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Found 365 matching passages in 178 documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 1, 2022
Langley v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that trial judges do have discretion to put part of a felon-firearm-possession sentence on probation, reversing a Court of Appeals decision that said the sentence had to be served entirely in confinement.
2. Langley contends that the Court of Appeals erred in 3 OCGA § 16-13-30 (d) says: Except as otherwise provided, any person who violates subsection (b) of this Code section with respect to a controlled substance in Schedule I or Schedule II shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than five...
Looking to the statutory text and context, there is no real question about what the phrase “shall be imprisoned” — standing alone — means in a penal statute. In ordinary English, the phrase “shall be imprisoned” means that a person convicted of an offense is to be “confined” for the period specified by the statute. See, e.g., Webster’s Third New...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 30, 2022
McIver v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed Tex McIver's felony murder conviction in the shooting death of his wife Diane, ruling the trial judge should have let jurors consider a lesser misdemeanor manslaughter charge.
A review of selected cases on involuntary manslaughter provides some guidance for determining whether there is slight evidence of the commission of a lawful act in an unlawful manner to support an instruction on OCGA § 16-5-3 (b). For example, if the uncontradicted evidence shows that the defendant was not in lawful possession of the weapon that caused the...
manslaughter, because even under his own version of the events, Snell conceded that his possession of a concealed weapon in the victim’s home at the time of the fatal shooting was a violation of the version of OCGA § 16-11-126 then in effect).41 Another question in determining whether an instruction on unlawful manner involuntary manslaughter is warranted...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 19, 2022
Jenkins v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the murder and related convictions of a man involved in a violent Gwinnett County home invasion, rejecting his challenges to the felon-in-possession evidence, flight testimony, and his lawyer's performance.
On appeal, Appellant claims that, because the stipulation did not specify that Appellant was a convicted felon on or before the home invasion on August 6, 2014, it was insufficient as a matter of law to establish that his felony conviction preceded the gun possession – a necessary element of OCGA § 16-11-131.4 Appellant claims that, because the stipulation...
313 Ga. 81 FINAL COPY S21A1127. JENKINS v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 4, 2022
Beamon v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Vernon Beamon's murder convictions for a 2016 DeKalb County double killing, finding the circumstantial evidence tying him to the crimes was strong enough for the jury to convict, and ruled his two firearm convictions did not have to merge.
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 Code Section 16-13-2, or who has been convicted of a felony by a court of this state or any other state; by a court of the United States including its territories,...
Any person who shall have on or within arm’s reach of his or her person a firearm . . . during the commission of, or the attempt to commit . . . [a]ny crime against or involving the person of another; . . . [t]he unlawful entry into a building or vehicle; . . . [a] theft from a building or theft of a vehicle; . . . [a]ny crime involving the possession,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 20, 2022
Smith v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Lamar County man's malice murder conviction for shooting his neighbor, rejecting claims that the shooting was accidental, that evidence was wrongly admitted, and that his trial lawyer was ineffective.
5 See Jackson v. Denno, 378 U. S. 368 (84 SCt 1774, 12 LE2d 908) (1964). 6 Under the former Evidence Code, to preserve for appellate review a claim that the trial court improperly admitted or excluded evidence under a particular theory, a defendant was required to argue at trial that the evidence should be admitted or excluded under that particular theory....
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge a firearm while: (1) Under the influence of alcohol or any drug or any combination of alcohol and any drug to the extent that it is unsafe for the person to discharge such firearm except in the another, OCGA § 16-11-104.8 The trial court denied the request, noting that the defense failed to present slight...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 9, 2022
Ellington v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Vincent Ellington's malice murder conviction in an Atlanta shooting, rejecting his claims that the evidence was insufficient and that his cross-examination of a witness was improperly limited, but sent the case back to fix a sentencing error.
Additionally, as a matter of Georgia statutory law, “[t]o 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 save that of the guilt of the accused,” OCGA § 24-14-6. “[I]t is principally for the jury to determine whether an...
To the extent Ellington challenges the sufficiency of the evidence related to counts that were merged for sentencing purposes or vacated by operation of law—felony murder, aggravated assault 5 Ellington’s challenge to this conviction on appeal is based solely on the alleged lack of evidence that he possessed a firearm. At trial, he stipulated that he was a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 23, 2022
Benton v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a man's 1990 first-offender drug conviction could not count as a prior felony for recidivist sentencing purposes because his probation revocations never amounted to a formal adjudication of guilt.
7 It appears there may be some confusion stemming from prior decisions of this Court and the Court of Appeals, including Davis and Collins, that use the term “probation” to describe both any term of probation ordered by a court as part of a first-offender sentence under OCGA § 42-8-60 (a) and the “probationary” nature of first-offender status generally. For...
1. Background As recounted by the Court of Appeals, [v]iewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence shows that on July 4, 2017, Tyrone Ransom was working in a convenience store when Benton approached him and appeared to be irritated. Benton accused Ransom of stealing his weed whacker and demanded that he admit it; but Ransom...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 30, 2022
Talley v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Mario Talley's murder conviction in a fatal shooting at an Atlanta apartment, finding that any error in admitting testimony about a prior dispute between the victim and Talley was harmless and that his trial lawyer's decisions did not amount to ineffective assistance.
