Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
Lee v. Smith, II
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that trial judges cannot exclude a late-identified expert witness in a civil case just because the witness missed a scheduling order deadline, and laid out four factors judges must weigh instead.
London v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting arguments that the evidence was too weak, that a witness's hearsay statements were wrongly admitted, and that his defense lawyer was ineffective.
Mitchell v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Muscogee County man's murder conviction, rejecting claims that his trial lawyer was ineffective and that a fingerprint disclosure and a graphic autopsy photo tainted the trial.
Mitchell v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claim that his trial lawyer botched her strategy of discrediting a jailhouse informant who testified he confessed to the killing.
Morgan v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Chatham County woman's guilty but mentally ill convictions for drowning her two infant daughters, finding that while some crime scene video should not have been shown to the jury, the mistake did not affect the verdict.
Naples v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Michael Naples's murder conviction in the death of 17-month-old Kaylee Johnson, ruling the trial court properly allowed evidence of his violence toward two other children to show his intent, and that his trial lawyer's decisions were reasonable strategy rather than ineffective assistance.
Richardson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting his arguments that a mistrial should have been granted, gang evidence should have been excluded, and his lawyer was ineffective.
State v. Bryant
The Supreme Court of Georgia sent a murder case back to a Chatham County judge after finding his order excluding evidence for discovery violations too unclear to review, because it was unclear whether he actually found the prosecution acted in bad faith.
State v. Lane
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County judge's decision to grant a new trial to a man convicted of hiring a hitman to kill a romantic rival, and along the way overruled decades of precedent that barred courts from weighing multiple trial errors together.
State v. Williams
The Supreme Court of Georgia reinstated a man's aggravated sexual battery conviction, ruling that although the trial judge gave a legally wrong jury instruction about a young child's ability to consent, the mistake did not affect the trial's outcome given the strength of the evidence.
Taylor v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, ruling that a hearsay statement from the victim was properly admitted and that improper trial testimony and prosecution comments about his silence before arrest were harmless.
Thomas v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Houston County man's murder conviction for killing his mentor, rejecting his claims that his confession should have been thrown out and that his trial lawyer failed him.
Walker v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a father's murder conviction in the beating death of his ten-month-old daughter, finding the circumstantial evidence sufficient and rejecting claims of jury instruction errors and ineffective trial counsel.
White v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Spalding County man's murder conviction, rejecting his arguments that evidence about the victim was wrongly excluded and that his trial lawyer was ineffective.
In the Matter of Christopher Aaron Corley
The Supreme Court of Georgia reinstated Christopher Aaron Corley to the practice of law after he showed he had met the conditions the court set for his return to the bar.
Allen v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Lee County man's felony murder conviction for shooting a man who tried to intervene in a domestic dispute, but voided his separate aggravated assault sentence because it should have merged with the murder conviction.
Davis v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Treutlen County man's malice murder conviction, finding that although a GBI agent's testimony was improperly admitted, the errors did not affect the verdict given the strong evidence against him.
Davis v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a person who has not yet been formally charged by indictment or accusation cannot use a plea in bar to argue the statute of limitation has expired on possible charges against him.
Jackson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Jonathan Jackson's murder conviction from a shooting at an East Point community Easter event, ruling that eyewitness testimony alone was enough evidence even without a gun, DNA, or video.
Mann v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder and child cruelty convictions of a man who fatally injured his fiancee's seven-year-old son, rejecting claims about jury instructions, his confession, and his lawyer's strategy.