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Found 67 matching documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 15, 2021
Lofton v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Hakim Lofton's murder conviction, ruling that circumstantial evidence including phone and cell tower records was sufficient and that police reliance on then-existing law to obtain his cell records without a warrant did not require throwing out the evidence.
12 In Registe, a detective who was investigating a double murder learned from a third person that the victims were supposed to meet someone named “Mike” on the morning they were killed. The witness had a cell phone number for “Mike.” The detective faxed a request to the service provider for the owner of the account and for a log of calls for a two-hour...
13 In addition to challenging the release of cell phone records under 18 USC § 2702 (c) (4), Registe also argued that the release failed to comply with OCGA § 16-11-66.1 (d), which provides: “A subpoena for the production of stored wire or electronic communications and transactional records pertaining thereto may be issued at any time upon a showing by a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 3, 2021
State v. Walden
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a ruling that had suppressed statements a Newton County woman made to investigators before receiving Miranda warnings, finding video evidence showed she was not in custody at the time.
Shortly thereafter, Deputy Sydnor received instructions over his radio to “detain” Walden, stop talking to her, and bring her in to the sheriff’s office. It does not appear from the video recording that Walden noticed the instruction that she be “detained,” however, because she was talking in a focused and intense manner when that message came across the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2021
Griffin v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting claims that jurors improperly reviewed cell phone texts during deliberations and that his lawyer was ineffective for not blocking that review.
Eventually, Griffin was arrested at the hotel, and he had another cell phone in his possession that he later denied owning. When Griffin was being booked into jail, he named Rufus and Robby Griffin from Alabama as his emergency contacts. While in jail, Griffin made two calls to the number shared by Rufus and Robby, and this phone number was found in the...
7 There was testimony that Griffin had been working as a prostitute. 8 Griffin’s counsel objected on the ground that the State had not shown a proper chain of custody, but the objection was overruled. No other objections were raised. Following the admission of the cell phone, which had been charged prior to trial, Griffin made no objection to its being sent...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 21, 2021
Moon v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a Chatham County man's murder convictions because the trial judge improperly removed a holdout juror during deliberations without a sound legal basis for doing so.
A few days after the shooting, the police searched the Sonic and Williams’s home. They found a camouflage mask in the car. Saliva found inside the mask tested positive for Grant’s DNA. The police found Moon’s fingerprints on the exterior of the car and on a soda can in the car’s console. The police also found receipts in the car indicating that Grant had...
The lead detective’s affidavit in support of the application for the search warrant set forth the details about the homicides, including the type of ammunition used to kill Biancosino and Pickels. The lead detective described how video recordings of the car used in the shooting led investigators to Kiawana Williams. In the affidavit, the detective recounted...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 10, 2021
Vivian v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Nathaniel Vivian's convictions for felony murder, armed robbery, and related crimes in the shooting death of Daniel Zeitz, rejecting his self-representation and ineffective-counsel claims, but sent the case back for resentencing because he was wrongly sentenced on two felony murder counts for one victim.
To prevail on such claims, a defendant must show that his trial counsel’s performance was deficient and that, but for such deficient performance, there is a reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (III) (104 SCt 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984). To prove deficient performance,...
The State introduced the two cell phones into evidence through the testimony of a Sandy Springs Police investigator. The prosecutor asked the investigator how he recognized the two exhibits containing the cell phones, and the investigator replied that he recognized them through handwritten labels noting the case number and descriptions reading “Dixon Cell...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 5, 2021
COLLINS v. THE STATE (Three Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder convictions of three men tried together in the shooting death of Milton Carl Kelley, rejecting challenges to jury instructions, denial of a separate trial, and claims that their lawyers performed poorly.
Detectives interviewed all three co-defendants, beginning with Collins, who at first denied — but later admitted — that he had a cell phone and confirmed the number. Collins denied any involvement in Kelley’s murder and said that he had been at home all day, went to his girlfriend’s house that evening, and stayed there for the rest of the night. Burdine...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 19, 2021
Miller v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Keontay Miller's malice murder conviction in the shooting death of Tellis Fort, finding the evidence, including DNA on the guns and cell phone records, was sufficient to support the verdict.
On May 15, the morning after Fort’s death, Miller’s mother brought Miller and Dennard to the Cordele Police Department because she had heard Miller’s name mentioned in connection with the shooting and wanted to “clear his name.” Police interviewed Miller and Dennard and obtained cell phone numbers and DNA samples from both men. Miller and Dennard...
