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Found 123 matching documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 9, 2025
In the Matter of Je'nita Lane
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted an attorney's voluntary surrender of her law license, effectively disbarring her, after she admitted mishandling client trust funds in two cases involving overdrawn accounts and an unpaid Medicaid lien.
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on a petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by Je’Nita Lane (State Bar No. 865134) before the issuance of a formal complaint. See Bar Rule 4- 227(b)(2). Lane, who has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 2011, admits that, in two client matters, she violated Rules 1.3,...
Rule 1.15(II)(a) states in relevant part: “All funds held by a lawyer for a client and all funds held by a lawyer in any other fiduciary capacity shall be deposited in and administered from a trust account.” Rule 1.15(II)(b) states in relevant part: “No personal funds shall ever be deposited in a lawyer’s trust account, except that unearned lawyer’s fees...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 18, 2025
Arnold v. Alexander
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled it lacks 'original jurisdiction' to directly hear a mandamus petition from an indigent pro se litigant challenging the Fulton County Clerk's filing policies, and sent the case to the Court of Appeals instead.
1 OCGA § 9-15-2 provides, in full: (a)(1) When any party, plaintiff or defendant, in any action the Clerk’s ministerial duty to file papers and that the policy violates his federal constitutional rights to equal protection, due process, and or proceeding held in any court in this state is unable to pay any deposit, fee, or other cost which is normally...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 4, 2025
Riley v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Yathomas Riley's murder conviction for killing his wife in front of their infant son, rejecting his self-represented claims about a witness in the courtroom, false evidence, and ineffective counsel.
Testimony given by ADT service technician Bryant Brown suggested that the gunshots likely occurred while Riley was present in the master bedroom and that he then checked the system throughout the night to view footage from the security cameras. A product called “ADT Pulse” gives customers the ability to monitor the security system themselves and keeps...
5 To establish a violation under Brady, the defendant must show that (1) the State, including any part of the prosecution team, possessed evidence favorable to the defendant; (2) the defendant did not possess the favorable evidence and could not obtain it himself with any reasonable diligence; (3) the State suppressed the favorable evidence; and (4) a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 8, 2025
State v. Williams
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld an order granting Jalontaye Cleveland and Courtney Williams new trials, ruling that the judge's jury instructions naming three witnesses as accomplices amounted to an improper comment on the defendants' guilt.
(c) M&P Food Mart Collins testified that, on October 22, 2016, Williams was driving Cleveland and Collins around, and they “talk[ed] about 3 Collins testified that Cleveland went by the nickname “Jay” or “LoSo.” doing a robbery.”4 Ritesh Prajapati5 was working at the M&P Food Mart that day. According to Collins, Williams dropped them off at the store “after...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · July 22, 2025
In the Matter of Justin Allen Chin
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Justin Allen Chin after finding he knowingly mishandled client funds and neglected clients in eight separate divorce cases, rejecting a hearing officer's recommendation of a shorter suspension.
1. Procedural History Between May 31, 2023, and June 5, 2023, the State Bar filed eight formal complaints charging Chin with violations of Rules 1.2 (a) (a lawyer shall abide by a client’s decisions concerning the scope and objectives of representation and shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued); 1.3 (a lawyer shall...
For SDBD No. 7704, the Special Master recounted that Chin represented the client in this disciplinary matter in a divorce action. The client sold the marital residence and, on April 13, 2021, $269,982.76 in proceeds from the sale were deposited into Chin’s IOLTA account. Between April and December 2021, Chin withdrew for his attorney fees $118,246.70 of 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.
Law enforcement officers secured the scene, began interviewing witnesses, and reviewed hotel surveillance videos. The trial court admitted the surveillance videos into evidence at trial, and the State played several portions of those videos for the jury, from several different camera angles. The surveillance videos showed that, at 3:17 a.m., about ten...
family members’ hotel rooms. When investigators spoke to Fuller immediately after the shooting, Fuller said that “someone came into the room and told them to give them all their stuff and that they were robbed.”3 Both Fuller and Frazer made statements to investigators that “an armed robbery occurred and that’s how [Reid] got shot.” Fuller did not tell...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 26, 2025
Scales v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia denied review of a man's challenge to being restrained by a 'Band-it' security device during his child molestation trial, letting his conviction stand while a concurring Justice warned trial judges about courtroom security practices.
LAGRUA, Justice, concurring. Trial court judges have a difficult job in many respects, but particularly, when it involves balancing the constitutional rights of a defendant and the presumption of innocence, while also ensuring that litigants, witnesses, juries, and the public are safe and secure in the courtroom. In an era of pervasive threats to judges and...
