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Found 121 matching documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 3, 2026
EAGER HOLDINGS, LLC v. PATEL
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia declined to review a dispute between an LLC and one of its members, but one Justice wrote that the lower court likely erred, and that the case may no longer need a ruling because the disputed money was returned.
Indeed, a legal entity seeking to clarify and settle the rela- tive rights of its members so that it can take certain actions going forward without risking liability or other legal risks strikes me as just the sort of thing that declaratory judgments are meant for. See, e.g., Republican Nat’l Comm. v. Eternal Vigilance Action, Inc., 321 Ga. 771, 791 (2025)...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 3, 2026
Trammell v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia said a Floyd County man's Second Amendment challenge to the felon-in-possession gun law could not be decided because he never notified the Attorney General. The ruling means the challenge must be redone after the state gets a chance to defend the statute.
ELLINGTON, Justice. In his sole claim of error, William Trammell, Jr., argues that OCGA § 16-11-131(b), 1 pertaining to the possession of 1 OCGA § 16-11-131(b) provides: Any person who is on probation as a felony first offender pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 8 of Title 42, who is on probation and was sentenced for a felony under subsection (a) or (c) of...
a firearm, such person shall be imprisoned for a period of five years. 2 The Second Amendment provides that “[a] well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” US Const. Amend. II. 3 The grand jury returned an indictment charging Trammell with possession of...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 3, 2026
Graham v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Lowndes County man's felony murder conviction, rejecting claims that his trial lawyer was ineffective for not seeking certain jury instructions on self-defense and character evidence.
Graham contends that an instruction under OCGA § 16-3-24 2 In full, OCGA § 16-3-24 provides: (a) A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to prevent or terminate such other’s trespass on or other tortious or criminal interference with real...
3 The record reflects that the trial court did fully instruct the jury on justification based on defense of self or others. The trial court also charged on the elements of the offense of criminal trespass, including that a person commits that offense if he remains on another person’s property after receiving notice to leave. justification defense—that...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 16, 2026
Buchalla v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a man convicted of aggravated assault in 2013 can still be prosecuted for murder after his victim died in 2015, because the murder charge did not exist at the time of his earlier conviction.
Layered on top of these constitutional protections, Georgia law supplies statutory protections against double jeopardy. Some of these overlap with the constitutional protections. For instance, much like the constitutional prohibition against multiple punish- ments for the same offense, a defendant may not be convicted of (and thus punished for) more than...
bar this prosecution because Morgan’s murder was not “known” to the prosector at the time of his first trial (because that crime had not yet happened). See Maxwell, 311 Ga. at 678 (“[W]hen con- sidered together, OCGA §§ 16-1-7 (b) and 16-1-8 (b) prevent suc- cessive prosecutions for crimes: (1) subject to the jurisdiction of the same court; (2) known to the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 30, 2026
Walker v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that an aggravated stalking indictment must specifically state that the contact happened somewhere other than the defendant's own residence, and threw out a Gwinnett-area man's conviction because his indictment left that out.
1 In its entirety, OCGA § 16-5-91(a) reads as follows: A person commits the offense of aggravated stalking when such person, in violation of a bond to keep the peace posted pursuant to Code Section 17-6-110, temporary restraining order, temporary protective order, permanent restraining order, permanent protective order, preliminary injunction, good behavior...
So read, the definition—“any public or private property occupied by the victim other than the residence of the defendant”—is very similar to other “exceptions” that we have held to be essential elements of an offense that the State must allege and prove. See, e.g., Rumph, 119 Ga. at 123 (holding that, in a prosecution based on a statute declaring it to be...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 16, 2026
Banks v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder and burglary convictions of Jonathan Banks, one of three men found guilty in a Fulton County home invasion that ended in the fatal shooting of Pamela Williams.
medical examiner’s expert testimony concerning William’s contact gunshot wound that Banks had deliberately pressed the gun to her head and executed her after he discovered her crouched down, hiding in the closet. Further, based on the evidence presented, the jury could also infer that the burglary crew’s scheme was to verify that a home was empty before...
shall have on or within arm’s reach of his or her person a firearm or a knife 16-11-131(b). 5 Specifically, the evidence presented at trial— including Link’s testimony, Greer’s testimony about the robbing crew’s activities, and Banks’s admissions to the Hockadays about participating in the crimes—supports the conclusion that Banks, a convicted felon,6...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 5, 2026
State v. Faison
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia sent back a Henry County murder case after finding the trial judge never actually analyzed whether a bail recovery agent's conduct met any specific legal justification standard before declaring him immune from prosecution.
