Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
Dresbach v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, ruling his lawyers were not shown to have been ineffective in advising him about a plea deal he had already refused to consider.
Ensslin v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Paulding County man's murder conviction, agreeing that investigators wrongly kept questioning him after he said he had nothing else to say, but ruling that mistake did not affect the trial's outcome.
Frazier v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Washington County man's felony murder conviction, ruling that jurors could reasonably find he was a party to an attempted armed robbery that led to his accomplice's fatal shooting.
Hall v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Newton County man's murder conviction for shooting a friend's brother and beating another man, finding the eyewitness testimony and circumstantial evidence were enough to support the jury's verdict.
Hatney v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Valdosta State Prison inmate's felony murder conviction, ruling that even if the trial court should have instructed jurors on voluntary manslaughter, leaving out that instruction did not affect the verdict.
Holzheuser v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia refused to review a man's child molestation conviction, letting stand a Court of Appeals ruling that his lawyer's failure to object to internet images was not ineffective assistance.
Hudson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Chatham County man's murder conviction, ruling that a heated verbal insult over his mother's death did not justify jury instructions on voluntary manslaughter or insanity, and that limiting cross-examination about a police officer's question about mental illness was harmless.
In the Matter of Andrew David Taylor
The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred an attorney reciprocally after he was disbarred in Nevada for misappropriating more than a million dollars in client funds and misleading Nevada bar officials.
In the Matter of Barry Wayne Rorex
The Supreme Court of Georgia suspended a Georgia lawyer for six months after Arizona disciplined him for abandoning three clients, matching the sanction Arizona already imposed under the state's reciprocal discipline rules.
In the Matter of Jared Michael Arrington
The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred an attorney who collected nearly $1,000 from home buyers to purchase a title insurance policy but never bought it and never returned the money, after he failed to respond to the State Bar's disciplinary case.
In the Matter of Matthew A. Dickason
The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted an Atlanta-area lawyer's request to give up his law license after he admitted failing to account for client trust funds tied to real estate closings.
In the Matter of Muhammad Abdul-Warit Abdur-Rahim
The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a lawyer's request for a State Disciplinary Review Board reprimand after he admitted to disruptive, profanity-laced behavior while representing himself at his own criminal arraignment.
Martin v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Marquez Deshawn Martin's convictions for two murders committed during robberies, rejecting his claim that his lawyer should have fought harder over jury instructions, but sent the case back because he was wrongly sentenced on four murder counts instead of two.
McGARITY v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Amy McGarity's murder conviction, ruling that a co-defendant's testimony was sufficiently backed up by other evidence and that testimony about her drug dealing and cartel ties was properly admitted as part of the crime's story.
Roseboro v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claim that his trial lawyer botched the case by not challenging an eyewitness's identification of him as the shooter.
Srm Group, Inc. v. Travelers Property Casualty Company of America
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a business sued in court can seek attorney fees for bad-faith litigation even when its counterclaim was one it was legally required to bring, not just when it was optional.
State v. Holland
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a ruling that struck down Georgia's first-degree vehicular homicide hit-and-run law, holding the statute does not violate equal protection or due process.
Watts v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's second murder conviction, rejecting his claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective for not highlighting differences in a witness's testimony between his two trials.
In the Matter of Marta Maria Noriega-Allen
The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Marta Maria Noriega-Allen after she failed to respond to a State Bar disciplinary proceeding accusing her of abandoning a divorce client and mishandling his retainer funds.
Bundel v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Cobb County man's murder conviction, ruling the evidence supported the jury's verdict and that he had no right to a hearing on his new trial motion because he never clearly asked for one.