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  • Benning v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-05
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge Rickman
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Teresa Doepke (Office of the Public Defender), Covington, for appellant.
    for defendant: Layla Zon (District Attorney), Covington; Tabitha Rogers (Newton County District Attorney's Office), Covington, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1761

    The Court affirmed defendant's convictions for several offenses stemming from a brutal assault on his live-in girlfriend, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of two prior sexual assaults at trial because the evidence was relevant to show defendant's intent and the probative value was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

  • Hardin v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-02
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge McMillian
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Margaret Heinen (Office of the Public Defender, Atlanta Judicial Circuit), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Christopher Arnt (Assistant District Attorney), Lafayette; Herbert Franklin (District Attorney), Lafayette, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1558

    The Court affirmed defendants' convictions in connection with sexual acts they committed against one of the defendants' stepdaughter but vacated their sentences and remanded for resentencing because the trial court failed to include mandatory split sentences and deviated below the mandatory minimum without entering written findings to justify the deviation.

  • Underwood v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-01
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Justice Miller
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: James Mitchell (Attorney at Law), Augusta; Muneer Awad (Georgia Public Defenders Standard Council), Augusta; Alicia LeCroy (Office of the Public Defender - Augusta Judicial Circuit), Augusta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Joshua Smith (District Attorney's Office Augusta Judicial Circuit), Augusta; Henry Syms (Office of the District Attorney), Augusta, for appellee.
    Case Number: A17A1768

    The Court affirmed defendant's convictions for two counts of child molestation for acts he committed against his step-granddaughter but vacated his sentence and remanded for resentencing because the trial court erred in failing to impose a split sentence as required by O.C.G.A. § 17-10-6.2 (b).

  • Burke v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-02-23
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Long Dai Vo, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Michael Alexander Oldham, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Anna Green Cross, Lenny I. Krick, Sherry Boston, Helen Virginia Peters (DeKalb County District Attorney's Office), Decatur, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1495

    Because there was no evidence to support a finding of voluntary manslaughter, the trial court did not err in limiting the jurys consideration of voluntary manslaughter to a lesser offense of only malice murder, both in its oral instructions and on the verdict form, so that the jury had no option to consider the lesser offense in relation to the felony murder charge.

  • Brown v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-02-23
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: David Tavis Winheim (Sumter County Public Defenders Office), Americus, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Aimee F. Sobhani (Department of Law), Atlanta; Plez Higdon Hardin (Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Americus, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1755

    Although the evidence supported defendant's convictions for felony murder and robbery, the trial court erred in failing to merge the robbery conviction into the murder conviction, as it was the underlying predicate felony; accordingly, the Court vacated defendant's conviction and sentence on that charge.

  • Blackwell v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-02-23
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Chief Justice Hines
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Gary Wilson Jones, Marietta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Michael Scott Carlson, John Richard Edwards, D. Victor Reynolds, Theresa Marie Schiefer (Cobb County District Attorney's Office), Marietta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1928

    Defendant failed to prove his ineffective assistance of counsel claims following his murder conviction.

  • Green v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-02-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Boggs
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Gregory Davis Smith (Conger & Smith, LLC), Bainbridge, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew David O'Brien (Department of Law), Atlanta; Clifford Paul Bowden (Tifton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Tifton, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1872

    Defendant failed to prove his ineffective assistance of counsel claims following his conviction as a party to the crime of malice murder.

  • Harris v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-02-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence | Judges
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Eric C. Crawford (Crawford & Boyle, LLC), Monroe, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Aimee F. Sobhani (Department of Law), Atlanta; Layla Hinton Zon (Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Covington; Walter Cliff Howard (Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Monroe, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1938

    Defendant failed to show that the trial court reversibly erred in making a comment to a State's witness reminding him that he agreed to be credible, as defendant failed to establish that the error affected his substantial rights, given the strong evidence of guilt against him.

  • Norris v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-02-21
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Long Dai Vo, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Aimee F. Sobhani (Department of Law), Atlanta; Darius T. Pattillo, Blair Douglas Mahaffey (Flint Circuit District Attorneys Office), McDonough; Sharon Lee Hopkins (Henry County District Attorney's Office), McDonough, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1587

    The evidence sufficiently supported the trial courts determination that defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights and gave his statements to police, even if he was intoxicated at the time as he later claimed.

  • Johnson v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-02-21
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Patrick Ervin Chisholm (Office of the Public Defender), Bainbridge, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Elizabeth Haase Brock, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Craig Edward Miller, Joseph Kenneth Mulholland, Moruf O. Oseni (South Georgia Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Bainbridge, for appellee.
    Case Number: S17A1479

    The evidence was sufficient to support defendants' convictions arising from the shooting death of one of the defendant's wife's romantic partner and the trial courts finding that the prosecutors peremptory jury strikes were not racially motivated was not clearly erroneous.