Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Douglas Pritchett appealed his conviction for malice murder in connection with the 2017 death of Richard Danley. On appeal, Pritchett argued the trial court erred in denying his amended motion for new trial because: (1) his conviction was based upon insufficient evidence; (2) the trial court improperly admitted the State’s evidence proffered under OCGA § 24-4-404 (b); and (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel. He also claimed he was entitled to a new trial based on the cumulative and collective prejudice resulting from trial court error and the deficient performance of his trial counsel. After review of the trial court record, the Georgia Supreme Court disagreed and affirmed Pritchett's conviction. View "Pritchett v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Ronregus Watts challenged his 2008 convictions for felony murder and other crimes in connection with the 2006 shooting death of Thomas Vinson. Watts contended: (1) the evidence presented at trial was legally insufficient to support his convictions; and (2) that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement to the police and physical and testimonial evidence obtained as a result of his statement. The Georgia Supreme Court found, when properly viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdicts, the evidence was sufficient to support Watts' convictions, and the trial court did not err in denying his motion to suppress. Accordingly, the convictions were affirmed. View "Watts v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Curtis Jackson was convicted by jury of malice murder in connection with the 2015 shooting death of Vernard Mays. On appeal, Jackson argued the trial court erred: (1) in failing to instruct the jury that it must find corroboration for an accomplice’s testimony; and (2) in failing to excuse Juror Number 22 for cause. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Jackson v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Dongsoo Park was convicted of malice murder in connection with the stabbing death of Kwang Ko (“Ko”) in a parking lot after a confrontation between two groups of people. On appeal, he contended: (1) the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on justification as part of the former suggested pattern jury instruction on mutual combat; (2) his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel; and (3) the trial court erred in merging the aggravated assault count into the felony murder count. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Park v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Harvey Lee was convicted by jury of malice murder in connection with the 2017 shooting death of George Young. On appeal, Lee claimed his trial counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance by failing to object to (1) evidence of George’s good character, (2) a photograph of George in life with his children, and (3) the presentation of and comments on Lee’s silence after he was advised of his Miranda rights. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. View "Lee v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Joseph Jones, III appealed his convictions for felony murder in connection with the shooting deaths of Quatez Strong and Jalen Walker. In his sole enumeration of error, Jones argued that, because “unrebutted” testimony showed that he was provoked to shoot, the trial evidence at most established voluntary manslaughter and was insufficient to support his felony-murder convictions. To this, the Georgia Supreme Court disagreed: because a rational jury could have rejected the testimony that Jones claimed established provocation, and the evidence was more than sufficient to support Jones’s felony-murder convictions, the judgment was affirmed. View "Jones v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Derrico Thomas was convicted by jury of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, stemming from the shooting death of Orlando Young. Thomas argued: (1) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a prior shooting and his aggravated battery conviction that flowed from it; and (2) he was deprived of his right to testify due to the ineffective assistance of counsel. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded that although the trial court erred in admitting the evidence of the prior shooting, it was highly probable that the error in admitting the evidence about the shooting did not contribute to the verdict. And the Supreme Court concluded Thomas did not met his burden to show that trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective. The Court therefore affirmed Thomas’s convictions. View "Thomas v. Georgia" on Justia Law

In 2011, Didrekeus Lewis was convicted by jury of malice murder and other crimes for the shooting death of Marvin Printup. Lewis argued on appeal: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred when it denied Lewis’s motion to suppress evidence that Yvette Varner identified a man in a photo lineup as “Weasel”; (3) the trial court erred when it denied Lewis’s motion for mistrial made after a detective summarized a pre-trial statement from a witness, Abdul Aziz, that the trial court had ruled was inadmissible before trial; (4) the trial court erred by denying Lewis’s motion to suppress evidence that Aziz identified a man in a photograph as “Weasel”; and (5) that Lewis received ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Lewis' convictions. View "Lewis v. Georgia" on Justia Law

Erik Albert Williams, Jr. was convicted by jury of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Deangelo Hudgins and the shooting of Albert Gilbert. On appeal, Williams argued: (1) the evidence presented at trial was insufficient as a matter of due process to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred by failing to grant a new trial when Williams’s accomplice’s guilty plea was admitted into evidence and used substantively against him; and (3) that the trial court abused its discretion by determining that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was not violated. Finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Williams' convictions. View "Williams v. Georgia" on Justia Law

The State appealed a trial court’s suppression of custodial statements 16-year-old Jeffrey Burton made during a video-taped interview with law enforcement officers who had arrested Burton for the murder of George Akins, Jr. The State contended the trial court erred in concluding that Burton clearly, unequivocally, and unambiguously invoked his right to remain silent and that the State failed to show that Burton knowingly and voluntarily waived his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). The Georgia Supreme Court did not decide whether the trial court erred in concluding that Burton clearly invoked his right to remain silent. However, it did conclude that the trial court did not err in ruling that the State failed to meet its burden of showing that Burton knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights: a ruling that was supported by factual and credibility findings that were not clearly erroneous. The Supreme Court therefore affirmed. View "Georgia v. Burton" on Justia Law