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Found 125 matching documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 28, 2025
Stephens v. State of Georgia
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Georgia's law barring most people under 21 from carrying handguns in public, rejecting a 20-year-old's argument that the state constitution's right to bear arms should be reinterpreted using federal legal tests.
1. Background (a) Statutory Framework Georgia law allows law-abiding citizens to carry firearms with few restrictions. Georgians over the age of 21 may carry handguns or long guns in most places, openly or concealed, and with or without a license. See OCGA § 16-11-125.1 (2.1) (any person who is licensed or eligible to get a weapons carry license is a...
(b) Proceedings Below Stephens applied for a weapons carry license when he was 18, and his application was denied because he was not 21. Stephens then sued the State, contending that OCGA § 16-11-126 (g) (1) vio- lates Paragraph VIII to the extent it prohibits Stephens and other 18- to 20-year-olds from obtaining Georgia weapons licenses and car- rying...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 28, 2025
Craft v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County teenager's murder conviction, ruling that a missing jury instruction on defense of habitation was not shown to have changed the outcome given overwhelming evidence of guilt.
The defense of habitation statute, OCGA § 16-3-23,2 explains that a person may lawfully threaten or use force against another 2 OCGA § 16-3-23 says in full: A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to prevent or terminate such other’s...
that the entry is made or attempted for the purpose of committing a felony therein and that such force is necessary to prevent the commission of the felony. As Craft requested, the trial court instructed the jury on paragraph (1) of OCGA § 16-3-23, which authorizes the use of deadly force when the entry is attempted or made “in a violent and tumultuous...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 15, 2025
Moss v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's murder conviction in the shooting death of his girlfriend, rejecting claims that jury instructions were flawed, a mistrial should have been granted, and his trial lawyer was ineffective.
(c) Moss also contends that his counsel was ineffective for fail- ing to file a general demurrer to Count 8 of the indictment. Count 8 charged Moss with “the offense of possession of firearm by first of- fender probationer O.C.G.A. § 16-11-131(b),” and alleged that Moss, “on the 2nd day of September, 2018, did knowingly and without law- ful authority...
That uncertainty forecloses Moss’s ineffective-counsel claim. If “existing precedent” at the time did not make clear that a legal ar- gument would have supported a demurrer, then a defendant “cannot show that trial counsel’s failure to file a demurrer asserting that ar- gument amounted to deficient performance.” State v. Riley, 321 Ga. 323, 328 (2025)...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 21, 2025
Burks v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Rufus Burks's felony murder conviction for a Columbus home invasion that left three people dead, rejecting his claims about weak evidence, autopsy photos, jury instructions, pretrial publicity, and jury composition.
Likewise, there was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could have found Burks guilty beyond a reasonable doubt as to the kidnapping, burglary, and theft by taking counts. As to the kidnapping of Caleb, Gibson testified that Tapley and Burks forcefully took Caleb to the other side of the house and bound him using duct tape. “A person commits...
“Every person concerned in the commission of a crime is a party thereto and may be charged with and convicted of commission of the crime.” OCGA § 16-2-20(a). To convict someone as a party to a crime, the State must show “that he intentionally aided or abetted in the commission of the crimes or intentionally advised, encouraged, counseled, or procured...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 9, 2025
Lee v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Kevin Lee's murder conviction for killing his wife Ann Berry in 1991, whose remains were not found until 2011, rejecting challenges to the evidence, a hearsay ruling, a juror swap, and his lawyers' performance.
4 Rule 807 provides: A statement not specifically covered by any law but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness shall not be excluded by the hearsay rule, if the court determines that: (1) The statement is offered as evidence of a material fact; (2) The statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other...
On January 20, 2022, the State filed notice of intent to introduce “residual hearsay” under Rule 807, to include statements made by Berry to various witnesses, including Story, Harvard, and Riley, “as previously provided in discovery.” Prior to trial, the court heard argument from the parties regarding the State’s notice. The State represented that Story...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 9, 2025
State v. PHILLIPS
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a felony charge of violating a police officer's oath of office can support a felony murder charge if the circumstances created a foreseeable risk of death, reversing a trial judge who dismissed that count.
The officers were indicted on November 19, 2021, for malice murder, felony murder predicated on aggravated assault, felony murder predicated on violation of oath by public officer, aggravated assault, and violation of oath by public officer. This appeal centers on Count 3, charging the officers with felony murder predicated on violation of their oaths by...
