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Found 367 matching passages in 183 documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 14, 2021
Bell v. Hargrove
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a probate judge cannot deny a weapons carry license just because a criminal history report leaves the outcome of an old arrest unclear. The judge must have actual proof of a disqualifying conviction, not mere speculation.
COLVIN, Justice. Georgia law generally requires a person to apply for and receive a valid weapons carry license from a probate judge before carrying a handgun or other weapon in public. 1 The General Assembly has identified specific categories of people to whom “[n]o weapons carry license shall be issued,” including people with certain criminal convictions....
1 “No person shall carry a weapon without a valid weapons carry license unless he or she meets one of the exceptions to having such license as provided in subsections (a) through (g) of this Code section.” OCGA § 16-11-126 (h) (1). See also OCGA § 16-11-125.1 (5) (defining “weapon” as including handguns). Under the enumerated exceptions, if certain...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 15, 2021
Suggs v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Moultrie man's malice murder conviction for a fatal shootout outside a nightclub, rejecting claims about jury selection, a secret recording, crime scene photos, and his lawyer's performance.
4. Appellant also claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion in limine to exclude the audio recording that Pridgen secretly made of a conversation that he had with Appellant. Appellant relies on OCGA § 16-11-67, which says: “No evidence obtained in a manner which violates any of the provisions of this part [i.e., OCGA §§ 16-11-60 to 16-11-70]...
310 Ga. 762 FINAL COPY S20A1093. SUGGS v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 21, 2021
Montanez v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's murder convictions in a fatal Sandy Springs drug deal shooting, rejecting his claims that the evidence was insufficient and that his lawyer botched cross-examination of his accomplice.
was found, his hair and beard were longer than they had been in 2014, and he provided an alias to law enforcement. He was driving a vehicle with a Kansas license plate. The State introduced evidence that Montanez had previously been convicted of theft by receiving a stolen firearm, a felony. (a) Montanez argues that the evidence presented at trial was...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2021
Stewart v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld James Stewart's felony murder conviction in the shooting death of his girlfriend, rejecting claims that the jury verdict form was improperly worded, but the court vacated his separate aggravated assault sentence because it should have merged into the murder conviction.
3 See OCGA §§ 16-5-3 (a) (“A person commits the offense of involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act when he causes the death of another human being without any intention to do so by the commission of an unlawful act other than a felony.”); 16-5-60 (b) (“A person who causes bodily harm to or endangers the bodily safety of another person...
311 Ga. 471 FINAL COPY S21A0074. STEWART v. THE STATE.
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.
3. Finally, even though neither party raises a merger error on appeal, we have identified two such errors in Miller’s sentencing. See generally Dixon v. State, 302 Ga. 691, 697 (4) (808 SE2d 696) (2017) (“[A]n exercise of our discretion on direct appeal to correct a merger error that harms a defendant (but of which he has not complained) may avoid...
312 Ga. 702 FINAL COPY S21A1245. MILLER v. THE STATE.
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.
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...
7. Lofton contends that the trial court erred in denying his request that the jury be instructed that the testimony of an accomplice alone is not sufficient to warrant a conviction but must be corroborated by other evidence of the guilt of the accused.20 Specifically, Lofton argues that Eatmon was an accomplice in the 20 See OCGA § 24-14-8 (In “prosecutions...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 5, 2021
Byers v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Christopher Byers's murder and aggravated battery convictions in the ax killing of Ray Walnoha, but ruled his felony tampering-with-evidence conviction should have been a misdemeanor and sent that part of the case back for resentencing.
2 OCGA § 16-11-62 (1) prohibits “[a]ny person in a clandestine manner intentionally to overhear, transmit, or record or attempt to overhear, transmit, or record the private conversation of another which shall originate in any private place[.]” Since 2015, before the overhearing at issue in this case, “private place” has been defined for purposes of this...