On or around April 15, 2025, the owner of a Florida bail bond agency commissioned Faison to recover Edward Atkins, who had absconded and was the subject of an outstanding bench war- rant in Hillsborough County, Florida. The agency owner hired Faison to recover Atkins based on her belief that Atkins was stay- ing with his girlfriend in an apartment complex...
Based on information provided by the Florida bond agency, Faison and Johnson identified the apartment complex in the city of Stockbridge in Henry County where Atkins’s girlfriend lived. On April 16, 2025, Johnson and Faison, along with Faison’s son Romello, 2 met near the apartment complex to begin “surveillance” to verify Atkins’s location. Faison did not,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 30, 2026
WARNER v. ESPITIA
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the state's anti-racketeering law can apply to disputes between divorced parents, rejecting the Court of Appeals' view that 'garden-variety domestic disputes' are automatically excluded.
the claims in [Espitia’s] Petition were sub- stantially frivolous, substantially ground- less, and substantially vexatious. The [c]ourt [found] that the evidence showed the instant 1 The record does not indicate how the DHS notices were ultimately resolved. case was initiated with the intention to har- ass and intimidate [Warner]. [Espitia] testi- fied...
lated the RICO Act’s purpose and codified public pol- icy; (2) Warner did not incur any damages; and (3) Warner’s true cause of action, if any, was for abusive litigation, and she failed to satisfy the statutory pre- requisites to maintain such an action. Following a hearing, the trial court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Specifically, the trial...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 19, 2026
Snow v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Hall County man's murder conviction for stabbing his wife 19 times, rejecting his claims about hearsay evidence, a denied continuance, and prior conviction evidence.
2. Snow contends that the trial court erred in admit- ting, under the residual hearsay exception, Agee’s testimony that Allen told her Snow had physically assaulted Allen, causing her to get stitches. More specifically, Snow argues that the trial court erred because: (1) the statement did not have sufficient guaran- tees of trustworthiness; (2) the...
3 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...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 27, 2026
Howard v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County woman's murder conviction for shooting a man she said she feared, finding the jury could reject her self-defense claim and that her appeal's claims of trial error were unsupported or failed.
Another resident of Howard’s apartment complex testified that Howard was angry with Peterson and that Howard had stated multiple times that if “[Peterson] came on the property or if he came around, she was going to kill him.” Another neighbor testified that she overheard Howard say that “she wanted to kill [Peterson]” and that “she always talked about it.”...
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 3, 2026
In the Matter of Joseph William Cloud
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Joseph William Cloud after he abandoned two clients, mishandled a $12,000 trust payment, and failed to respond to any part of the State Bar's disciplinary case against him.
8 Rule 1.16(d) states that, upon terminating his or her representation, a lawyer “shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests,” such as “giving reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering papers and property to which the client is entitled and refunding any advance...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 16, 2026
Battle v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Casey Battle's felony murder convictions from a Fulton County recording studio robbery, rejecting claims that his lawyer should have sought certain defense instructions and that a mistrial was wrongly denied.
(b) Battle first contends that his trial counsel was ineffec- tive for failing to request a jury instruction on the affirmative de- fense of claim of right, as provided in OCGA § 16-8-10. Speaking generally, that Code Section provides an affirmative defense to certain theft-related offenses where the person prosecuted acted “under an honest claim” that he...
16-8-4 (theft by conversion); 16-8-5 (theft of services); 16-8-5.1 (avoiding pay- ment due to rental or lease or personal property); 16-8-5.2 (retail property fenc- ing); 16-8-6 (theft of lost or mislaid property); 16-8-7 (theft by receiving stolen property); 16-8-8 (theft by receiving property stolen in another state); 16-8-9 (theft by bringing stolen...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 17, 2026
Owens v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a woman's felony murder convictions in the death of an infant in her care, ruling the trial judge wrongly told jurors they could not find her guilty of a lesser negligence crime alongside intent crimes, but left her child cruelty conviction standing.
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the...
But “convictions for both an offense requiring criminal intent and an offense requiring a lesser mens rea, based on the same act against the same victim, are not mutually exclusive.” Booth v. State, 311 Ga. 374, 376 (2021). As we held years before Owens’s retrial, proof of a more culpable mental state necessary for conviction of a greater offense does not...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 11, 2026
In Re: Formal Advisory Opinion 24-1
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia approved a State Bar advisory opinion holding that lawyers, including those hired by insurers, may use third-party vendors to request documents from non-parties as long as the lawyer keeps real supervisory control.