PETERSON, Chief Justice, concurring. I concur in the majority’s holding that the trial court erred in granting the officers’ general demurrer to Count 3. But, as the majority points out, the officers also brought general demurrers to Counts 5 through 9, which charge the officers with violating their respective oaths under OCGA § 16-10-1. The record before...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 13, 2025
BROWNPHIL, LLC v. CUDJOE
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that simply having a recorded deed to a property is not enough, by itself, to prove someone adversely possessed land under a defective title. Actual physical possession of at least part of the land is still required.
OCGA § 44-5-161 (a) sets forth the characteristics that “possession” of land must have “to be the foundation of prescriptive title[.]”4 OCGA § 44-5-161. In doing so, the statute takes as given 4 OCGA § 44-5-161 (a) states in full: (a) In order for possession to be the foundation of prescriptive title, it: (1) Must be in the right of the possessor and not of...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 24, 2025
Lee v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Terrence Lee's convictions for felony murder and other crimes tied to five 2018 home invasions in Gwinnett County, rejecting his challenges to evidence rulings, jury instructions, and the decision not to split the charges into separate trials.
As an initial matter, Lee is correct that burglary and simple assault are lesser included offenses of home invasion and aggra- vated assault, respectively. A lesser offense is “included” within a charged offense if, among other things, it is “established by proof of the same or less than all the facts . . . than is required to establish the commission of...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 16, 2025
Pinion-Lopez v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Gwinnett County man's felony murder conviction, ruling that his own trial testimony about a planned drug pickup was enough to prove the underlying drug conspiracy that led to a fatal shooting.
(a) Although Pinion-Lopez asserts now that the evidence was not sufficient to find him guilty of a conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, he testified at trial that he agreed, at Gonzalez’s request, to pick up methamphetamine and deliver the drugs to another location, thus admitting the elements of the felony of conspiracy to...
A person commits felony murder when, “in the commission of a felony, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.” OCGA § 16-5-1. Any felony that is “inherently dangerous to human life” or “by its circumstances create[s] a foreseeable risk of death” may serve as a predicate for felony murder. Davis v. State, 290 Ga. 757, 760...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 4, 2025
Merritt v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction for killing his mother, rejecting his claims that the evidence was too weak and that his trial lawyer was ineffective. The court found several of his other claims, including about being shackled during trial, were never properly raised and so were waived.
2. Merritt asserts that the evidence was not sufficient as a matter of constitutional due process to support his convictions because the evidence was circumstantial and no DNA or fingerprints linked him to the crimes. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 US 307, 318– 19 (1979). When assessing this claim, “we view all of the evidence presented at trial in the light...
To the extent Merritt also argues that the evidence was not sufficient to support his convictions under OCGA § 24-14-6, we similarly reject that argument. OCGA § 24-14-6 says: “To warrant a conviction on circumstantial evidence, the proved facts shall not only be consistent with the hypothesis of guilt, but shall exclude every other reasonable hypothesis...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 6, 2025
Arnold v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Rockdale County man's murder conviction, rejecting arguments that the evidence was insufficient, that his fingerprint expert testimony was improperly admitted, and that his trial lawyers were ineffective.
The evidence presented at trial showed that, between the night of April 5 and the early morning hours of April 6, 2019, 58-year-old Goolsby was beaten to death3 in the home she rented at 1415 Lester Road in Conyers. Goolsby’s body was discovered on April 12, 2019, when Dennis Lester, who lived in the house next to Goolsby’s, went to check on her.4 After...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 28, 2025
Pierce v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a trial court order restricting Jason Pierce's civil filings, ruling that Pierce never actually asked the trial court to lift those restrictions before appealing.
320 Ga. 692 FINAL COPY S24A1276. PIERCE v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 12, 2025
P&J Beverage Corporation v. the Bottle Shop, LLC
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a business seeking damages for 'abusive litigation' must send a notice that not only names the lawsuit at issue but also says it believes that lawsuit was abusive litigation. An email that only warned of a separate wrongful injunction claim did not count.
12 OCGA § 51-7-80 provides further definitions of the terms used in OCGA § 51-7-81 (1) and (2) to define “abusive litigation.” OCGA § 51-7-80 (5) defines “malice” as acting with ill will or for a wrongful purpose and may be inferred in an action if the party initiated, continued, or procured civil proceedings or process in a harassing manner or used process...