3 Byers does not challenge the State’s standing to seek exclusion of Wesley’s testimony. OCGA § 16-11-67 provides that “[n]o evidence obtained in a manner which violates any of the provisions of this part [which includes OCGA § 16-11-62] shall be admissible in any court of this state except to prove violations of this part.” We previously held that Fourth...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 21, 2021
Wilson v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a stepfather's convictions for molesting his 13-year-old stepdaughter, ruling that evidence he had molested his younger half-sister decades earlier as a child himself was properly admitted at trial.
(c) This Code section shall not be the exclusive means to admit or consider evidence described under this Code section. (d) As used in this Code section, the term “offense of child molestation” means any conduct or attempt or conspiracy to engage in: (1) Conduct that would be a violation of Code Section 16-6-4, 16-6-5, 16-12-100, 16-12-100.2, or...
1. Wilson contends that the evidence of his alleged prior offenses of child molestation involving P. W. did not satisfy the requirements for admission pursuant to Rule 414. Specifically, he argues that, because he was between the ages of 11 and 13 when the alleged prior offenses occurred, either he lacked the capacity to commit a crime under OCGA § 16-3-1,3...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 1, 2021
MAXWELL v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia mostly upheld a Chatham County judge's ruling that letting two teens plead guilty to gun possession in state court did not block most of the murder-related charges filed later in superior court, but it ordered dismissal of three gang-activity counts tied directly to the dropped gun charges.
Turning to the pertinent statutes, OCGA § 16-1-7 (b) provides that “[i]f the several crimes arising from the same conduct are known to the proper prosecuting officer at the time of commencing the prosecution and are within the jurisdiction of a single court, they must be prosecuted in a single prosecution,” except as provided in OCGA § 16-1-7 (c).9 OCGA §...
The last inquiry is whether it is necessary to present evidence of the gun possession crimes at the hospital in order to prove the superior court charges. With regard to the charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, the State could prove those felonies by showing that Appellants possessed...
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.
3 Moon was convicted of four counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Two of these, Counts 14 and 15, were charged pursuant to OCGA § 16-11-133 for Moon’s possession of a firearm by a convicted felon during the murders of Pickels and Biancosino. The other two, Counts 16 and 17, were charged pursuant to OCGA § 16-11-131 for Moon’s possession...
To convict Moon of malice murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon during the commission of a crime, the State was not required to prove that Moon personally fired the shots that killed Pickels and Biancosino, only that he was a party to the crimes, which, in this case, meant that he intentionally aided or abetted in the commission of the...
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.
(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...
311 Ga. 396 FINAL COPY S21A0305. OUTLAW v. THE STATE.
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.
3 See OCGA § 16-11-106 (b) (1) (“Any person who shall have on or within arm’s reach of his or her person . . . a knife having a blade of three or more inches in length during the commission of . . . [a]ny crime against or involving the person of another . . . and which crime is a felony, commits a felony[.]”). 443 U. S. at 319 (III) (B); see also Johnson v....
Consequently, Matthews’s argument that his confession was inadmissible under former OCGA § 24-3-50 as having been induced by a hope of benefit or fear of injury lacks merit. 4. Matthews contends that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object to certain testimony. To succeed on his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 8, 2021
Williams v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County father's murder and child cruelty convictions in the drowning death of his ten-year-old son, rejecting his claim the evidence was too weak and that some convictions should be merged.
This evidence was sufficient to support Williams’s convictions for cruelty to children beyond a reasonable doubt. The jury could infer from the evidence that Williams’s acts caused Kentae excessive physical and mental pain and that they were unreasonable and unjustified. The jury was charged on justification in the context of parental discipline, but it...
312 Ga. 386 FINAL COPY S21A1171. WILLIAMS v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2021
Dukes v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Damarcus Dukes' murder conviction and rejected his claims about hearsay testimony and excluded expert evidence, but ruled he was improperly sentenced twice for the same gun crime.
within the statute of limitation,7 making Dukes’ gun charges legally identical. And, because Dukes was charged with the exact same crime twice, he could not then be convicted and sentenced for both counts. Based on the foregoing, we vacate Dukes’ convictions and sentences for the two counts of possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer and...
stimulant. It makes people not sleep. It makes — kind of raises their heart rate, gets them ready to do fight or flight, that kind of thing,” any error in striking this testimony was harmless. Dr. Heninger had previously testified to the stimulant effect of amphetamines on a person’s system. Further, the medical examiner’s testimony was cumulative of other,...
