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  • McCoy v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-13
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Ryan Christopher Locke (Locke Law Firm LLC), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Aimee F. Sobhani (Department of Law), Atlanta; Anna Green Cross, Sherry Boston, Gerald Mason (DeKalb County District Attorney's Office) Decatur, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1915

    Trial Counsel Did Not Fail to Conduct Thorough Cross-Examination of Witness to Shooting

  • Morrison v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-13
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Boggs
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Richard Morrison, Pelham, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Matthew Blackwell Crowder, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Tracy K. Chapman, Bradfield M. Shealy, Michelle Thomas Harrison (Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Valdosta.
    Case Number: S17A1750

    The evidence supported defendant's malice murder conviction in connection with the death of his girlfriend and defendant failed to prove his several prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel claims.

  • Serdula v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Judges
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge Miller
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Nathanael Horsley (Attorney at Law), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Michael Carlson, John Edwards (District Attorney's Office Cobb Judicial Circuit), Marietta; D. Reynolds (District Attorney), Marietta, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1454

    The Court vacated defendant's convictions and remanded the case to the trial court for the case to be referred to a different trial judge to decide defendant's motion to recuse the judge who had presided over the case, because the proceeding was one in which the trial judges impartiality might reasonably be questioned and, at a minimum, the motion should have been referred to another judge.

  • Stork v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jami L. Lewis (Harrell & Lewis, LLC), Camilla, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew Min-soo Youn (Department of Law), Atlanta; Joseph Kenneth Mulholland, Moruf O. Oseni (South Georgia Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Bainbridge, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1854

    Defendant's Claim He Was "Out of His Mind With Rage" Did Not Preclude Jury's Malice Murder Verdict

  • Wallace v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Maryann Faith Blend (Maryann F. Blend, Esq., PC.), Lawrenceville, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Scott Orion Teague (Department of Law), Atlanta; Daniel J. Porter, Lee Franklin Tittsworth (Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office), Lawrenceville, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1900

    Trial Court Did Not Err in Refusing to Reinstate Dismissed Juror

  • Winters v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Kenneth D. Kondritzer (Fulton County Solicitor General's Office), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Michael Alexander Oldham (Department of Law), Atlanta; Joshua Daniel Morrison, Paul L. Howard, Jr., Lyndsey Hurst Rudder (Fulton County District Attorney's Office), Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1884

    Murder Defendant Who Argued Defense of Habitation Was Not Entitled to Separate Instruction that Mistake of Fact Was Affirmative Defense

  • Veal v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Benham
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Stephen Michael Reba (The Law Office of Stephen M. Reba, LLC), Decatur, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Matthew Min-soo Youn, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Joshua Daniel Morrison, Paul L. Howard, Jr., Lyndsey Hurst Rudder (Fulton County District Attorney's Office), Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1758

    U.S. Supreme Court Miller and Montgomery Opinions Not Applicable to Juvenile Criminal Cases Not Involving Actual LWOP Sentences

  • Goodrum v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    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, Christopher M. Carr, Meghan Hobbs Hill (Department of Law), Atlanta; Monique Lynn Kirby, Edward Andrew Case, III (Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), LaGrange; Peter J. Skandalakis (Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia), Morrow, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1748

    Defendant Had No Constitutional Right to Be Present When Attorneys Met in Chambers With Judge to Discuss Juror's Qualification

  • Walton v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Melton
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Andrew Santos Fleischman (Ross & Pines, LLC), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Elizabeth Haase Brock (Department of Law), Atlanta; Anna Green Cross, Lenny I. Krick, Sherry Boston (DeKalb County District Attorney's Office), Decatur, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1756

    Defendant Not Prejudiced by Trial Counsel's Failure to Review Police Report Describing Violent Altercation Prior to Events Leading to Homicide

  • Jones v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-08
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Blackwell
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Ronald Richard Parker (Georgia Public Defender Standards Council), Bainbridge; Katherine Lynn Dodd (Southwest Georgia Conflict Division-GPDC), Americus, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew David O'Brien (Department of Law), Atlanta; Gregory W. Edwards, Kathryn O. Fallin (Dougherty County District Attorney's Office), Albany, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1526

    Even assuming that defense counsel was deficient in opening the door for the prosecution to elicit otherwise inadmissible evidence of defendant's bad character, defendant could not show that the allegedly deficient performance prejudiced him, in light of the strong evidence of his guilt, and thus could not prove his ineffective assistance of counsel claim in connection with his convictions for felony murder and armed robbery.