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  • Stroud v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-11
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge Branch
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Christina Cribbs (Georgia Public Defender Council), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Benjamin Coker (District Attorney), Thomaston; Brittany Fallin (Upson County District Attorney's Office), Thomaston, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1679

    Trial Court Erred In Failing to Determine Whether Impoundment of Vehicle Following Traffic Violation Was Reasonably Necessary

  • The State v. Wright

    Publication Date: 2018-04-10
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge Doyle
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Margaret Heap (District Attorney), Savannah; Ian Heap (District Attorney's Office, Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Courtney Lerch (Lerch Law Firm), Savannah, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1780

    Defendant Failed to Show He Had Standing to Object to Search of Residence

  • Franklin v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Benham
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jerilyn Lyshette Bell, Josh David Moore, Gerald P. Word (Georgia Capital Defenders), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Matthew Blackwell Crowder, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Emily Kathleen Richardson, Brian Keith Fortner, Sean Alexander Garrett (Douglas County District Attorney's Office), Douglasville, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1599

    The trial court properly concluded that it had no authority to determine prior to trial whether the aggravating circumstances State alleged would be sufficiently proved by the evidence to support the imposition of the death penalty.

  • Byrd v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-09
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge Reese
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Kevin Anderson (Georgia Public Defender Council), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: James Chafin (Assistant District Attorney Western Judicial Circuit), Athens; Kenneth Mauldin (District Attorney), Athens, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1599

    Defense Counsel's Strategic Decision Not to Seek Jury Instruction on Lesser Included Offense Was Not Patently Unreasonable

  • Owens v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: N/a
    for defendant: N/a
    Case Number: S17A1905

    The Georgia Supreme Court directed the Council of Superior Court Judges of Georgia to submit to the Court, no later than Sept. 17, 2018, a proposed Uniform Rule of Superior Court designed to address the issue of inordinate and unjustified delays between a defendant's trial and the direct appeal reaching the Court.

  • Greene v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Melton
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Amy Lee Ihrig (Office of the Public Defender, Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Meghan Hobbs Hill (Department of Law), Atlanta; Margaret Ellen Heap, Emily Catherine Puhala (Office of the District Attorney Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1349

    The trial court did not reversibly err in admitting certain evidence in defendant's murder trial and the evidence supported his convictions.

  • Eller et al. v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Matthew K. Winchester (Law Offices of Matthew K. Winchester), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Aimee F. Sobhani, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Rosemary M. Greene, Sharon Moyer Fox, Paula Khristian Smith, Elizabeth Marian York (Cherokee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Calhoun, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1549

    The evidence sufficiently supported a brother and sister's convictions for killing the sister's boyfriend and leaving his body in the back of his abandoned truck and although the trial court erred in allowing the alternate jurors to retire with the other jurors during deliberations, defendants failed to show that the error harmed them.

  • Douglas v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Leon Hicks (Leon Hicks and Associates, P.C.), Jonesboro, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew Blackwell Crowder (Department of Law), Atlanta; Elizabeth A. Baker, Jay Marvin Jackson, Tracy Graham Lawson (Clayton County District Attorney's Office), Jonesboro, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1348

    Although the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress certain evidence and did not reversibly err in admitting other evidence, the trial court did err in the sentences it imposed on defendant's convictions for malice murder and other offenses; accordingly, the Court affirmed the convictions but partially vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing.

  • Perez v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Boggs
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Amy Lee Ihrig (Office of the Public Defender, Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Ashleigh Dene Headrick (Department of Law), Atlanta; Matthew Breedon (Office of the District Attorney Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1370

    The evidence supported defendant's convictions for malice murder and other crimes after he fatally shot his wife's lover and the trial court did not reversibly err in admitting a hearsay statement from the deceased victim, in light of the overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt.

  • Byron v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-05
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Michael Walter Gowen (Tifton Judicial Circuit Public Defender's Office), Tifton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, S. Taylor Johnston (Department of Law), Atlanta; Clifford Paul Bowden, Robert Alan Rogers, Jennifer Dawn Hart (Tifton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Tifton; Kevin Eugene Hutto (Office of the District Attorney), Tifton, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1555

    The evidence supported defendant's convictions for malice murder and other crimes arising from an argument in the parking lot of a club and defendant failed to prove his ineffective assistance of counsel claims.