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.
However, even assuming that counsel performed deficiently by not taking action to keep evidence of Collins’s prior Street Gang Act violation from the jury, Collins has not shown how this deficiency likely affected the jury’s verdicts. Collins was indicted for felony murder predicated on possession of a firearm by a first-offender probationer in that he...
Let me give you the answer the law allows me to give you. I have read you the charge and I have given you the charge. To the extent there is an answer, it is in the charge. I cannot say, “look here” or “look there,” because then I’m favoring one part of the body of this charge over another. And I didn’t want to read the whole thing out for another 45...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 5, 2021
Overstreet v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Ben Hill County man's convictions for murder and gang crimes in a lottery winner's shooting death, rejecting claims about weak evidence, prejudicial testimony, and his lawyer's failure to seek a new trial location.
(b) Overstreet next argues that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions under the Gang Act. We disagree. Overstreet was convicted of two counts of violating the Gang Act by participating in criminal gang activity through the commission of home invasion and an armed robbery as a member of the G-Shine criminal street gang....
At trial, the State presented evidence, including Overstreet’s own statements, that Overstreet was a member of G-Shine, which is a subset of the Bloods. The evidence also established that Overstreet and other individuals identified as members of the gang, including Baker, Jordan, Johnson, and Holcomb, each had nicknames that one witness described as their...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2021
Pope v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder conviction, rejecting his claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective for not seeking a pre-trial self-defense immunity hearing.
In his amended motion for new trial, Pope contended that trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to file an immunity motion before trial. See OCGA § 16-3-24.2 (“A person who uses threats or force in accordance with [certain statutes governing justification as a defense, including self-defense,] shall be immune from criminal prosecution...
311 Ga. 557 FINAL COPY S21A0321. POPE v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 11, 2021
Palmer v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Savannah man's murder conviction, rejecting his challenges to the search of his apartment, the exclusion of possible alibi testimony, and his claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective.
But even assuming, without deciding, that the existence of an intentional or reckless falsehood could be established under Franks, the trial court correctly concluded that “the affidavit’s remaining content” was sufficient to establish probable cause independently of any knowledge on Bates’ part that a body had been discovered. Palmer and Whitsett were...
As this Court recently explained, the particularity requirement must be applied with a practical margin of flexibility, depending on the type of property to be seized, and a description of property will be acceptable if it is as specific as the circumstances and nature of activity under investigation permit. (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Rickman v....
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 21, 2021
STAR RESIDENTIAL, LLC v. HERNANDEZ
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a shooting victim could not sue his apartment complex's owner and operator for treble damages under the state's anti-gang law, because that law only lets victims sue the gang members who actually caused their injuries.
With these principles in mind, our analysis begins with a consideration of the relevant language contained in OCGA § 16-15- 7 of the Gang Act, which states: (a) Any real property which is erected, established, maintained, owned, leased, or used by any criminal street gang for the purpose of conducting criminal gang activity shall constitute a public...
Read as a whole, OCGA § 16-15-7 provides different causes of action for different remedies with different plaintiffs and defendants. The first such cause of action is for nuisance, which is covered under subsections (a) and (b). In this regard, OCGA § 16-15- 7 (a) states: Any real property which is erected, established, maintained, owned, leased, or used by...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 1, 2021
Tyler v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Richmond County man's convictions for felony murder, armed robbery, and burglary in the shooting death of a security guard during a copper theft, finding the circumstantial evidence sufficient.
We first consider the sufficiency of the evidence presented as to the offense of felony murder predicated on aggravated assault. OCGA § 16-5-1 (c) provides that “[a] person commits the offense of murder when, in the commission of a felony, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.” Tyler’s felony murder conviction was...
311 Ga. 727 FINAL COPY S21A0553. TYLER v. THE STATE.
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