(c) Because the only civil proceeding that The Bottle Shop identified in the email was the injunction—which The Bottle Shop characterized as a wrongful injunction—and its description of that proceeding indicated only that The Bottle Shop expected that the injunction would be reversed on appeal, we see no indication that The Bottle Shop contended that the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 24, 2025
Fuller v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Spalding County woman's felony murder conviction for her role in her son's fatal shooting of a man in her hotel room, over a dissent that found the evidence too thin.
While the evidence of Fuller’s guilt was not strong, a reasonable jury could infer that Fuller shared a common criminal guilty of any crime either in fact or because of legal incapacity; (3) Intentionally aids or abets in the commission of the crime; or (4) Intentionally advises, encourages, hires, counsels, or procures another to commit the crime. OCGA §...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 4, 2025
Harris v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed Emmanuel Harris's murder conviction, ruling that graphic evidence of his 2017 domestic violence against a former girlfriend was improperly used to paint him as a violent person rather than to prove a specific reason for killing Jordan Gooch.
(b) Before trial, the State filed a notice of intent to introduce evidence under OCGA § 24-4-404 (b) of Harris’s plea of guilty to the aggravated battery of his ex-girlfriend, C. A., in September 2017. The State contended that C. A.’s testimony was relevant to prove that Harris’s “motive in killing [Gooch] was to control her with vio- lence,” and this was...
After this attack, Harris started packing his belongings and taking them to his car. He then came back to the room, pushed C. A. to the floor, and started kicking and pushing her again. At some point, C. A. went downstairs and Harris “grabbed [her] head and threw [her] to the ground,” and he kicked and punched her backside. This continued “for a very long...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 16, 2025
Priest v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Clayton County man's felony murder conviction, rejecting his claims that the trial court accepted his guilty plea without enough factual support and improperly forced him to give up his right to withdraw the plea.
(a) We begin with Appellant’s claim that the trial court violated USCR 33.9 by accepting his guilty plea upon facts that were insufficient to support his conviction for felony murder. USCR 33.9 provides that “judgment should not be entered upon [a guilty] plea without such inquiry on the record as may satisfy the judge that there is a factual basis for the...
The State represented that multiple witnesses heard Appellant tell Moore to “pop” (i.e., shoot) Frasier, which she then did. Taken as true, the prosecutor’s representations show that Moore committed aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Howard v. State, 288 Ga. 741, 743 (2011) (“Deliberately firing a gun in the direction of another person constitutes...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 18, 2025
Dias v. Boone
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a custody order granted under the state's Equitable Caregiver Statute, ruling the law cannot be applied to a legal parent's conduct that occurred before the statute took effect in July 2019.
(5) Demonstrated that the child will suffer physical harm or long-term emotional harm and that continuing the relationship between such individual and the child is in the best interest of the child. OCGA § 19-7-3.1 (d). The statute also sets forth factors that the court “shall consider” “[i]n determining the existence of harm[.]” OCGA § 19-7-3.1 (e). But,...
320 Ga. 785 FINAL COPY S24A0887. DIAS v. BOONE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 4, 2025
Nesbit v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld David Nesbit Jr.'s murder conviction in a Cobb County gas station shooting, rejecting his claims that his trial lawyer was constitutionally ineffective.
We see no merit to Nesbit’s contention that his trial counsel was ineffective in this respect. OCGA § 16-3-23 provides that “[a] person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to prevent or terminate such other’s unlawful entry into or attack...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 4, 2025
In the Matter of Destin Michelle Gillum
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Destin Michelle Gillum after she abandoned six clients, kept their fees, and never responded to the State Bar's investigation into her conduct.
The Special Master further determined that, in aggravation, Gillum demonstrated a pattern of misconduct by committing multiple offenses by violating multiple parts of eight separate Rules over six separate client matters, committing bad faith obstruction of the disciplinary proceedings by intentionally failing to comply with the rules or orders of the...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the report and recommendation of Special Master Christopher Samuel Brasher, who recommends that Destin Michelle Gillum (State Bar No. 683373) be disbarred for her conduct in connection with six client matters. Gillum is currently administratively suspended for failure to pay her license fees and...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 4, 2025
Callaway v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Mikeal Callaway's murder and aggravated assault convictions from a shooting spree across Fulton and DeKalb counties, rejecting his challenges to the evidence, jury instructions, and his lawyer's performance.
321 Ga. 186 FINAL COPY S24A1237. CALLAWAY v. THE STATE.
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