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Found 100 matching documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 1, 2022
Langley v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that trial judges do have discretion to put part of a felon-firearm-possession sentence on probation, reversing a Court of Appeals decision that said the sentence had to be served entirely in confinement.
Looking to the statutory text and context, there is no real question about what the phrase “shall be imprisoned” — standing alone — means in a penal statute. In ordinary English, the phrase “shall be imprisoned” means that a person convicted of an offense is to be “confined” for the period specified by the statute. See, e.g., Webster’s Third New...
In light of the statutory text and context, that cannot be correct. To see why, it is helpful to take a broader look at how Georgia’s penal statutes in general prescribe sentences. That wider review reveals that virtually all penal statutes in Georgia introduce the sentencing range for a violation with one of two phrases: either “shall be imprisoned,” see,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 30, 2022
McIver v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed Tex McIver's felony murder conviction in the shooting death of his wife Diane, ruling the trial judge should have let jurors consider a lesser misdemeanor manslaughter charge.
Punishment for involuntary manslaughter.— Involuntary manslaughter, in the commission of an unlawful act, shall be punished by confinement and labor in the penitentiary for not less than one nor longer than three years. Involuntary manslaughter, in the commission or performance of a lawful act, revision of the Georgia criminal statutes in 1968.16 The 1968...
17 When the Official Code of Georgia Annotated was adopted in 1982, the 1968 revision, Ga. Code Ann. § 26-1103, was carried forward as OCGA § 16-5-3. The definitional language was unchanged, other than the removal of two commas, but the language prescribing the penalty was reworded. The maximum penalty for unlawful act involuntary manslaughter was increased...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 15, 2022
Edible Ip, LLC v. Google, LLC
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that Edible Arrangements' owner cannot sue Google for theft, conversion, or racketeering just because Google auctions its trade name to advertisers as a keyword search term.
(1) Passes off goods or services as those of another; (2) Causes likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services; (3) Causes likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding as to affiliation, connection, or association with or certification by another; ... (12) Engages in any other...
7 We note that the General Assembly enacted OCGA § 16-9-93.1 in 1996, which, in pertinent part, makes it a crime for any person . . . knowingly to transmit any data through a computer network . . . if such data uses any . . . trade name, registered trademark, logo, legal or official seal, or copyrighted symbol . . . which would falsely state or imply that...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 20, 2022
BARNHILL v. ALFORD
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a grandmother could still seek visitation with her granddaughter even after the child's stepmother adopted her, and upheld the grandparent visitation law's clear-and-convincing-evidence standard as constitutional.
OCGA § 19-7-3 (c) (1) provides in pertinent part that the court may grant any family member of the child reasonable visitation rights if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the health or welfare of the child would be harmed unless such visitation is granted and if the best interests of the child would be served by such visitation. The mere...
court “shall consider” in making that determination. See id. However, the statute does not provide that any one of these four factors is sufficient by itself — these are simply factors to be considered by the trial court in making a holistic assessment of whether family member visitation is in the best interest of the child. Moreover, as addressed in more...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 29, 2022
Young v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Tia Young's felony murder conviction in her husband's shooting death, finding the circumstantial evidence sufficient and rejecting her claims about a joint trial and jury instructions.
Here, the jury was presented with sufficient circumstantial evidence against Tia, which included the following. Tia was home at the time of the shooting, which happened as George was opening the front door, and the position of his body after the shooting indicated that he was shot from within the house. Tia and Lee were having an affair and lied about it to...
MCMILLIAN, Justice. After a jury trial in 2019, Tia Young was convicted of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of her husband, George Young.1 On appeal, Tia claims that the 1 George Young was killed on November 16, 2017, and on June 27, 2018, a Gwinnett County grand jury indicted Tia Young and Harvey Lee for malice murder...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 8, 2022
Junior v. Graham
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a car accident victim can collect attorney fees and litigation expenses under two separate Georgia laws without one recovery canceling out the other, reversing the Court of Appeals of Georgia.
2. (a) In interpreting OCGA §§ 9-11-68 (b) (2) and 13-6-11, we must presume that the General Assembly meant what it said and said what it meant. To that end, we must afford the statutory text its plain and ordinary meaning, we must view the statutory text in the context in which it appears, and we must read the statutory text in its most natural and...
reform” legislation that became effective on February 16, 2005, see Ga. L. 2005, p. 1, § 5, and was then amended effective April 27, 2006, see Ga. L. 2006, p. 446, § 1. Relevant to the issue before us, OCGA § 9-11-68 (b) (2) provides: If a plaintiff makes an offer of settlement which is rejected by the defendant and the plaintiff recovers a final judgment...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 2, 2022
Winslow v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's convictions for possessing child pornography found on his laptop, ruling his consent to a Walmart search extended to a forensic exam conducted 14 months later, but sent the case back because two counts should have been merged for sentencing.