The specific facts of this case are addressed in the opinion of the Court of Appeals. What concerns me is that the testimony at the motion-for-new-trial hearing established, and the State does not now dispute, that use of the “Band-it” security device is controlled by the Supervisor of Court Services (which in this case was Lt. Richard Harrison with the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 6, 2025
In the Matter of Sanjay Patel
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred Sanjay Patel after he stole more than $235,000 in escrow funds from a real estate refinancing deal and then stonewalled the State Bar's investigation into his conduct.
The Special Master looked to the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Discipline (“ABA Standards”) for guidance in determining the appropriate sanction in this matter. See In the Matter of Morse, 266 Ga. 652, 653 (470 SE2d 232) (1996). In this regard, the Special Master concluded that the duty implicated by Patel’s violations of Rule 1.15 (I) (c) is the duty...
321 Ga. 523 FINAL COPY S25Y0424. IN THE MATTER OF SANJAY PATEL.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 16, 2025
In the Matter of Melvin Raines, II
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Melvin Raines, II after he took a client's $5,000 payment for personal use, lied about it, and repeatedly failed to show up for court or communicate with two other clients.
(a) Factual Findings (i) State Disciplinary Board Docket (“SDBD”) No. 7774 Based on the factual allegations in the State Bar’s complaint— which were deemed admitted by virtue of Raines’s default—the Special Master recounted that, in December 2020, a mother retained Raines to represent her son in a criminal matter. On December 7, 2020, Raines filed a motion...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 16, 2025
Jester v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Jquantae Jester's felony murder conviction in the killing of Myra Smith Parlier, ruling that any error in admitting evidence of a prior strangling incident was harmless given overwhelming proof of his guilt.
Responding investigators transported the woman’s body to the GBI, which later identified the woman as Parlier. The medical examiner who performed Parlier’s autopsy concluded that there were abrasions on her neck that were consistent with someone pulling the dog leash around her neck. The examiner also testified that there was moisture inside the trash bag...
Here, Jester has not met his burden of showing that the omission of an instruction on the requirement of confession corroboration likely affected the outcome of his trial. “Although a confession alone cannot sustain a conviction, no specific manner of corroboration of the confession is required, and corroboration in any particular is sufficient.” Hooper v....
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 24, 2025
Guy v. Housing Authority of the City of Augusta
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a ruling that shielded the Augusta Housing Authority from a shooting victim's lawsuit, holding that lower courts used the wrong legal test to decide whether the authority has sovereign immunity as a city instrumentality.
The General Assembly in 1937 passed the Housing Authorities Law, OCGA § 8-3-1 et seq. (“the Act”), declaring that “[i]n each city and in each county of the state there is created a public body corporate and politic to be known as the ‘housing authority’ of the city or county[,]” with the caveat that any “such authority shall not transact any business or...
321 Ga. 873 FINAL COPY S24G1346. GUY v. HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF AUGUSTA.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 28, 2025
Wasserman v. Franklin County
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the federal legal theory of 'third-party standing,' which lets someone sue by asserting another person's rights, does not exist under Georgia's Constitution. A landowner could not sue over a neighbor's alleged mistreatment without asserting her own rights.
(i) Private Rights We have explained before that private rights are “those belong- ing to an individual as an individual.” SCV, 315 Ga. at 47 (2) (a) (citing 3 Blackstone, Commentaries *2). See also 1 Blackstone, Com- mentaries *119 (also describing private rights as “absolute” rights that “appertain[ed] and belong[ed] to particular men[ ] merely as...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 18, 2025
In the Matter of Chadrick A. Mance
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a Fulton-area attorney's petition for a public reprimand after he attached a mock order bearing a cut-and-pasted image of a judge's signature to a court filing.
7 Although the lawyers in Detling and Smart had no prior disciplinary history when a review panel reprimand was imposed for their Rule 1.1 violations, and Mance does have a prior confidential disciplinary infraction, we nonetheless conclude that a public reprimand is the appropriate discipline given the unique facts and circumstances in this case. See In...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 4, 2025
Stitts v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Tianvye Stitts's murder conviction for the 2020 shooting of Darcy Jones at an Atlanta nightclub, rejecting claims about insufficient evidence, missing jury instructions, and ineffective counsel.
1. The trial evidence Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the trial evidence showed the following. On the night of November 13, 2020, Stitts drove his girlfriend, Shaneka Soucy, to work at Bodega, a nightclub in South Fulton. Soucy said that she typically worked from about 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. Stitts drove Soucy’s Jeep...
later, she saw people running around the club on account of a shooting inside the club. Kasseem Gibson, a security guard who was working at the front door, testified that he heard three gunshots in quick succession, and when he turned towards the back of the club, he heard another two gunshots and then saw a person later identified as Jones collapse as he...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 18, 2025
State v. Islam
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that when a trial judge grants a motion to return property seized in a search, the property is automatically excluded from trial by law, even if the order never uses the word 'exclude.'
