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Found 325 matching passages in 164 documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 21, 2023
Bowman v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a Paulding County man's 2014 trial never happened in the eyes of the law because the 12 citizens who heard his case were never sworn in as a jury, so he is entitled to be discharged and acquitted under Georgia's speedy trial statute.
On November 27, 2019, through new counsel, Bowman filed a motion for discharge and acquittal on statutory and constitutional speedy trial grounds. On the same day, the State filed a motion seeking a declaratory order that the December 2014 proceeding “constitute[d] a trial” for the purpose of satisfying Bowman’s Demand for Speedy Trial pursuant to OCGA §...
We granted Bowman’s petition for certiorari and posed the following question: Was [Bowman] deprived of his statutory or constitutional right to a speedy trial where the trial he received was held before a jury that had not sworn the oath required by OCGA § 15-12-139? The case was orally argued in this Court on September 20, 2022. 2. The dispute in this case...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 21, 2023
Leonard v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Joshua Leonard's murder conviction for a 2010 Columbus shooting, ruling that the victim's statements identifying his shooters, made after he woke from a coma and again on the day he died, were properly admitted as dying declarations.
Reading closing arguments as a whole, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion when allowing the prosecutor’s reference to scripture, which was permissible rebuttal. Indeed, the prosecutor attempted to defuse Leonard’s argument and offer an explanation as to why Grimes repeatedly identified Leonard and Alexander, resorting to Biblical...
“When an accused claims that a delay in bringing him to trial has worked a denial of his constitutional right to a speedy trial, a court first must consider whether the delay is long enough to raise a presumption of prejudice and to warrant a more searching judicial inquiry into the delay.” State v. Johnson, 291 Ga. 863, 864 (1) (734 SE2d 12) (2012). Here,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 7, 2023
Rucker v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's murder conviction for a fatal home invasion in Southwest Atlanta, rejecting his arguments about a missing jury instruction and a delayed trial.
(c) Assertion of the right. The trial court weighed Rucker’s delay in asserting his right to a speedy trial heavily against him. Rucker argues that the trial court erred in this regard because, although he did not assert his right to a speedy trial until he filed his motion to dismiss the indictment on April 13, 2017, he was not served with initial...
We cannot say that the trial court erred in reaching this determination. Because delay often works to a defendant’s advantage, “the accused bears some responsibility to invoke the speedy trial right and put the government on notice that he . . . would prefer to be tried as soon as possible.” Ruffin, 284 Ga. at 62 (2) (b) (iii). And, “[o]ur cases hold that...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 16, 2023
Blalock v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Dwight Blalock Jr.'s murder conviction, rejecting his arguments that the trial judge should have delayed his trial and that a witness improperly commented on his silence.
8 OCGA § 17-8-22 provides in pertinent part: “All applications for continuances are addressed to the sound legal discretion of the court and, if not expressly provided for, shall be granted or refused as the ends of justice may require.” prompt setting of the trial date was its attempt “to comply with the demand for trial” (citations and punctuation...
As noted above, “to be entitled to a new trial based upon the denial of a motion for a continuance, a defendant has the burden to show that he was harmed by that denial.” Phoenix v. State, 304 Ga. 785, 788 (2) (822 SE2d 195) (2018) (citation and punctuation omitted). Here, even if the trial court had abused its discretion in denying the motion for...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 11, 2023
Kimbro v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder and rape convictions in a 2009 motel killing solved years later through DNA matching, rejecting claims about trial delay, closing argument, and his lawyer's performance.
It is unclear whether Kimbro contends in his brief on appeal that the prosecutor violated certain discovery statutes. See OCGA §§ 17-16-8 (a) (requiring the prosecutor in a felony case to provide to the defense certain information regarding witnesses “not later than ten days before trial” or “as otherwise ordered by the court”) & 17-16-4 (a) (3) (A)...
investigative delay does not deprive him of due process, even if his defense might have been somewhat prejudiced by the lapse of time”).10 To prevail on this claim, Kimbro must “‘prove (1) that the delay caused actual prejudice to his defense, and (2) that the delay was the result of deliberate prosecutorial action to give the State a tactical advantage.’”...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 15, 2023
TAYLOR, EXR. v. THE DEVEREUX FOUNDATION, INC. (And Vice Versa)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Georgia's $250,000 cap on punitive damages in a sexual assault case against a Georgia treatment facility, ruling the cap does not violate the right to a jury trial, separation of powers, or equal protection.