BETHEL, Justice. William Sanford Winslow was convicted on four counts of sexual exploitation of children in connection with his possession of two videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The videos were found on his laptop computer by law enforcement. On appeal, Winslow raises three enumerations of error: (1) the trial court erred by...
At a jury trial held in September 2021, Winslow was found guilty of all counts. The trial court sentenced him to a total of 35 years, with the first 20 years to be served in confinement and the remaining 15 years to be served on probation. This sentence included fifteen years in confinement for Count 1 and twenty years (five years served in confinement with...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 19, 2022
Jenkins v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder and related convictions of a man involved in a violent Gwinnett County home invasion, rejecting his challenges to the felon-in-possession evidence, flight testimony, and his lawyer's performance.
313 Ga. 81 FINAL COPY S21A1127. JENKINS v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 15, 2022
Ward v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Greene County man's murder conviction for killing his girlfriend, rejecting his claims that the evidence was too weak and that hearsay testimony and ineffective trial counsel warranted a new trial.
(3) The general purposes of the rules of evidence and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. However, a statement may not be admitted under this Code section unless the proponent of it makes known to the adverse party, sufficiently in advance of the trial or hearing to provide the adverse party with a fair...
(a) The six witnesses about whom Appellant complains gave the following testimony at trial. First, Rodney Rivers testified that he and Gibbons were co-workers and good friends; he was “like a big brother to her.” Gibbons told him that she and Appellant dated on and off through college and that “[s]he really loved [Appellant] a lot.” At work, Rivers 7...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 15, 2022
Cook v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia eliminated the decades-old practice of letting convicted defendants ask a trial court directly for a late appeal, ruling that habeas corpus is now the only proper way to seek that relief.
313 Ga. 471 FINAL COPY S21A1270. COOK v. THE STATE.
I am authorized to state that Justice McMillian joins in this concurrence.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 20, 2022
STATE OF GEORGIA v. FEDERAL DEFENDER PROGRAM, INC.
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that an email exchange between a deputy attorney general and death-penalty defense lawyers formed a valid written contract, letting a trial judge block Virgil Presnell's execution while the state honors that deal.
10 OCGA § 10-12-7 (a) provides that “[a] record or signature shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.” In addition, that statute goes on to state that “[a] contract shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation,” OCGA § 10-12-7 (b), and that...
Langley v. State, 313 Ga. 141, 143 (2) (868 SE2d 759) (2022) (citations and punctuation omitted). In addition, “[w]hen we consider the meaning of a statutory provision, we do not read it in isolation, but rather, we read it in the context of the other statutory provisions of which it is a part.” Hartley v. Agnes Scott College, 295 Ga. 458, 462 (2) (b) (759...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 15, 2022
Morrell v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Chatham County man's murder conviction, ruling that a witness's recorded police statements could be used against him because he was responsible for that witness's refusal to testify, and that evidence of related witness intimidation was properly admitted.
313 Ga. 247 FINAL COPY S21A1273. MORRELL v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 2, 2022
Ammons v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that police cannot use a DUI suspect's refusal to take a preliminary breath test or cooperate with field sobriety tests as evidence at trial, overruling a 29-year-old precedent. The court also rejected a separate constitutional challenge to using blood test refusals as evidence.
Search and Seizure Clause11 and Due Process Clause12 to insist that the police obtain a search warrant or satisfy some other exception to the warrant requirement before performing the test. And although our cases construing these provisions do not hold or suggest that a suspect’s refusal to consent to a blood test cannot be used against her at trial, she...
We reject this claim. As an initial matter, Ammons’s burden to establish this claim is a difficult one. We presume that statutes are constitutional, and before an act of the General Assembly can be declared unconstitutional, “the conflict between it and the fundamental law must be clear and palpable and this Court must be clearly satisfied of its...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 29, 2022
Carter v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Houston County man's murder conviction for killing his 81-year-old grandmother, rejecting his claims that the evidence was too weak and that his lawyer and the trial court mishandled hearsay testimony.