May a lawyer use a third-party vendor to request the production of documents from a non-party pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 9-11-34(c) and to follow up on and effectuate such a request to a non-party, and if so, what degree of autonomy may the lawyer allow the third-party vendor? SUMMARY ANSWER: Lawyers are authorized to use and rely on nonlawyer assistants to...
PER CURIAM. The State Bar of Georgia has requested discretionary review of Formal Advisory Opinion (FAO) No. 24-1, which addresses the question of whether lawyers working for an insurance company can use third party vendors hired by the insurance company to “request the production of documents from a non-party pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-34(c) and to follow up...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 13, 2026
Dorsey v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's felony murder conviction, ruling that photos and video showing him with guns were properly admitted and that his lawyer's failure to press for identification jury instructions did not change the trial's outcome.
1. The evidence presented at trial showed the following. In October 2021, 22-year-old Wilson—who was on leave from the military—met 16-year-old Salazar-Chavez. Soon thereafter, the pair began an exclusive romantic relationship. Most of their re- lationship was long-distance, as Wilson was stationed in South Korea or North Carolina while Salazar-Chavez...
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 30, 2026
Owens v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Celeste Alexandria Owens's murder and child cruelty convictions in the death of her girlfriend's eight-year-old daughter, ruling that video evidence, medical findings, and a surviving child's testimony were enough to support the jury's verdict.
Here, the jury was presented with overwhelming evidence that Owens did much more than cover up the murder and that she either maliciously killed Amari herself or did so as a party to the crime with Hall. That evidence included that Owens and Hall, who were in a long-term coparenting relationship of over a decade, were Amari and her siblings’ sole caretakers...
Police officers asked if Hall and Owens would accompany them to police headquarters to be interviewed, and they agreed, bringing the children along. Once there, Owens gave a video-rec- orded interview that was played for the jury at trial. During Ow- ens’s interview, investigators checked with her sister, who said Owens did not visit her the night before...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 17, 2026
Fournier v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Bibb County man's malice murder conviction, ruling that graphic autopsy photos of his girlfriend's strangled neck were properly admitted even though he offered to stipulate to her cause of death.
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 3, 2026
Blackwell v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld an Atlanta-area woman's felony murder conviction in a deadly house fire, ruling that a trial judge's remarks during her cross-examination explained his rulings on objections and did not signal his opinion on her credibility.
MCMILLIAN, Justice. Alice Blackwell appeals from her convictions for felony murder and other crimes in connection with the death of Carl Phillips. 1 Blackwell asserts that (1) the trial court violated OCGA 1 The crimes were committed on April 12, 2022. In January 2024, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Blackwell for malice murder (Count 1), fel- ony...
On or around April 11, 2022, Lovelace messaged Blackwell on Facebook offering to take her shopping for her birthday that day. They agreed to meet up in Jonesboro at his cousin’s home where Lovelace was staying at the time. Blackwell drove to the Jonesboro house in her white Volkswagen van to meet up with Lovelace. Lovelace and Blackwell then went shopping,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 5, 2026
Bryant v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Johnnie Bryant's murder and aggravated assault convictions stemming from a land dispute shooting, rejecting claims of self-defense, ineffective counsel, and trial errors, while correcting a sentencing mistake.
RUBY: Every time I would talk to [law enforcement], they would tell me this — this Dylan’s [property] right here, this his. PROSECUTOR: Okay. RUBY: That — you know, like that. But I couldn’t never ex- plain to them that this was mine. PROSECUTOR: They wouldn’t let you explain? RUBY: No, no, no. PROSECUTOR: This — this made Mr. Bryant mad, right? He was...
At this point, the prosecutor asked Ruby a series of other questions covering about six pages of the transcript, but at the end of his cross-examina- tion, he returned to the subject of Bryant’s anger. The trial court has a duty to “exercise reasonable control over the mode ... of interrogating witnesses ... so as to [p]rotect witnesses from undue...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 17, 2026
Carter v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Jackson County man's murder conviction, ruling that state law did not require a separate competency hearing after a state evaluator found him fit for trial and that his lawyers were not ineffective for skipping a formal incompetency plea.
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the...
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
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