stabbing death of Adrianne Young, rejecting his claims about a coerced confession, excluded third-party suspect evidence, and ineffective counsel.
McClain v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Richmond County woman's guilty pleas to felony murder and aggravated assault, finding no abuse of discretion in the trial court's refusal to let her withdraw them after she was hoping for a parolable sentence.
Pope v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective for not seeking a pre-trial self-defense immunity hearing.
Redding v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Henry County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claims that the judge should have given certain self-defense related jury instructions and that his trial lawyer was ineffective.
Sinkfield v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder conviction of a man who shot Vernon Forrest, rejecting claims that Fulton County's jury list violated jury composition rules and that death-qualifying jurors violated his fair cross-section rights.
Stewart v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld James Stewart's felony murder conviction in the shooting death of his girlfriend, rejecting claims that the jury verdict form was improperly worded, but the court vacated his separate aggravated assault sentence because it should have merged into the murder conviction.
Thomas v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, rejecting arguments about insufficient evidence, a courtroom outburst, Miranda warnings, and his lawyer's performance.
WILLIAMS v. HARVEY
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that lawyers in civil cases must object on the spot when they believe the other side's closing argument violates a judge's earlier ruling on a motion in limine, or they lose the right to challenge it on appeal.
Waller v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Muscogee County man's convictions for felony murder and gun possession in a fatal robbery of a man carrying $40,000 in a backpack, but ordered his separate armed robbery conviction erased because it duplicated the same crime.
Bell v. Raffensperger
The Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed as moot an independent candidate's appeal seeking a spot on the November 2020 ballot, because the election had already been held and the ballots printed, cast, and counted by the time the case reached the court.
Booth v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Jackson County woman's felony murder conviction for the death of her elderly mother, ruling the jury's verdicts were not legally contradictory and the trial judge properly had the jury deliberate a second time.
DRAUGHN v. THE STATE (Three Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the malice murder convictions of three men in the fatal stabbing of a fellow inmate at Hancock State Prison, rejecting challenges to the evidence, closing arguments, witness identifications, and joint trial.
JOHNSON v. AVIS RENT a CAR SYSTEM, LLC (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that Avis Rent A Car and its rental lot operator cannot be held liable for injuries two women suffered when a stolen SUV, driven by an employee fleeing police, crashed into them, because the employee's crime spree was too remote to have been foreseen.
Kessler v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Muscogee County man's felony murder conviction, ruling that his confession to police was not improperly induced and that the trial judge properly handled a prosecutor's closing argument statements about sentencing.
Moon v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Sergio Moon's felony murder conviction for shooting his children's great-grandmother while fumbling with a gun accessory, ruling the trial judge was right to refuse a lesser involuntary manslaughter instruction.