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 2026-10-19: 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.
Flanders v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a trial court can consider an amended motion to withdraw a guilty plea even if the amendment is filed after the original court term ends, as long as the original motion was timely filed within that term.
Guzman-Perez v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Gwinnett County man's murder conviction in the death of his wife, finding the circumstantial evidence sufficient and rejecting his claim that his lawyer should have hired a forensic expert.
In the Matter of Christopher John Palazzola
The Supreme Court of Georgia suspended Atlanta attorney Christopher Palazzola from practicing law, but since he had already voluntarily stopped practicing on June 1, 2020, the suspension was backdated and he was immediately reinstated with conditions requiring a law practice management review.
Knighton v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a teenager's murder conviction in a fatal stabbing, ruling that a trial judge's interruptions of closing argument to correct legal misstatements did not deny the defendant a fair trial.
Lynn v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld James Lynn's murder conviction for killing his wife Tonya with a baseball bat, rejecting his claims of trial error and ineffective counsel, but voided his separate aggravated assault sentence because it should have merged into the murder conviction.
MARTIN v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the murder and aggravated assault convictions of Dreshaun Martin and Tori Byrd, rejecting claims about a botched robbery plan, a mistrial motion, and multiple ineffective-assistance-of-counsel arguments.
Nuckles v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a hidden camera video from a nursing home patient's room can be used as evidence against a nurse charged in his death, because the patient counted as an occupier of the property and the nurse had no reasonable expectation of privacy while working there.
Thomas v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Houston County man's murder convictions for a double shooting outside a club, rejecting challenges to a jailhouse informant's testimony, photo lineups, and a denied mistrial motion.
Beck v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Dallas Beck's felony murder conviction for a second time, ruling that the trial judge properly rejected claims that jurors improperly discussed sentencing during deliberations.
Carter v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Crisp County man's murder conviction, rejecting his self-defense claim and finding that his trial lawyer's failure to challenge certain testimony did not amount to ineffective assistance.
Clark v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia sent a Polk County murder case back to the trial court because it rejected a man's request for a delayed appeal without first holding a hearing on his claim that his plea lawyer was ineffective.
Cole v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a trial court's denial of a man's request for a late appeal of his 1991 guilty plea to murder, ruling the judge had to first hold a hearing on whether his plea lawyer's failures cost him his appeal rights.
Davis v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the denial of a man's request for a late appeal from his 1997 guilty plea, finding his lawyer's failure to discuss appeal rights was not unreasonable given the circumstances.
Gardner v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Waycross man's felony murder conviction, ruling his trial lawyer was not ineffective for skipping a voluntary manslaughter instruction and instead pursuing an all-or-nothing self-defense strategy.
Golden v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Houston County man's felony murder conviction for a fatal motel robbery, finding the evidence sufficient and rejecting challenges to his police interview and to testimony implicating him in a prior robbery.
Heinze v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the convictions of a Glynn County man for the murders of eight members of his family and neighbors, ruling that he had agreed to the removal of a disruptive juror and could not now challenge that decision on appeal.
Lanier v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Antonio Lanier's murder and armed robbery convictions, rejecting his claims that accomplice testimony was uncorroborated, that his lawyer was ineffective, and that the trial judge mishandled evidence and jury selection.
Lopez v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Nicolas Lopez's murder conviction, rejecting his self-represented claims that his lawyer had a conflict of interest, provided ineffective assistance, and that the trial judge and jury process were flawed.
Schell v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Wayne County woman's murder and kidnapping convictions for drowning her mother in a submerged car, finding the circumstantial evidence excluded any reasonable theory of innocence.
Thrift v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Ware County man's felony murder conviction in the 1991 disappearance of his cousin, ruling that his repeated confessions to killing the victim were enough evidence even though no body was ever found.
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