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  • Forte v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-27
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Melton
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Victoria Lynn Novak (Office of the Public Defender), Columbus, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Ashleigh Dene Headrick (Department of Law), Atlanta; Julia Anne Fessenden Slater, Matthew Jon Landreau, William Donald Kelly, Jr. (Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Columbus, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1912

    The trial court did not plainly err in giving the jury an incomplete charge on malice murder as the jury had a written copy of the complete charges during its deliberation and the trial courts mistake in reading the charge thus did not affect defendant's substantial rights in such a manner as to affect the outcome of the trial court proceedings.

  • Donaldson v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-26
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Blackwell
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Darrell Brinnett Reynolds, Sr. (Darrell B. Reynolds, P.C.), Decatur, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Elizabeth A. Baker, Tracy Graham Lawson, Elizabeth Rosenwasser Rosenwasser (Clayton County District Attorney's Office), Jonesboro, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1350

    Although the evidence supported defendant's convictions for felony murder and one count of firearm possession, the Supreme Court of Georgia vacated his convictions for aggravated assault and a second firearm possession count because the trial court should have merged those convictions into other counts.

  • Dixon v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-26
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Blackwell
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: John William Howe (Law Office of John W. Howe), Carrollton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Matthew Blackwell Crowder, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Rosemary M. Greene, Sharon Moyer Fox, Andrew Dale Garland (Cherokee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Cartersville, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1475

    Pretermitting whether the prosecutors question on cross-examination about whether the witness had observed defendants talking and laughing during a break was, in fact, improper, the trial court fully complied with O.C.G.A. § 17-8-75 and did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct.

  • Carter v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Blackwell
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jonathan P. Lockwood (Brunswick Judicial Circuit Public Defender's Office), Jesup, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew Min-soo Youn (Department of Law), Atlanta; Andrew J. Ekonomou (The Lambros Firm, LLC), Atlanta; Jacquelyn Lee Johnson (Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Woodbine, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1412

    The evidence supported defendant's convictions for malice murder and other crimes after he shot his ex-girlfriend's 15-year-old son when the woman ended their relationship to devote more time to the child.

  • Bozzie v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Micah Jay Gates (Office of the Public Defender for the Conasuaga Judicial Circuit), Dalton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Scott Orion Teague (Department of Law), Atlanta; Susan Alexandra Beck, Dalton; Herbert McIntosh Poston, Jr. (Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Dalton, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1539

    The trial court did not plainly err in admitting photographs of the victiman in-life photograph and numerous photographs of his dead bodyand certain alleged hearsay statements in defendant's trial for malice murder and other crimes after he intentionally hit the victim with his truck, as admission of one in-life photograph did not affect the outcome of the trial given the strength of the evidence, the photographs of the victim's dead body were admissible and the alleged hearsay was cumulative of other evidence.

  • Moore v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Per Curiam
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: James Moore, Abbeville, for appellant.
    for defendant: Joshua Smith (District Attorney's Office), Augusta; Henry Syms (Office of the District Attorney), Augusta, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1457

    Defendant's sentence on his child molestation conviction was void as a matter of law because it did not comply with the O.C.G.A. § 17-10-6.2 split-sentence requirement.

  • Conwell v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-11
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge Andrews
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Loudon Conwell, Unadilla, for appellant.
    for defendant: Robert James (District Attorney), Decatur; Deborah Wellborn (Assistant District Attorney), Decatur, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A2068

    Although the trial court properly determined defendant's recidivist status when it sentenced him following his convictions for aggravated assault with intent to rape, two counts of false imprisonment and rape, the sentence the trial court entered was illegal because it did not include a split sentence on the aggravated assault with intent to rape conviction in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 17-10-6.2 subsection (b).

  • Kimbrough et al. v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-08
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge McFadden
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Amanda Clark Palmer (Garland, Samuel & Loeb PC), Atlanta; Janice Singer-Capek (Attorney at Law), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Stephen Fern (Assistant District Attorney Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center), Lawrenceville; Daniel Porter (District Attorney Gwinnett Justice & Administrative Center), Lawrenceville, for appellee.
    Case Number: A15A1738

    The trial court erred in denying defendants' special demurrers seeking more detail about their alleged violations of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, because the indictment did not give defendants enough information about the charges to "prepare [their] defense intelligently."

  • Anthony v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-07
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Reid G. Kennedy (Law Offices of Kennedy and Kennedy), Marietta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; John Richard Edwards, D. Victor Reynolds (Cobb County District Attorney's Office), Marietta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A0989

    The evidence, including eyewitness identification, supported defendant's convictions for malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and he failed to prove his ineffective assistance of counsel claims as, among other things, post-trial counsel's subsequent disbarment did not itself show ineffective assistance in defendant's particular case.

  • Blevins v. The State

    Publication Date: 2017-12-05
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge Ray
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: N/a
    for defendant: N/a
    Case Number: A17A0639

    The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting certain other acts evidence in a middle school band director's trial for enticing a child for indecent purposes and child molestation arising out of his interactions with a student.