71 See Nestlehutt, 286 Ga. at 733 (2) (noting that “Blackstone, ‘whose commentaries constituted the law of this State, before and since the Revolution,’ [are] authoritative on [the] jury trial right as of 1798” (citation and punctuation omitted)). accommodated to times or to men, should be deposited in the breasts of the judges . . . .”). But answering...
III. Right to Trial by Jury We now turn to Taylor’s primary argument: that the portion of OCGA § 51-12-5.1 (g) that establishes a $250,000 cap on the amount of punitive damages a plaintiff may recover violates the Georgia Constitution’s right to trial by jury.17 A. The Georgia Constitution’s Right to Trial by Jury The Georgia Constitution of 1983 provides:...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 16, 2023
Ward, Comr. v. Medina
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a ruling that a Wheeler County man's guilty plea to armed robbery and aggravated assault was involuntary, because he was told he faced far more prison time than the law actually allowed and was hinted that a trial would go worse for him.
The trial court denied Medina’s request, stating that Medina just had an extended conversation with counsel, Medina’s speedy trial demand had imposed constraints on the court, a jury and witnesses were ready and waiting, and the trial court was unwilling to delay proceedings any further. Medina began to say, “I want to ask my attorney —” before the trial...
As stated above, when considering a habeas court’s grant or denial of habeas relief, we review that court’s factual findings for clear error and independently apply the law to the facts. This is not a novel proposition, for we have used a similar standard of review when evaluating determinations about whether a defendant’s constitutional rights have been...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · July 5, 2023
In THE INTEREST OF R. J. A., a Child
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia declined to review a Court of Appeals ruling on when a jailed juvenile counts as 'detained' for speedy-indictment purposes, but Justice Pinson wrote separately to question whether courts should look beyond published opinions to old case files to figure out what a prior ruling actually decided.
The question presented in this case is whether a superior court or a juvenile court had jurisdiction over the underlying prosecution against R. J. A., a juvenile. A juvenile charged with a crime within the jurisdiction of the superior court “who is detained” is entitled to have the charge presented to the grand jury “within 180 days of the date of...
I am authorized to state that Justice Warren joins in this concurrence.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 15, 2023
Johnson v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia overruled its own longstanding rule that any court filing a defendant makes on his own while represented by a lawyer is automatically void, and gave trial courts discretion to accept such filings in narrow circumstances.
such filings as “legal nullities.” See, e.g., Sims v. State, 312 Ga. 303, 303 n.2 (862 SE2d 507) (2021) (pro se filings made by counseled defendant were “legal nullities”); White v. State, 302 Ga. 315, 319 (2) (806 SE2d 489) (2017) (trial court correctly treated pro se filings by counseled defendant as “legal nullities”). And based on this rule, we have...
315 Ga. 876 FINAL COPY S22A0964. JOHNSON v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 21, 2023
Gonzales v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a man's felony murder and aggravated battery convictions in the death of his girlfriend's three-year-old son, but ruled his separate aggravated battery sentence should have merged into the murder sentence.
“Even if an appeal is jurisdictionally defective from the outset, a notice of appeal generally acts as supersedeas until the appeal is dismissed.” Jones v. Peach Trader, 302 Ga. 504, 508 (807 SE2d 840) (2017). However, the filing of a notice of appeal in a civil case from an order that is appealable only under OCGA § 5-6-34 (b) does not act as a supersedeas...
