• Wilson v. The State

    Publication Date: 2021-07-19
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Ellington
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Michael Wayne Tarleton, (Georgia Public Defender Council - Appellate Division), Atlanta, Veronica M. O'Grady, (Clayton County Public Defender), Morrow, Christina Rupp Cribbs, (Georgia Innocence Project), Atlanta, for Appellant.
    for defendant: Christopher Allen Arnt, (Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), LaFayette, Megan Camille Gaither, (Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Ringgold, for Appellee.

    Case Number: S20G1295

    Court affirms convictions for child molestation and other crimes over defendant's claims that prior act evidence was inadmissible

  • Barrow v. Raffensperger

    Publication Date: 2020-06-15
    Practice Area: Court Administration | Government
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Wade H. Tomlinson, III, Charles W. Byrd, George "Buddy" Darden, Michael Jonathan Moore, Michael P Morrill, Elizabeth Studdard White, (Pope, McGlamry, Kilpatrick, Morrison & Norwood), Atlanta, S. Lester Tate, III, (Akin & Tate, PC), Cartersville, for appellant.
    for defendant: Elizabeth T. Young, Russell David Willard, Andrew Alan Pinson, Christopher M. Carr, Bryan Keith Webb, Elizabeth Ann Penland, (Department of Law), Atlanta, for appellee. Joyce Gist Lewis, Adam Martin Sparks, (Krevolin Horst, LLC), Atlanta, Monica Joy Hanrahan, (Hanrahan Freitag Family Law, LLC), Atlanta, for Amicus Appellant.

    Case Number: S20A1029

    Secretary of State Could Not be Compelled to Hold Election in May For Position of Supreme Court Justice Whose Prospective Resignation In November Was Irrevocable

  • Worthen v. The State

    Publication Date: 2019-02-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Clifford Louis Kurlander, (Georgia Public Defender Council Appellate Division), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew David O'Brien, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Paul L. Howard, Jr., Stephany Julissa Luttrell, Lyndsey Hurst Rudder, (Fulton County District Attorney's Office), Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S18A1212

    Court Affirms Conviction of Murderer Who Claimed That State Failed to Prove Venue When Shooting Took Place Near County Border, Overruling Series of Cases That Had Prohibited Jury from Finding Venue Based on Circumstantial Evidence

  • The State v. Turner

    Publication Date: 2018-09-17
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Emily Kathleen Richardson, (Dekalb County District Attorney's Office), Decatur, Ryan Reese Leonard, Bonnie Kaye Smith, A.D.A., Anna Vaughan-Upshaw, Sean Alexander Garrett, Senior A.D.A. (Douglas County District Attorney's Office), Douglasville, for appellant.
    for defendant: Dolly M. Fairclough, (Law Offices of D. M. Fairclough), Snellville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S18A0957

    Court Affirms Suppression of Items Seized in House in Parental Infanticide Case

  • Blount v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-05-29
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: William Alexander McQueen (McQueen Law Office LC), Athens, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Ashleigh Dene Headrick (Department of Law), Atlanta; Jon Richard Forwood, Kenneth W. Mauldin, Brian Vance Patterson (Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Athens, for appellee.

    Case Number: S18A0201

    The evidence supported defendant's convictions for murder and related offenses arising out of a drive-by shooting and defendant failed to demonstrate that he received ineffective assistance of counsel.

  • City Of Union Point v. Greene County et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-04-25
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Government | Public Utilities
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Boggs
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Andrew Jackson Welch III, Warren Michael Tillery, Brandon Filson Palmer, (Smith, Welch, Webb & White, LLC), McDonough; M. Joseph Reitman Jr. (Smith, Welch, Webb & White, LLC), Madison, for appellant.
    for defendant: Christopher J. Hamilton, Kenneth Paul Robin, Angela Edwards Davis (Jarrard & Davis LLP), Cumming, for appellee. Barry Abbott Fleming, Frank Adam Nelson (Fleming & Nelson LLP), Evans; Edward Fowler Preston, Timothy Marzine Tanner, George T. Talley (Coleman Talley LLP), Valdosta; Sarah L. Crile, Christopher M. Carr, William Wright Banks Jr., Julie Adams Jacobs (Department of Law), for amicus appellant. Walter Gus Elliott II, James L. Elliott, William Gus Elliott II (Elliott Blackburn & Gooding PC), Valdosta; Rusi Chandrashkhar Patel (Georgia Municipal Association, Inc), Atlanta, for amicus appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1878

    The Court partially affirmed, partially reversed, and partially vacated the trial court's order in a dispute between a County and a City over who should pay for public services under the Service Delivery Strategy Act.

  • De La Cruz v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-16
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Mary Terry Benton, Derin Bronson Dickerson, Francisco Gonzalez-Burgos, Tejas Surendra Patel, Kacy Brake, Emily Catherine Hootkins, Andrew J. Liebler, Andrew M. Brown (Alston & Bird LLP), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Mary Catherine Greaber, Elizabeth Haase Brock, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; John Allen Lawson, Richard Lowery Perryman III (Alapaha Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Nashville; Bianca Plair Goodman (Muscogee County Solicitor General's Office), Columbus, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1887

    21-Year Delay in Resolving Motion for New Trial Did Not Violate Defendant's Due Process Rights

  • Barnett et al. v. Caldwell

    Publication Date: 2018-02-27
    Practice Area: Government | Wrongful Death
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Sidney Leighton Moore, III (The Moore Law Firm, P.C.), Atlanta; Shean DeCarlos Williams (The Cochran Firm Atlanta), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Cheryl Lynn Haas, Halima Horton, Kurt Eric Lentz, (McGuire Woods LLP), Atlanta; Matthew Allen Fitzgerald (McGuire Woods LLP), Richmond; Phillip L. Hartley (Harben, Hartley & Hawkins, LLP), Gainesville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17G0641

    A teacher was entitled to official immunity in a wrongful death suit brought by parents of a child who died in the teacher's classroom while the teacher was out of the room, because the complained-of actions were discretionary and plaintiffs did not present evidence of actual malice or intent to injure.

  • Patton v. Vanterpool

    Publication Date: 2017-11-07
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Richard Allen Sanders, Jr. (Andrews & Sanders Law Offices), Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: David Benton Purvis, Michael Eric Manely (The Manely Firm, PC.), Marietta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A0767

    The Court reversed the grant of summary judgment to mother on the issue of paternity in a divorce action, finding that O.C.G.A. 19-7-21, which creates an irrebuttable presumption of legitimacy with respect to children conceived by means of artificial insemination does not extend to children conceived by in-vitro fertilization treatment.

  • State v. Allen

    Publication Date: 2015-11-05
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Nahmias, David E.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: James L. Wright III, District Attorney, and Blair D. Mahaffey, Assistant District Attorney, McDonough, for appellant.
    for defendant: Holly W. Veal Veal Lamar LLC, McDonough, and William C. Puckett Jr., Conyers, for appellees.

    Case Number: S14G1765

    The records check on the stopped car's passenger was part of the authorized mission of the traffic stop and it did not unreasonably prolong the stop; accordingly, the free-air dog sniff, which the