After giving statements to the police on May 15, Miller and Dennard left town and could not be located by the police. On June 3, officers from the Camden County Sheriff’s Office found the two men in a motel room in St. Marys, Georgia, but they were not registered under either of their names. Both men were placed under arrest. Miller and Dennard were then...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 8, 2021
Nelson v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the denial of a murder defendant's motion to suppress cell phone and laptop evidence, ruling that his long incarceration and failure to ask for the devices back weakened his privacy interest despite a two-year delay.
and private interests in this context, considering (1) the significance of the interference with the person’s possessory interest; (2) the duration of the delay; (3) whether or not the person consented to the seizure; and (4) the government’s legitimate interest in holding the property as evidence. See id. (citing United States v. Laist, 702 F3d 608,...
5 Nelson argued to the trial court that his counsel’s request for discovery of data contained on his phone was akin to requesting a return of the device. The trial court rejected that argument, saying that “[a] request for discovery and the subsequent disclosure of discoverable materials by the State does not result in the release of physical evidence.” We...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 1, 2021
BUTLER v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder and gang convictions of Demarco Butler and Antonio Avery, ruling the evidence was enough to convict and that gang evidence and a police interview were properly admitted at trial.
According to McGhee, she and Poole then went back to Butler’s house. Butler and Avery were there, and in the house McGhee noticed two guns, one of which she identified as a shotgun. The women demanded to know what had happened, and Butler eventually responded, “he tried to grab the gun and got shot.” Avery warned McGhee not to call the police, or she would...
(a) The evidence presented at trial showed, among other things, that: McGhee and Poole had connected with the victims through a dating website they used for prostitution and made plans to meet with them on the night of the crimes; Butler and Avery, both convicted felons, met with McGhee and Poole before the women left to meet the victims, gave McGhee a gun,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 2, 2021
Ash v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Jabarri Ash's murder conviction in the shooting death of Mario Shaw, rejecting his challenges to evidence rulings, jury instructions, and claims that police improperly destroyed his cell phone.
After his interview with the detective, Ash was arrested. Incident to the arrest, the detective collected Ash’s cell phone. Pursuant to Atlanta Police Department procedures, the detective generated a bar code for the phone on April 5, but he did not turn the phone over to the department’s property control unit until July 22, 2013, in apparent violation of...
21 OCGA § 17-5-54 (e) provides, in pertinent part, as follows: For any unclaimed personal property that is not a firearm, the sheriff, chief of police, or other executive officer of a law enforcement agency shall make application to the superior court for an order to retain, sell, or discard such property. In the application the officer shall state each...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 3, 2021
Outlaw v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Gwinnett County man's murder conviction, rejecting arguments that police should have had a search warrant for his cell phone records and that his jailhouse statements to his girlfriend were improperly used against him.
About three weeks after the murder, on April 24, Appellant’s girlfriend Fort visited him in jail. A detective had provided her with a small audio-recording device, which she hid in her clothing and used to record the meeting with Appellant; the audio recording of the meeting was played for the jury during the trial. The recording reflects that Appellant...
(a) On April 10, 2014, seven days after Rabotte’s body was found, the State filed motions that requested court orders requiring Verizon and MetroPCS to disclose Appellant’s cell phone records, including CSLI, from March 27 through April 5, 2014. The motions detailed the facts of the investigation into Rabotte’s murder and said that the records would be...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 2, 2021
Stafford v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's felony murder conviction, finding that even though some evidence was wrongly admitted at trial, it did not affect the outcome given the strength of the other evidence against him.
Clark testified that after jumping over the fence, he and Spencer went in one direction and Appellant went in an opposite direction. Spencer and Clark shed their outer clothing, placed the clothes in the backpack, and disposed of the backpack in an alleyway. They then walked to a nearby Krispy Kreme, where they called an Uber to take them back to the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 5, 2021
Thomas v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, ruling his trial lawyer was not constitutionally deficient for dropping a motion to suppress evidence found in his car.
Later that day, a detective from the Hapeville Police Department obtained a court order directing Thomas’s cell phone service provider to release to the police certain data associated with Thomas’s cell phone, including cell-site location information (“CSLI”).4 The detective then worked with the service provider to track Thomas’s cell phone using CSLI as...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 21, 2021
Washington v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, ruling that his lawyer's decision not to object to hotel surveillance and dashcam video evidence was a reasonable trial strategy, not a legal error.
Detective Scott Demeester, who was qualified as an expert in cell phone data interpretation and cell-site analysis, testified regarding data recovered from the defendants’ cell phones. A cell phone associated with Washington called and texted Jackson’s cell phone several times in the days leading up to the shooting. At 6:39 p.m. on January 5, Washington...
(a) As discussed above in Division 1, trial counsel made a strategic decision not to object to the surveillance videos. At the motion for new trial hearing, trial counsel testified that he did not object to the admission of the hotel surveillance videos because “the main part of [his] strategy in representing [Washington] was to establish that he was at the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 11, 2021
Johnson v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Sharod Johnson's murder conviction for a fatal Ingles grocery store armed robbery, rejecting his claims about a witness's silence on the stand and about phone, house, and car searches.