BETHEL, Justice. A Fulton County jury found Mario Talley guilty of the malice murder of Rodney Walker, the aggravated assault and attempted armed robbery of Isiah Knight, and other offenses. Talley appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that the trial court erred by admitting certain evidence at trial and that his trial counsel...
went to Talley’s mother’s house. Around 5:00 p.m. he drove her to the airport and then dropped off a rental car. Walker, Simon, and Williams followed him, and they picked Talley up and drove back to his mother’s house. They then took some music recording equipment to another apartment in the same complex as Knight’s apartment. Talley never went to Knight’s...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2022
Smith v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Dougherty County man's felony murder conviction for the beating death of Jerome Walden, rejecting arguments about the indictment and multiple ineffective-assistance claims against his trial lawyer.
3 OCGA § 16-1-7 (a) provides: When the same conduct of an accused may establish the commission of more than one crime, the accused may be prosecuted for each crime. He may not, however, be convicted of more than one crime if: (1) One crime is included in the other; or (2) The crimes differ only in that one is defined to prohibit a designated kind of conduct...
If more than two regular terms of court are convened and adjourned after the term at which the demand for speedy trial is filed and the defendant is not given a trial, then the defendant shall be absolutely discharged and acquitted of the offense charged in the indictment, provided that at both terms there were juries impaneled and qualified to try the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 9, 2022
Walker v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Richmond County man's murder conviction, rejecting his argument that the evidence, including his own police statement, was not enough to prove he shot and killed his roommate.
6 Testimony about Walker’s admissions is direct, not circumstantial, evidence of his guilt. See Harper v. State, 298 Ga. 158, 161 (780 SE2d 308) (2015); Evans v. State, 288 Ga. 571, 575-576 (6) (707 SE2d 353) (2011). when he possessed the murder weapon. (c) Finally, to the extent that Walker argues that the evidence was insufficient as a matter of...
1. Facts. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed the following. In early September 2017, Walker and Ferguson were living together in a house that Ferguson had rented. Walker admitted that he and Ferguson had been arguing with each other over money. Ferguson’s landlord testified that Ferguson, who...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 19, 2022
Ellison v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Walton County man's felony murder conviction, ruling the trial court was entitled to disbelieve his claim that he shot the victim in self-defense.
Ellison argues that he met his burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that he was acting in defense of himself and his family when he shot Malcom and that the trial court thus erred in denying his motion for immunity pursuant to OCGA § 16-3-24.2. We conclude that the trial court did not err in denying the motion. With some exceptions, a person...
As the trial court’s ruling on a motion for immunity under OCGA § 16-3-24.2 must be based solely on the evidence presented at the pretrial hearing on the motion, our review of Ellison’s argument is limited to that evidence as well. See Sifuentes v. State, 293 Ga. 441, 444-445 (2) & n.3 (746 SE2d 127) (2013). The evidence at the pretrial hearing showed that...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 7, 2022
Garcia-Jarquin v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Cherokee County man's convictions for murder and aggravated assault, ruling that jurors could find he threatened a bystander with a gun even though he never pointed it directly at him.
6 This conclusion that the death penalty can only be imposed in murder cases is also dubious. Prior to Neal, this Court recognized that the death penalty could be imposed for the offense of kidnapping with bodily injury under OCGA § 16-5-40 (b) where the bodily injury was the victim’s death and the defendant was not convicted of murder. See Sears v. State,...
I am unmoved by the analysis of the committee deliberations in the Neal concurrence. See id. The well-documented reasons to distrust legislative history apply, perhaps with even greater force, punishment available for the [crime] of hijacking an aircraft” even though OCGA § 16-5-44 (c) clearly provides for a sentence of death for that offense. It appears to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 2, 2022
Winslow v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's convictions for possessing child pornography found on his laptop, ruling his consent to a Walmart search extended to a forensic exam conducted 14 months later, but sent the case back because two counts should have been merged for sentencing.
However, even though there is no such distinction in OCGA § 16-12-100 (f) (1), the sentencing parameters are not grossly disproportionate to the crime of possession of child pornography, an offense we have long recognized a strong state interest in discouraging. See Scott v. State, 299 Ga. 568, 574 (3) (788 SE2d 468) (2016) (“It is evident beyond the need...
7 Although this Court has previously relied on the “evolving standard of decency” standard under the Eighth Amendment in reviewing a claim of cruel and unusual punishment under Paragraph XVII, see Fleming v. Zant, 259 Ga. 687, 689 (3) (386 SE2d 339) (1989), we decline to decide today whether Paragraph XVII is properly analyzed under the same lens as the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 15, 2022
Edible Ip, LLC v. Google, LLC
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that Edible Arrangements' owner cannot sue Google for theft, conversion, or racketeering just because Google auctions its trade name to advertisers as a keyword search term.
