Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Appellee Johnnie Worsley was tried by jury and convicted of the rape and murder of his seventeen-year-old stepdaughter, Yameika Bell, and the murder of his wife, Flora Worsley. For each murder, Appellee was sentenced to death. Nearly fourteen years later, the trial court granted Appellee a new trial, finding that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel in the sentencing phase of his 1998 trial. The State appealed. Finding the trial court granted the new trial in error, the Supreme Court reversed and reinstated Appellee's death sentences. View "Georgia v. Worsley" on Justia Law

Following a jury trial, Gabriel Evans was found guilty of kidnapping with bodily injury, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the beating of Aretha Perkins. Evans' convictions were upheld on appeal. After filing an unsuccessful habeas petition to challenge his conviction in 2001, Evans filed a second habeas petition in 2009, seeking relief based on the Supreme Court's then-controlling decision in "Garza v. State," which established new factors for assessing the asportation element as required for kidnapping. Analyzing the Garza factors, the habeas court granted relief, finding that the duration of the movement of the victim was short, the movement was incidental to the aggravated assault, the movement appeared to be an inherent part of the aggravated assault, and the movement did not place the victim in more danger than she was already in at that point, and set aside the conviction and sentence for kidnapping with bodily injury. The warden appealed. Finding no error in the second habeas court's analysis, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Sellars v. Evans" on Justia Law

Jehrod Romer appealed his murder and firearm possession convictions in connection with the shooting death of 16-year-old Quantavia Hill. Appellant contended that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions, that the trial court erred in allowing his brother's testimony to be impeached with evidence that the brother refused to give a statement to the police on the day after the shooting, and that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Romer v. Georgia" on Justia Law

David Robert Norton appealed his convictions and sentences for malice murder, arson, criminal attempt to commit the crime of concealing the death of another, possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, all in connection with the shooting death of Amy Ayers. Finding the evidence sufficient to support his convictions, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Norton v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant Todd McNair was charged and convicted by jury of identity fraud for the theft and use of the victim's credit card. Prior to being sentenced, appellant argued that the rule of lenity should be applied such that he would be sentenced for committing financial transaction card theft a crime for which he was not charged or convicted, but which has a lesser penalty than identity fraud. The trial court rejected this argument and sentenced appellant as a recidivist to 10 years (five years to serve). The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court granted appellant's petition for a writ of certiorari to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred in holding that the rule of lenity did not apply when the statutory violations at issue were both classified as felonies, even though the offenses carried different punishments. Because the Court answered the question in the affirmative, the Court of Appeals' was reversed and the case remanded for the appellate court to reach the merits of the case. View "McNair v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Weston Cronkite was prosecuted for DUI and filed a motion under the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without the State to obtain, through the testimony of an out-of-state witness, the source code for the Intoxilyzer 5000. The trial court denied the motion, finding that the evidence was not material, and, on interlocutory appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed. In reaching its decision, the Court of Appeals applied this Court?s decision. The Court of Appeals concluded that Cronkite's expert's testimony amounted only to speculation that the Intoxilyzer 5000 software contained an unknown flaw that could have affected the test results and thus failed to establish the materiality of the source code. The Supreme Court granted Cronkite's petition for certiorari to determine whether the Court of Appeals properly applied established Georgia case law in arriving at its conclusion. While the Court did not agree with the appellate court's analysis, it agreed with the outcome and affirmed but for different reasons. View "Cronkite v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Following a jury trial, Appellant Timothy Boothe was found guilty of malice murder and other offenses in connection with the death of Geneva Strickland. Appellant contends on appeal (among other things) that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence photocopies of police sketches of two men that were based on descriptions from one of the State's witnesses. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that even if the admission of the sketch copies violated the "best evidence" rule of Georgia's old Evidence Code, that error was harmless. Appellant's other enumerations of error lacked merit. View "Boothe v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Appellant gynecologist Tyrone Malloy was indicted (along with his office manager) on two counts of Medicaid fraud because the services he billed to the program were either "associated with the performance of elective abortions" or had not been performed. After an administrative review, an ALJ determined the record did not support the conclusion that Appellant willfully misrepresented a material fact, and therefore could not support a finding of fraud under the Medicaid program. The Department of Community Health (DCH) did not move to reconsider or for rehearing, and the ALJ's decision was affirmed by operation of law. While administrative review was still pending, the State's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit continued its own investigation. Despite DCH's affirming of the ALJ's decision, the State decided to seek criminal charges against Appellant and his manager. In 2011, a grand jury issued indictments. Appellant filed a special demurrer in response, which were denied by the trial court. Appellant then sought certiorari from the Supreme Court, arguing the trial court erred in its decisions. Upon review, the Supreme Court denied the state's motion to dismiss Appellant's appeal, and affirmed the trial court. View "Malloy v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Michael Nance was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, theft by taking, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in 1997. Nance received the death penalty for malice murder. The Supreme Court affirmed Nance's other convictions, but reversed the death sentence and remanded his case for resentencing because a juror was improperly qualified to serve on his jury. In 2002, Nance was sentenced to death again, and the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed his sentence. He applied for the writ of habeas corpus; the habeas court vacated Nance's death sentence based on a finding that trial counsel had been deficient. The Warden appealed the habeas court's vacation, and Nance cross-appealed the denial of relief regarding his malice murder conviction. Upon review, the Supreme Court reversed the habeas court and reinstated Nance's death sentence. With regard to Nance's cross-appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Humphrey v. Nance" on Justia Law

Derrick Holmes appealed his convictions and sentences for the malice murder of Nakisha Rawls, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and for violating the state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Finding the evidence sufficient to support the jury verdict against him, the Supreme Court affirmed Holmes' convictions and sentences. View "Holmes v. Georgia" on Justia Law