315 Ga. 661 FINAL COPY S22A1303. GONZALES v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 18, 2023
Hightower v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a Fulton County judge acted within his authority when he declared a mistrial in a murder trial due to a COVID-19 judicial emergency, so the defendant can be retried without violating double jeopardy protections.
attaches when the jury has been impaneled and sworn.” Blake v. State, 304 Ga. 747, 749 (2) (822 SE2d 207) (2018). But “[e]ven after jeopardy has attached, trial courts may declare a mistrial over the defendant’s objection, without barring retrial, whenever, in their opinion, taking all the circumstances into consideration, there is a manifest necessity for...
The manifest necessity standard requires a “high degree of necessity” to grant a mistrial. Laguerre v. State, 301 Ga. 122, 124 (799 SE2d 736) (2017) (citation and punctuation omitted). See also Tubbs v. State, 276 Ga. 751, 754 (3) (583 SE2d 853) (2003) (“Manifest necessity can exist for reasons deemed compelling by the trial court, especially where the ends...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 11, 2023
Kinlaw v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Harold Dean Kinlaw's murder conviction and life sentence, rejecting his challenges to the aggravated stalking evidence, jury instructions, an interpreter dispute, and jury selection issues.
BETHEL, Justice. A Glynn County jury found Harold Dean Kinlaw guilty of the malice murder of Felipe Herrera, the aggravated stalking and kidnapping of Kinlaw’s former wife Damaris Kinlaw, and other related crimes.1 Kinlaw appeals, arguing that the evidence was 1 The crimes occurred on January 18, 2004. On May 19, 2004, a Glynn County grand jury indicted...
motion for new trial. On December 11, 2008, Kinlaw filed a pro se motion for appointment of appellate counsel. New attorneys filed entries of appearance in November 2009 and May 2014, but it does not appear from the record that those attorneys took any action on Kinlaw’s appeal. In November 2019, current appellate counsel, the third post-trial counsel to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 11, 2023
Rivera v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Ben Hill County man's felony murder conviction in a 1996 cold case solved decades later by DNA testing, but threw out his rape conviction because prosecutors never told the grand jury why the rape charge wasn't too old to bring.
(1909) (punctuation omitted)). To that end, “[t]his Court has held that an exception to the statute of limitation is a ‘material allegation’ which must be alleged in the indictment.” Id. (quoting McLane v. State, 4 Ga. 335, 342 (2) (1848) (holding that the State is required to allege in the indictment “the particular exception” which the State “intended to...
has made it clear that fundamental principles of due process require indictments or other charging instruments to not only show that a public law of the State has been violated, but also that the defendant has been indicted therefor, in the manner, and within the time, prescribed by the laws of the land. Lynch, 346 Ga. App. at 866 (McMillian, J., concurring...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 21, 2023
MUSE v. THE STATE (Three Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the murder and gang convictions of three men involved in a shootout at an Atlanta gas station, rejecting challenges to the evidence, jury procedures, and severance of their joint trial.
Debra K. Jefferson, for appellant (case no. S23A0427). Fani T. Willis, District Attorney, Michael S. Carlson, Kevin C. Armstrong, Elaine L. Thompson, Juliana Y. Sleeper, Assistant District Attorneys; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Beth A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Matthew B. Crowder, Eric C....
OCGA § 17-16-4 (a) (3) (A) required the State, as it concedes, to permit Muse and Darious to inspect and copy the data extracted from Muse’s cell phone “no later than ten days prior to trial, or as otherwise ordered by the court.” “OCGA § 17-16-6 provides that if the ten-day deadline is not met, the trial court can elect various remedies short of exclusion,...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 18, 2023
GAY v. JACKSON, JUDGE
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a driver challenging pretrial restrictions on his license through a habeas corpus petition jumped the gun, because his speeding case was still pending and ordinary court remedies remained open to him.
PINSON, Justice. Donovan Gay received a speeding ticket and pleaded not guilty. While his case was still pending, he filed a pretrial petition for habeas corpus to challenge pretrial restrictions on his driving privileges. The habeas court dismissed the petition, and we now affirm the dismissal. As we recently held in Phillips v. Jackson, 314 Ga. 347 (877...