The most natural and reasonable understanding of OCGA § 17- 5-30 is the one that the State proposes: an order granting a motion brought under this statute, regardless of nomenclature, is an order “excluding evidence.” When such a motion is granted, the statute requires that property “shall be restored, unless otherwise subject to lawful detention, and it...
the seized property at issue is excluded by operation of law, and a trial court has no discretion to order otherwise. See Republic Claims Svc. Co. v. Hoyal, 264 Ga. 127, 128 (441 SE2d 755) (1994) (construing OCGA § 9-2-60 (b), which states that “[a]ny action . . . in which no written order is taken for a period of five years shall automatically stand...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 12, 2025
In THE MATTER OF DOMINIQUE MARC HENRI LEMOINE (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred a lawyer who took client and third-party escrow money for personal use and to pay off other clients, rejecting his claims that his mental state warranted only a suspension.
Additionally, in November 2021, while Lemoine was representing the Clients in the IRS dispute, they requested that Lemoine use a portion of the $175,000 they had wired to his account to pay the property taxes on a home they owned in Florida.2 The Clients sent Lemoine a copy of a tax bill they had received and requested that he use their funds to pay the...
Lemoine an email acknowledging receipt of the $5,000, requesting that he send the remainder of the $30,000, and renewing their request for Lemoine to use the funds they had wired in relation to the IRS dispute to pay the property taxes. Lemoine responded, sending them a copy of a check dated January 14, 2022, for $5,615.63 made payable to the county tax...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 10, 2025
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. ETERNAL VIGILANCE ACTION, INC. (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that most 2024 election rules adopted by the State Election Board were not properly authorized by state law, while also sharply limiting who can sue to challenge such rules in the first place.
Any absentee ballot drop location, other than the United States Postal Service or authorized and defined drop box under Georgia Law, that receives absentee ballots shall require an absentee ballot form with written documentation, including absentee ballot elector’s name, signature and photo ID of the person delivering the absentee ballot, and approved...
(v) Drop Box Surveillance Rule (Rule 183-1-14-.02 (19)). OCGA § 21-2-382 (c) (1) requires the board of registrars or the absentee ballot clerk to “establish at least one drop box as a means for absentee by mail electors to deliver their ballots[.]” Drop boxes are to be located “at the office of the board of registrars or absentee ballot clerk or inside...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 28, 2025
Garcia-Solis v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder conviction and life-without-parole sentence of a man who shot and killed a Hall County deputy during a crime spree, rejecting his claims about insufficient evidence, trial venue, and his age at the time of the crimes.
Garcia-Solis filed a timely motion for new trial, which he amended through new counsel. After holding an evidentiary hearing on the motion for new trial, the trial court denied the motion on November 4, 2022. Garcia-Solis filed a timely notice of appeal to this Court, and the case was docketed to the term beginning in December 2024 and submitted for a...
While investigating the pawnshop burglaries on the morning of July 6, law enforcement officers learned that several automobile dealerships had also been broken into overnight, including Los Plebes Auto Sales, Texano Auto Sales, Texas Trucks and Autos, and Eddie’s Auto Sales.4 Francisco Cuella, the owner of Los Plebes Auto Sales, testified that, when he...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 15, 2025
HOMEWOOD ASSOCIATES INC. v. UNIFIED GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Athens-Clarke County's stormwater utility charge as a fee rather than a tax, rejecting a second challenge from Homewood Village and other property owners and affirming that they owe delinquent charges.
governments could focus on crafting charges like those at issue here to conform to uniformity, rather than to try to take them outside all constitutional protection altogether. I am authorized to state that Justice Bethel joins in this concurrence.
The Stormwater Utility Ordinance imposes a stormwater utility charge, which the ordinance calls a “fee,” on all owners of developed property in the County. The stormwater utility charge has three components: (1) a “base charge,” (2) a “quantity charge,” and (3) a “quality charge.” The base charge is intended to cover the annual administrative and management...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 9, 2025
Frison v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Xaiver Frison's murder conviction, ruling that surveillance video contradicting his and his sister's claim that the victim had a gun let the jury reject his self-defense argument.
Some time later, Jordan tried to evict Marks and Bearden, and in November of 2022, Bearden and Marks began moving out. But as of November 9, 2022, many of their belongings — and their dog, Dilly — remained. When Bearden and Marks returned to Jordan’s apart- ment on the night of November 9, the locks had been changed, and they had to get a locksmith to let...
Jordan testified that, after she and Frison ran back inside with Marks and Bearden following, she took a gun out of her bag because 4 Jordan denied removing the dog from the apartment. Bearden testified that she never learned what happened to Dilly. Marks was “chasing [her] with a gun” but she did not know what happened with the gun she took out of her bag....
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