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.
State v. Goff
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a Richmond County judge's decision to grant a new trial to a man convicted of murdering his girlfriend, ruling his trial lawyer's strategic choices were not constitutionally deficient.
State v. Remy
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a man who claimed he shot someone in self-defense could still seek immunity from prosecution even after his first trial ended in a mistrial, and sent the case back to sort out whether his status as a convicted felon changes the outcome.
Stubbs v. Hall
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the dismissal of a Hancock County man's habeas corpus petition as too late, even though it found the trial court had miscalculated the exact date his conviction became final for that purpose.
WILLIAMS v. DEKALB COUNTY
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a DeKalb County taxpayer lacked standing to challenge the legality of a pay raise the county commissioners gave themselves, but revived his claim that commissioners could face civil penalties for how they added the raise to a meeting agenda.
Watkins v. Ballinger
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a ruling that threw out a Walker County man's second habeas corpus petition, finding he had done enough digging to justify a hearing on claims of jury misconduct and hidden evidence.
Wilson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Telfair County father's murder conviction in the death of his six-month-old son, ruling the timeline of events excluded any reasonable possibility the child's mother caused the fatal injury.
BOWEN v. SAVOY
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a defendant seeking to reopen a default judgment under the 'proper case' rule does not have to show a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline to answer a lawsuit.
Bamberg v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder convictions of a man and his mother in the shooting death of his ex-wife, ruling that a rebuilt transcript of a lost trial day was adequate and that the trial evidence was sufficient.
Calhoun v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the felony murder conviction of a man whose high-speed chase ended when a state trooper's PIT maneuver caused his car to crash, rejecting his ineffective assistance of counsel claims.
DEBELBOT v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the murder convictions of Albert and Ashley Debelbot, finding their trial lawyers should have objected when the prosecutor told jurors proof beyond a reasonable doubt could mean less than 51 percent certainty.
Department of Public Safety v. Ragsdale
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the 12-month deadline for giving the state pre-suit notice of a tort claim cannot be paused even when the injury resulted from a crime. The court reversed a lower ruling that had let a car crash victim's late notice slide.
Edwards v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's felony murder conviction stemming from a botched armed robbery in which his accomplice was fatally shot, rejecting challenges to the evidence and to a recorded phone call played at trial.
HILL, KERTSCHER & WHARTON LLP v. MOODY
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that when a client sues a former lawyer for malpractice, the lawsuit also opens up the client's privileged communications with any other attorney who worked on the same underlying matter.
Hogan v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's felony murder conviction and its trial judge's decision to reseat three jurors the defense had struck, but ordered one assault conviction merged into another.
Hyden v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Franklin County man's murder and kidnapping convictions in a beating death, rejecting claims of insufficient evidence, trial error, a 15-year appeal delay, and ineffective counsel.
In the Matter of Julianne Wesley Holliday
The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred Julianne Wesley Holliday after she failed to respond to three separate State Bar disciplinary cases accusing her of abandoning clients, missing critical deadlines, and keeping fees she did not earn.
Johnson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a felony probationer charged with murder may still argue self-defense if his possession of the gun he used was itself justified under Georgia's Safe Carry Protection Act, sending his case back to the trial court.
Kilpatrick v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Douglas County man's malice murder conviction for a 1998 highway shooting, rejecting his self-defense claim and multiple challenges to evidence used against him, including recorded jail-era wiretaps.
McELRATH v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a jury's verdicts finding a man both not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering his mother and guilty but mentally ill of felony murder for the same stabbing were legally contradictory, so both verdicts must be thrown out and he must be retried.
Parham v. Stewart
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the results of Blythe's 2018 mayoral election, ruling that two illegal votes were not enough to change or cast doubt on the four-vote margin of victory.
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