(i) Turning to the first question, we begin by defining several key terms. OCGA § 16-1-3 (13) broadly defines “property” as anything of value, including but not limited to real estate, tangible and intangible personal property, contract rights, services, choses in action, and other interests in or claims to wealth, admission or transportation tickets,...
is a part.”). See also Reis v. Ralls, 250 Ga. 721, 723 (1) (301 SE2d 40) (1983) (“[I]t appears clear that in addition to a trademark, a trade name, along with the goodwill it represents, may be the subject of an Article 9 security interest.”). Here, Edible IP specifically pleaded that it is the only entity entitled to license the use of the trade name...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2022
Perkins v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Andreas Perkins's murder and other convictions from a fatal home invasion, rejecting challenges to the evidence, a mistrial denial, admitted photographs, and his lawyer's performance.
Moreover, the jury was authorized to conclude that Perkins was part of the group of men who shot at or toward J. R. and Glover. To that end, the State presented evidence that Perkins and his co- defendants were discussing plans to commit a robbery hours before the crimes; that after the crimes, the same four men were seen running out of Glover’s apartment...
10 Count 12 of the indictment alleged, in relevant part, that Perkins and his co-defendants committed burglary in the first degree when they, “on the 26th day of January, 2014, did without authority and with intent to commit a theft therein, enter the dwelling house of Randy Jerome Menefee.” “living” in Glover’s apartment. And even though other evidence was...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 22, 2022
Harris v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed Justin Ross Harris's murder and child cruelty convictions for leaving his toddler son Cooper to die in a hot car, ruling the trial court wrongly let jurors hear excessive and highly prejudicial evidence of his extramarital sex life.
68 See OCGA § 16-12-100.2 (e) (1) (“A person commits the offense of obscene Internet contact with a child if he or she has contact with . . . someone he or she believes to be a child via a computer wireless service or Internet service . . . and the contact involves any matter containing explicit verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexually explicit...
When exercising that discretion, the trial court must determine if severance of the charges would “promote a fair determination of the defendant’s guilt or innocence of each charge.” Harrell, 297 Ga. at 889 (citation and punctuation omitted). Counts should be severed “to prevent a defendant from being forced to proceed ‘at an unfair disadvantage, due to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 1, 2022
In THE INTEREST OF T.B., a Child
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that children accused of delinquency for acts that would be crimes if committed by an adult can raise an insanity or delusional-compulsion defense in juvenile court, reversing a lower court that had barred such defenses entirely.
COLVIN, Justice. This case requires us to determine whether a child charged with delinquency based on an alleged violation of Georgia’s Criminal Code may assert an affirmative defense of insanity or delusional compulsion, under OCGA § 16-3-2 or 16-3-3, in a juvenile-court proceeding. The Juvenile Code does not expressly state whether affirmative defenses...
Second, the Juvenile Code’s codified preamble indicates that a child’s conduct should not be adjudicated “delinquent” if the child can establish an affirmative defense of insanity or delusional compulsion. Specifically, the Code states that a “purpose” of delinquency proceedings is “to hold a child committing delinquent acts accountable for his or her...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 29, 2022
Young v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Tia Young's felony murder conviction in her husband's shooting death, finding the circumstantial evidence sufficient and rejecting her claims about a joint trial and jury instructions.
Here, the jury was presented with sufficient circumstantial evidence against Tia, which included the following. Tia was home at the time of the shooting, which happened as George was opening the front door, and the position of his body after the shooting indicated that he was shot from within the house. Tia and Lee were having an affair and lied about it to...
A trial court has the discretion to try jointly or separately defendants that have been jointly indicted for a felony where the death penalty is not sought. See OCGA § 17-8-4 (a). “The relevant factors in ruling on a motion to sever are: (1) the likelihood of confusion of the evidence and law; (2) the possibility that evidence against one defendant may be...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 17, 2022
Goodman v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Jemerius Goodman's felony murder and aggravated assault convictions from a Baldwin County shooting, but sent the case back to fix an illegal sentence on one tampering-with-evidence count.
(c) The sentence as to Count 12 is illegal. Count 12 of the indictment charged Goodman with tampering with evidence with the intent of obstructing his own prosecution for felony murder, in violation of OCGA § 16-10-94. Goodman was convicted of this charge and sentenced to ten years, to be served concurrently with his sentence on Count 4. Goodman does not...
Judgment affirmed in part and vacated in part, and case remanded for resentencing. All the Justices concur. Decided May 17, 2022. Murder. Baldwin Superior Court. Before Judge Burleson. Crawford & Boyle, Eric C. Crawford, for appellant. T. Wright Barksdale, District Attorney, D. Brent Cochran, Assistant District Attorney; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 25, 2022
Simmons v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Troy Simmons's felony murder conviction in a gang-related methamphetamine dispute killing, rejecting claims about jury instructions and ineffective defense counsel.
7 Bowden testified at trial that in December 2013, he talked to Simmons who told him he would be meeting with Lee when he was in Wayne County. Bowden further testified that when he called Simmons the morning after Lee was shot, Simmons told Bowden that he did not meet up with Lee the previous night. (III) (B) (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979) (emphasis in...
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