• Woodard v. State

    Publication Date: 2015-04-03
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Nahmias, David E.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Long D. Vo, Jimmonique R. S. Rodgers Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, Atlanta, and Christopher R. Geel, Mount Pleasant, S.C., for appellant.
    for defendant: Robert D. James Jr., District Attorney, Anna G. Cross, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney, Decatur, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Meghan H. Hill, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S14A1532

    The Supreme Court overruled Heard v. State, 261 Ga. 262 1991, which held that O.C.G.A. § 16-3-21 subsection b 2—stating that the use of force in defense of oneself or others is not justified if the

  • In the Matter of John F. Woodham

    Publication Date: 2015-02-19
    Practice Area:
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    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Per Curiam
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Paula J. Frederick, General Counsel, and Jenny K. Mittelman State Bar of Georgia, Atlanta. John F. Woodham Woodham Law LLC, Atlanta. Anthony B. Askew, Chairperson Review Panel, Bryan M. Cavan Miller Martin PLLC, Atlanta, and Thomas E. Cauthorn III Cauthorn Nohr Owen, Marietta. Neutral Amicus: Matthew J. Calvert, Douglass P. Selby Hunton Williams LLP, and Rosalind A. Rubens-Newell The Atlanta Development Authority, Atlanta.
    for defendant:

    Case Number: S14Y0700

    The Supreme Court dismissed the disciplinary proceedings against an attorney, finding that the State Bar failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the attorney violated the Rules as al

  • Lejeune v. McLaughlin

    Publication Date: 2014-11-26
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Blackwell, Keith R.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Adam M. Hames The Hames Law Firm LLC, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Vicki S. Bass, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee. Amicus Appellee: Paul L. Howard Jr., District Attorney, and Paige R. Whitaker, Deputy District Attorney, Atlanta.

    Case Number: S14A1155

    In habeas cases, the petitioner bears the burden of proving that his guilty plea was not voluntary, knowing and intelligent; the Supreme Court overruled Purvis v. Connell, 227 Ga. 764 1971, and its

  • Hanes v. State

    Publication Date: 2014-02-27
    Practice Area:
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    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: David D. Marshall, Marietta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Robert D. James Jr., District Attorney, Leonora Grant, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney, Zina B. Gumbs, Assistant District Attorney, Decatur, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Rochelle W. Gordon, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S13A1428

    The defendant fatally shot one victim in the chest at close range and shot the other victim in the arm as that victim ran

  • Brown v. Parody

    Publication Date: 2013-11-27
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, and Daniel W. Hamilton Shepard, Plunkett, Hamilton & Boudreaux LLP, Augusta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Timothy Parody, Grovetown, proceeded pro se. Sarah L. Gerwig-Moore Mercer Law School, Macon, and J. Scott Key, Decatur.

    Case Number: S13A0899

    A divided Supreme Court held that the habeas court erred in ruling that the undisputed facts showed that plea counsel was deficient with regard to consideration of the defendant's compe

  • Couch v. Red Roof Inns Inc.

    Publication Date: 2012-07-13
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Davis K. Loftin, Jeffrey N. Mykkeltvedt Mykkeltvedt & Loftin LLC, Gilbert H. Deitch and Andrew T. Rogers Deitch & Rogers LLC, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Burke B. Johnson Buckley King LPA, Gainesville, for appellees. Amicus Appellant: Charles M. Cork III, Macon. Amicus Appellee: Jacob E. Daly and Sun S. Choy Freeman, Mathis & Gary LLP, Atlanta. Neutral Amicus: Thomas A. Eaton, Michael L. Wells University of Ga. Law Sch. and Andrew J. Hill III Blasingame Burch Garrard & Ashley PC, Athens.

    Case Number: S12Q0625

    A jury is allowed to apportion damages among a property owner and criminal assailant and jury charges or a special verdict form requiring such apportionment would not violate a plaintiff's constitut

  • Walker v. State

    Publication Date: 2012-03-23
    Practice Area:
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    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Nahmias, David E.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Harold B. Baker, Georgia Capital Defender, Tifton, and Gerald P. Word, Georgia Capital Defender, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Gregory W. Winters, District Attorney, John A. Regan, Assistant District Attorney, Macon, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, and Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S11A1449

    The trial court properly denied the defendant's speedy trial motion as premature, since O.C.G.A. 17-7-171 b requires that more than two terms of court expire before a defendant is entitled to discha

  • Kemp v. Neal

    Publication Date: 2010-12-17
    Practice Area:
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    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Per Curiam
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Thomas A. Nash Jr. Nash Law Firm PC, Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Grady K. Reddick, Sylvania, and Brenda C. Youmas Edwards & Youmas LLC, Macon, for appellee.

    Case Number: S10A0724

    The Court may not rely on doctrinal concerns or ecclesiastical principles when deciding disputes between chu

  • O'Neal v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-11-19
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Daniel F. Farnsworth W. Scott Smith PC, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Gwendolyn K. Fleming, District Attorney, and Leonora Grant, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney, Decatur, for appellee.

    Case Number: S10G0060

    Under O.C.G.A. § 17-8-75, the trial court has an independent duty to rebuke the prosecutor, give a curative instruction or grant a mistrial upon proper objection to the state's introduction of impro

  • Hicks v. Heard

    Publication Date: 2010-04-09
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Steven K. Leibel, Dahlonega, for appellant.
    for defendant: Render C. Freeman, Michael J. Blakely Jr. Andersen Tate & Carr PC, Duluth, and Jeffrey P. Yashinsky Schur, McDuffie & Morgan, Atlanta, for appellees.

    Case Number: S09G1508

    In iff's vicarious liability action, the burden-shifting paradigm in Allen Kane's Major Dodge v. Barnes, 243 Ga. 776 1979, supported the grant of summary judgment to the defendant, because the