• Jackson v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-20
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge McFadden
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: William McQueen (McQueen Law Office LC), Athens, for appellant.
    for defendant: James Chafin (Assistant District Attorney Western Judicial Circuit), Athens; Kenneth Mauldin (District Attorney), Athens, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A2064

    The evidence supported defendant's conviction for, inter alia, one count of child molestation, in which he was alleged to have masturbated in front of his 13-year-old stepson, despite the boy's trial testimony that he closed his eyes when defendant pulled out his penis, because it was not necessary for the victim to actually see defendant masturbate and there was evidence from which the jury could infer that defendant masturbated in the boys presence.

  • Briscoe v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-19
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge McFadden
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Elizabeth Brandenburg (Law Firm of Shein & Brandenburg), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Kenneth Mauldin (District Attorney), Athens; Brian Patterson (Chief Assistant District Attorney), Athens, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A1883

    Motion to Suppress Properly Denied Over Claims as to Corroboration Failure, Lack of Probable Cause to Search, and Stale Information

  • Lang v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-19
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Fifth Division
    Judge: Presiding Judge McFadden
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: John Overocker (Office of the Public Defender Coweta Judicial Circuit), Carrollton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Peter Skandalakis (Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia), Morrow; John Cranford (Coweta Judicial Circuit), Newnan, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A1483

    Bifurcation of Charges Properly Denied Where Firearm Possession Charge Was Material to Charge of Criminal Gang Activity

  • State v. Lewis

    Publication Date: 2018-03-19
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Insurance Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge McMillian
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Teri Walker (Fulton County District Attorney's Office), Atlanta; Paul Howard (District Attorney), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Ashutosh Joshi (Attorney at Law), Atlanta; Matthew Winchester (Law Offices Of Matthew K. Winchester), Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A1692

    Officer Had No Ground to Arrest Driver and Impound Vehicle After Driver Provided Valid Proof of Insurance Coverage

  • De La Cruz v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-16
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Mary Terry Benton, Derin Bronson Dickerson, Francisco Gonzalez-Burgos, Tejas Surendra Patel, Kacy Brake, Emily Catherine Hootkins, Andrew J. Liebler, Andrew M. Brown (Alston & Bird LLP), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Mary Catherine Greaber, Elizabeth Haase Brock, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; John Allen Lawson, Richard Lowery Perryman III (Alapaha Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Nashville; Bianca Plair Goodman (Muscogee County Solicitor General's Office), Columbus, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1887

    21-Year Delay in Resolving Motion for New Trial Did Not Violate Defendant's Due Process Rights

  • Dent v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-16
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Chief Justice Hines
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Deborah Lorraine Leslie (The Leslie Group, LLC), Jonesboro, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Jason Matthew Rea (Department of Law), Atlanta; Elizabeth A. Baker, Tracy Graham Lawson (Clayton County District Attorney's Office), Jonesboro, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1641

    The evidence supported defendant's convictions for felony murder while in the commission of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and the trial court did not reversibly err in declining to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter, as the evidence did not support such a charge.

  • Drews v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-15
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Benham
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Veronica M. O'Grady (GPDC Appellate Division), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew Blackwell Crowder (Department of Law), Atlanta; Rosemary M. Greene, Jana Willingham Allen (Cherokee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Cartersville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1873

    Defense Counsel Not Constitutionally Ineffective Assistance For Failing to Investigate Allegations Raised in Supplemental Police Report and Video

  • Kennedy v. Kohnle

    Publication Date: 2018-03-15
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Ashleigh Dene Headrick, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Macklyn A. Smith, Lawrenceville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1419

    The habeas court erred in applying Alexander v. State, 297 Ga. 59 (2015) retroactively to find that plea counsel performed deficiently in failing to advise defendant that she would not be eligible for parole for 30 years if she pleaded guilty, as Alexander created a "new rule" and thus did not apply retroactively.

  • Fletcher v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: David Joseph Walker (Georgia Public Defenders Standards Council, Appellate Division), Macon, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Jason Matthew Rea (Department of Law), Atlanta; Bradford Lee Rigby (Cordele Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Cordele, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1978

    Error, if any, In Admitting Other Acts Evidence of Drug Dealing and Violence Was Harmless

  • Kemp v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Konrad Gerhard Waldemar Ziegler, Christopher Ryan Lee (Lee & Ziegler, LLP), Canton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Matthew Min-soo Youn, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Michael Scott Carlson, John Stuart Melvin, D. Victor Reynolds, John Richard Edwards (Cobb County District Attorney's Office), Marietta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1646

    The evidence supported defendants' convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with a planned robbery that turned fatal and the trial court properly admitted a former police informant's testimony about statements one of the defendants made to him while they were in jail together, as the former informant was not acting as a government agent at that time.