4. Johnson also contends, in several enumerations of error, that the trial court erred when it admitted certain evidence obtained from a search of his cell phone. The record shows that, after the Ingles robbery, Johnson voluntarily came to the police station for an interview, which began shortly after midnight on September 6. While Johnson — who was not...
At trial, the State presented evidence — over Johnson’s objection — that Adside was contacting Johnson’s phone repeatedly after the Ingles robbery and that, in the afternoon following the robbery, officers used Adside’s number to track Adside’s phone to the Mall of Georgia, where Adside and two other people (Jackson and McMillan) were arrested as they...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2021
Waller v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Muscogee County man's convictions for felony murder and gun possession in a fatal robbery of a man carrying $40,000 in a backpack, but ordered his separate armed robbery conviction erased because it duplicated the same crime.
Following the interview with Clark, police officers obtained his cell phone. Police officers then executed search warrants to obtain records connected to Clark’s cell phone, and later, to the cell phones used by Appellant and Powell on June 15. After additional investigation, police officers asked Clark to return to police headquarters for a second...
concurrent life term for the armed robbery count, and a five-year consecutive term for the firearm possession count. Appellant did not initially file a motion for new trial. However, on December 21, 2017, Appellant filed a motion for out-of-time appeal through trial counsel. On May 18, 2020, Appellant filed a motion for new trial through appellate counsel....
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2021
Matthews v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Freeman Matthews's murder conviction in the stabbing death of Adrianne Young, rejecting his claims about a coerced confession, excluded third-party suspect evidence, and ineffective counsel.
Regarding the relative location of Matthews’s and Garnto’s apartment, the Citgo convenience store where Young’s debit card was used shortly after she was stabbed, and Young’s apartment, an investigator testified as follows: traveling between Matthews’s apartment and Young’s apartment along the main road (Concord Road/Spring Road) is a distance of about four...
Robyn Hollis testified as follows. Young and Hollis had been friends for five or six years at the time of Young’s death. Hollis considered Young a close friend, and they would confide in each other about things that were going on in their lives. Before her death, Young mentioned having meals with “her guy Freeman” to Hollis. The day before her death, Young...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 10, 2021
Thornton v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld William Denzel Thornton's murder and armed robbery convictions in the stabbing death of Jullisa Cooke, rejecting his claims about insufficient evidence, trial errors, and a denied request for a trial continuance.
2 Thornton makes no argument that all the evidentiary errors we assume today, though individually harmless, nevertheless harmed him when considered cumulatively, and no such cumulative prejudice is apparent to us on this record. See State v. Lane, 308 Ga. 10, 18 (1) (838 SE2d 808) (2020) (“[A] 3. Thornton argues that the trial court erred in denying his...
Based on the State’s representations, and a review of federal statutes pertaining to accessing digitally-stored information, the trial court denied Thornton’s request to use Cooke’s cell phone to access the Facebook application, concluding that for Brady purposes, Thornton had knowledge of the information he was seeking. Thornton then asked for a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 1, 2021
Swinson v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Seminole County man's double murder convictions, rejecting his claims that the evidence was insufficient, his cell phone records were illegally obtained, and his lawyer was ineffective.
Swinson also admitted getting the colors of the victims’ cars from his friend but said he gave it to “the Mexicans.” However, 4 The girlfriend testified that the bullet did not belong to her and that it must have belonged to Swinson. Swinson’s cell phone data showed that after he called his friend on the day of the murders, he made no other outgoing calls...
5 Swinson asserted three separate enumerations of error raising the general grounds under OCGA §§ 5-5-20 and 5-5-21, but he addressed these enumerations as one in his appellate brief and argued only sufficiency of the evidence. 6 As this Court recently explained in Lofton v. State, 310 Ga. 770 (854 SE2d 690) (2021), [a] “cell site” typically consists of a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2021
MOORE v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder convictions of Simeon Moore and Walter Milbourne for a Cobb County armed robbery that left one victim shot and dead and another wounded, rejecting challenges to the evidence, jury trial process, and legal representation.
Case No. S21A0221 4. Milbourne contends that the trial court violated the continuing witness rule by sending out with the jury during deliberations a PowerPoint presentation that summarized the admitted cell phone evidence. However, the continuing witness rule is directed at written testimony that is heard by the jury when read from the witness stand. See...
Milton drove to the nearby apartment complex where he and Jamie were living temporarily with friends in Apartment 1707. Milton backed into a parking space by the 1800 building, and as he got out of the car, he noticed Robinson’s cell phone on the seat. Milton picked up Robinson’s cell phone, threw it somewhere, and went upstairs to Apartment 1707, where...
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