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  • 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

  • Smith v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-11-19
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Edwin J. Wilson, Snellville, for Sonya Smith. Samuel J. Harris, Cookeville, Tenn., for Joseph Smith. Patrick H. Head, District Attorney, John R. Edwards, Eleanor A. Dixon, Assistant District Attorneys, Marietta, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Mary Beth Westmoreland, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Jason C. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    for defendant:
    Case Number: S10A1281; S10A1282

    The evidence authorized the jury to conclude that the defendants committed non-felony acts of abuse that inadvertently led to their son's death as well as felony acts which could serve as the underl

  • Jennings v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-11-12
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Samuel F. Little Jr. Little & Crumply LLP, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Gwendolyn K. Fleming, District Attorney, Leonora Grant, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney, Daniel J. Quinn, Assistant District Attorney, Decatur, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Benjamin H. Pierman, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S10A1089

    The state is not required to specify in the indictment that it is charging the defendant as a party to the

  • McKiernan v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-11-12
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jennifer M. Daniels, Decatur, for appellant.
    for defendant: Daniel J. Porter, District Attorney, Jon W. Setzer, Assistant District Attorney, Lawrenceville, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Reggie A. Lampkin, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S10A1746

    Trial counsel reasonably and strategically decided that an incapacity de was not in the defendant's best interest, since it would contradict and undermine the defendant's accident de

  • Branchfield v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-10-15
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Nancy B. Miller and Victoria L. Novak Public Defender's Office, Columbus, for appellant.
    for defendant: Julia A. F. Slater, District Attorney, Kristy W. Dugan, Assistant District Attorney, Sadhana P. Dailey District Attorney's Office, Columbus, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Mary B. Westmoreland, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Christopher R. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S10A1201

    The defendant admitted planning the robbery, which led to the victim's

  • Manley v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-08-27
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Gerard B. Kleinrock Public Defender's Office, Decatur, for appellant.
    for defendant: . Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Christopher R. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, Gwendolyn K. Fleming, District Attorney, and Leonora Grant, Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney, Decatur, for state.
    Case Number: S10A0136, S10A0137

    The trial court erred in failing to suppress defendant's statement to police after being arrested, because he unambiguously requested a lawyer and all questioning should have stopped immedi

  • Lowe v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-06-18
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Mary Erickson, Decatur, for appellant.
    for defendant: Paul L. Howard Jr., District Attorney, Bettieanne C. Hart, Deputy District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, and Benjamin H. Pierman, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S10A0804

    The defendant admitted that he fired a gun at the murder v

  • Robinson v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-06-18
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jason R. Clark Clark & Williams, Brunswick, for Robinson. Ernest B. Gilbert, Brunswick, for Woods. Stephen D. Kelly, District Attorney, Charles K. Higgins, Assistant District Attorney, Brunswick, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, and Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    for defendant:
    Case Number: S10A0428; S10A0429

    Both parties were equally responsible for the 18-month delay between the defendants' arrest on charges of murder and related offenses and their scheduled

  • Dyer v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-05-14
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Lee Sexton Lee Sexton & Assocs. PC, Stockbridge, for Dyer. J. Scott Key, McDonough, for Rozier. William K. Wynne Jr., District Attorney, Melanie M. Bell, Assistant District Attorney, Covington, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Jason C. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    for defendant:
    Case Number: S10A0276; S10A0709

    The trial court's charge on simple assault, as a whole, correctly instructed the jurors as to that crime's proper defin

  • Robinson v. State

    Publication Date: 2010-05-14
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jason R. Clark Clark & Williams, Brunswick, for Robinson. Ernest B. Gilbert, Brunswick, for Woods. Stephen D. Kelly, District Attorney, Charles K. Higgins, Assistant District Attorney, Brunswick, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, and Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    for defendant:
    Case Number: S10A0428; S10A0429

    Both parties were equally responsible for the 18-month delay between the defendants' arrest on charges of murder and related offenses and their scheduled