Gay’s petition must be dismissed for this reason. We recently explained why in Phillips, which addressed the claims of a habeas petitioner in the same posture as Gay. See Phillips, 314 Ga. at 347- 348. There, as here, the petitioner’s case was bound over to state court after the municipal court imposed restrictions on his driving privileges, and the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 16, 2023
Moody v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Jeremy Moody's death sentences for the 2007 rape and murder of two teenage cousins in Fulton County, rejecting all 13 claims he raised, including that his guilty plea was coerced.
3. Moody argues that the trial court erred in denying his request for self-representation at the guilt/innocence phase following a Faretta hearing.7 As we just held, Moody’s guilty plea was valid. Consequently, Moody waived any argument regarding his right to self-representation at the guilt/innocence phase. 7 The record shows that approximately five months...
When the prosecutor asked Moody whether he was satisfied with the services of counsel, Moody stated that he “wasn’t,” referring to conflicts with counsel that led to his request to proceed pro se. The trial court pointed out that it had previously “ruled about the representation issue” and stated that “that question . . . is not part of the plea colloquy...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 16, 2023
State v. HARRIS (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled it had jurisdiction to hear the State's appeal in a Fulton County murder case despite the lack of written trial court orders, and sent the case back because the trial judge used the wrong legal tests to exclude key evidence.
The next day, on Friday, June 10, 2022, the State filed a “notice of need for written orders on pretrial motions,” which specifically requested that the trial court enter written orders memorializing its oral rulings on Harris’s motion in limine and motion to suppress “so that the State may exercise its statutory rights of appeal on those orders.” In a...
OCGA § 5-7-1 (a) authorizes the State to appeal a trial court’s order, decision, or judgment under certain circumstances in a criminal case. Ordinarily, “an order is not appealable [under OCGA § 5-7-1 (a)] unless it is in writing.” Morrell, 281 Ga. at 152 (2). But an exception to this general rule arises where “the transcript affirmatively shows that the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 6, 2023
Wilkerson v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Sumter County man's felony murder conviction, rejecting his self-defense claim, his request for a voluntary manslaughter instruction, and his objections to testimony about his time in jail before trial.
At trial, Appellant called his cousin, Vincent Wilkerson, as a witness. Vincent testified, among other things, that he had seen Greene with a gun on the day of the crimes. On cross-examination, Vincent acknowledged that the first time that he had told anyone about Greene’s possession of a gun was when he told defense counsel “a few weeks” before trial. The...
BOGGS, Chief Justice. Appellant Kentavous Wilkerson challenges his 2019 convictions for felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Bradley Green and the non-fatal shooting of Rodney Greene. On appeal, Appellant contends that (1) the evidence was constitutionally insufficient to support his convictions, (2) the trial court erred...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 21, 2023
Taylor v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed a man's murder and aggravated battery convictions from a 2013 Richmond County trial, rejecting claims about excluded mental health evidence, sentencing based on his rejection of a plea deal, a witness's testimony, and ineffective legal representation.
Judge . . . I have accepted responsibility for it. I told my attorney several times that I would accept manslaughter because that is what I felt like I have done. I did take manslaughter. Okay. But I had no intent to — I did not understand the severity, I did not understand Mr. Roberts, and I didn’t know that he was as bad as he was. I did not know that my...
315 Ga. 630 FINAL COPY S22A1003. TAYLOR v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 18, 2023
Kelly v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a Richmond County judge lost the power to reconsider his own order granting Jeremiah Kelly a new trial once the court term ended, so the later order denying Kelly a new trial does not count.
3. Though it largely accepts this reality, the State nonetheless argues that the trial court’s initial order granting Kelly’s motion for new trial must be vacated because it was “null and void for failure to comply with due process and fundamental fairness.” The State offers several lines of reasoning to support its contention that “[t]he process by which...
6 Although the State admits that “it is a rare case in which these concepts may be said to apply to the State in a criminal prosecution,” it offers no example—not even a “rare” one—of due process applying to the State under such circumstances. The only case that the State cites in support of this idea, Prater v. State, 222 Ga. App. 486, 488 (474 SE2d 684)...
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