The record further shows that Carter, Detective Peck, and Fox all testified at trial that Mann had recently expressed being afraid of Appellant because he was verbally and emotionally abusive and that Mann had wanted Appellant out of her house. Camp testified that she witnessed Mann and Appellant enter the house around 11:00 a.m., that she did not see...
Here, Appellant has failed to show that his trial counsel acted deficiently. Before trial, counsel responded to the State’s notice of intent to present hearsay testimony by filing a motion in limine asserting, among other things, that Mann’s out of court statements to Carter and Fox did not satisfy OCGA § 24-8-807 (“Rule 807”), also known as the residual...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 19, 2022
Ward, Commissioner v. Carlton
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a trial court had legal authority to revoke a man's probation even before his probationary period had actually started, reversing a habeas court that had freed him from that revocation.
1. Due process violation in that the trial court revoked Carlton’s probation before he began it and before he 6 Carlton refused to sign the revocation order and the addendum. 7 There was no testimony at the evidentiary hearing, and the parties tendered only documents into evidence. entered probation before being released from prison. 2. Equal protection...
employee is not a crime as contemplated by OCGA § 16- 10-23. 10. Void indictment as to Counts 4, 6, and 7 in that the indictment was void on its face because it did not allege any of the essential elements contained in the statute. (d) The Attempted Aggravated Stalking Case Meanwhile, in August 2018, Carlton was tried and convicted in Cobb County of...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 30, 2022
SLOSBERG v. GILLER
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a family trust's no-contest clause could not stop a son from challenging the trust for undue influence, and once a jury found the trust invalid, the clause and the entire document fell with it.
6 From the time it was enacted in 2010 until an amendment became effective in January 2021, OCGA § 53-12-22 said: (a) A trust may be created for any lawful purpose. (b) A condition in terrorem shall be void unless there is a direction in the trust instrument as to the disposition of the property if the condition in terrorem is violated, in which event the...
2. Legal Background We begin by setting forth the statutory and common-law rules applicable to our analysis. Specifically, we address the two subsections in the Georgia Code that expressly set forth a single requirement for the validity of an in terrorem clause; the common- law rules with respect to challenges to the valid formation of legal instruments;...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 8, 2022
McEntyre v. Sams East, Inc
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that anyone who helps load a vehicle, not just the driver, has a legal duty to securely fasten the load, and can be sued for negligence if that duty is broken and someone is hurt as a result.
(b) The remaining questions posed by the district court asked whether OCGA § 40-6-248.1 (b) (1) is a “strict liability” statute such that the occurrence of a load becoming loose, detached, or in any manner a hazard to other users of the public road necessarily means that the load was not securely fastened, and whether a person who assists in loading or...
context).3 Here, the provisions of OCGA § 40-6-248.1 (b) do not explicitly provide for strict liability in the context of a civil tort action, but rather provide the basis of the underlying duty. More specifically, as explained above and pertinent to this case, the statute imposes a duty owed to users of public roads on all persons who assist in loading a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 20, 2022
Smith v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Lamar County man's malice murder conviction for shooting his neighbor, rejecting claims that the shooting was accidental, that evidence was wrongly admitted, and that his trial lawyer was ineffective.
315 Ga. 357 FINAL COPY S22A1109. SMITH v. THE STATE.
5 See Jackson v. Denno, 378 U. S. 368 (84 SCt 1774, 12 LE2d 908) (1964). 6 Under the former Evidence Code, to preserve for appellate review a claim that the trial court improperly admitted or excluded evidence under a particular theory, a defendant was required to argue at trial that the evidence should be admitted or excluded under that particular theory....
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 15, 2022
Grier v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's murder conviction for killing his girlfriend, finding that one piece of improperly admitted child hearsay testimony did not affect the trial's outcome and that his lawyer was not ineffective.
313 Ga. 236 FINAL COPY S21A1249. GRIER v. THE STATE.
A statement made by a child younger than 16 years of age describing any act of sexual contact or physical abuse performed with or on such child by another or with or on another in the presence of such child shall be admissible in evidence by the testimony of the person to whom made if the proponent of such statement provides notice to the adverse party...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 7, 2022
Peacock v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Jeffrey Peacock's convictions for murdering five friends and burning their home, rejecting his claims that the evidence was too weak, his truck search was unlawful, and his lawyer botched his defense.
314 Ga. 709 FINAL COPY S22A0578. PEACOCK v. THE STATE.
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